Blaine Confidential

August 31, 2025, complaint to Washington Secretary of State elections division: On  July 14, 2025 , I was appointed by the City of Blaine to write the voters pamphlet statement against the UGA Swap Proposition 2025-07. The official title of the City "Reduction of City Limits" proposition is misleading (see attached). It is a process designed to annex approximately 800 acres of the Semiahmoo headlands, while de-annexing roughly 500 acres in East Blaine. The Secretary of State should change the ballot title to "UGA Swap" to reflect this. Four other qualified applicants against the proposition were rejected by Blaine City Council, including a land use/environmental law attorney and the vice president of Semiahmoo Residents Association. This leaves me in the position of having to sign the voters pamphlet statement and rebuttals to City of Blaine attorneys without the recognized company in the voters pamphlet of other community leaders.  On  July 23, 2025 , I as...

The present showdown between public and private interests in the looming annihilation of the Semiahmoo headlands by developers--who have taken over Blaine city hall with support from the building and real estate industries--is distorted by The Northern Light newspaper, whose bread and butter is real estate advertising. Cascadia Daily News, owned by developer of Semiahmoo resort, David Syre, likewise skews coverage to favor corrupt city officials and to discredit their opponents, most notably Blaine Water Coalition.  This showdown involves hundreds of millions of dollars as developers line up to support city annexation of the headlands due to city development standards being much lower than county standards for protecting the environment and public purse. It is now all-out war between the real estate industry and local media on one side, and citizens attempting to protect their communities (Blaine and Birch Bay) on the other. There will be setbacks and comebacks in this now three-ye...

To paraphrase the Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan, the days of using our salmon streams as sewers are over . In other words, responsible development, not rapacious. The City of Blaine, unfortunately, is guided by sales tax fervor rather than careful consideration of the consequences for the Drayton Harbor watershed. On June 13, 2025, Blaine Water Coalition filed a request for investigation with the Washington State Auditor of unlawful conduct and legal violations by City of Blaine officials related to recent zoning changes enacted by the Blaine City Council. These zoning changes were approved by a Blaine Planning Commissioner despite his direct financial conflict of interest that increased his personal real estate commission. Zoning changes for properties on Cain Creek and Dakota Creek--both salmon streams--illegally reduced shoreline setbacks by 50% in the Drayton Harbor estuary, a Water of the United States, where Lummi Nation exercises its treaty rights to harvest salmon and shell...

  REQUIEM FOR SEMIAHMOO

  Public Records Act Lawsuit

A write-in candidate is needed to oppose crooked downtown developer Gurdeep Bains' wife Sarbie for the Blaine City Council At-large position. Candidates can live anywhere in Blaine as long as they are a registered voter who has lived here a year. Declarations of write-in candidacy for Blaine City Council are due at Whatcom County elections office by 8 pm on election day (November 4). Declarations filed with the elections office after October 16 must pay a filing fee of $25. Declarations filed prior to October 16 are filed free. Write-in candidates are not listed on the ballot, and must be written in by voters. This means anyone considering running would require generating name recognition other ways, such as mailers, yard signs, social media and so on. Time is of the essence.

Adding 1,500 luxury homes to the Semiahmoo headlands, 211 luxury condos to Semiahmoo spit, and 155 mobile homes to east Blaine could end up requiring expansion of the city sewage treatment plant. When pollution from the Creekside mobile home development contaminates our drinking water aquifer, Blaine taxpayers could be on the hook for a water purification plant as well. All total, $200 million for city expansion seems a plausible figure, resulting in large increases in utility bills for all Blaine residents . Vote NO on the city-sponsored "reduction of city limits" proposition , which is actually the first step in expanding city limits-- comprising calculated ballot fraud by city hall that would cost Blaine taxpayers a bundle. And write letters to the editor calling the city out on this class warfare.

Public Records Act Lawsuit at Cascadia Daily News sounds like a City of Blaine press release. What do you expect from a publication owned by a retired developer?

An overall theme related to the vital community service and extensive volunteer work of Blaine Water Coalition 2023-2025 is that Blaine citizens want to see ethical and transparent government officials working for the citizens of Blaine. F act checking anything the city spokesperson or city council members say is basic. Sadly,  The   Northern Light  newspaper has knowingly neglected to do this, routinely publishing Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon's comments verbatim without fact checking. The below account by Blaine Water Coalition spokesman Otto Pointer is one example in a well-documented pattern of retaliatory behavior by city officials when citizens seek transparency, accountability and compliance with state environmental laws. (Regarding Blaine's Stormwater Violations & Benzene Risk to Waters of the United States, Drayton Harbor-BLAINE WATER COALITION NOTICE OF INTENT TO SUE) Background: I raised concerns with the DOE in two separate letters (F...

Reading The Northern Light coverage of the Public Records Act lawsuit filed by Blaine Water Coalition against the City of Blaine, it is clear that The Northern Light is the mouthpiece for the city, deriding Blaine citizens holding the city accountable for withholding vital information from the public. Much like The Northern Light has done on every conflict 2023-2025 between concerned citizens and the city hall cabal comprised of city manager Mike Harmon, city development director Alex Wenger, city attorney Peter Ruffatto, and Mayor Steward.  Having repeatedly concealed documents proving official misconduct, this cabal--in bed with an extremely corrupt local real estate industry that has taken over the Blaine Planning Commission--blames Blaine citizens for taking the city to court. Meanwhile, The Northern Light blames dutiful citizens for costing staff time in providing public records, when the city is spending $25,000 per month on lawyers to defend official misconduct and intentio...

When I mentioned that the owner of Cascadia Daily News, David Syre, was the developer of Semiahmoo Resort who made his money clearcutting the Nooksack river watershed, a Blaine resident called CDN "developers protecting developers." further reading: https://blaineconfidential.blogspot.com/2025/07/cdn-misinforms-readers-about-uga-swap.html https://blaineconfidential.blogspot.com/2025/07/guest-commentary-rejected-by-cascadia.html https://blaineconfidential.blogspot.com/2025/02/blaine-toxic-coverup.html

With three realtors appointed to the Blaine Planning Commission, and a developer's wife just appointed to Blaine City Council, the future of Blaine will be determined in the November general election. Realtors Choice: Ward 1--Jiggy Sorrell Ward 2--Isaac Newland Ward 3--Don Enos (realtor against oral public comment at city council meetings) At-Large--Sarbie Bains (crooked downtown developer's wife)

At the April 28, 2025 City Council Work Session on the West Blaine Urban Growth Area, Blaine Community Development Services proposed  expanding the city limits  by 759 acres in the Semiahmoo headlands--where  sewer and water infrastructure is estimated at $40 million*--a nd reducing the city limits in  east Blaine  by 502 acres. Utility bills for capital and operational costs to Blaine taxpayers would rise significantly. *(capacity of sewage and stormwater treatment not included)

There is no need to  expand the city limits  in west Blaine; Blaine has enough vacant land within the existing city limits, without incurring the high cost to taxpayers of expansion. Instead of continuing to rezone city land for more commercial development, it could be used for affordable housing.  There is no need to  reduce the city limits  in east Blaine; the city can redesignate the Urban Growth Area as a protected Critical Aquifer Recharge Area. (Blaine currently has no plan for protecting our drinking water.) The city's plan to fund west Blaine expansion for 1,500 luxury homes by raising taxes and utility bills on existing Blaine residents is predatory. Creating second homes for millionaires on the backs of a community with a high poverty rate shows the skewed priorities of the city government. Due to the city manipulation of voter pamphlet statement committee appointments, concealment of vital information, and the misleading title of this city initiative,...

In her August 7, 2025, letter to the editor of The Northern Light, Blaine City Council candidate Sarbie Bains said that civic leadership is about integrity. Sarbie's husband, Gurdeep Bains--a downtown Blaine developer-- voted to line his own pockets as a member of the Downtown Advisory Committee, which is illegal in Washington State. Joining Gurdeep Bains in self-dealing was former councilman Mike Hill , who has publicly endorsed Sarbie Bains for his former seat on the council. Hill resigned after his crimes as a Blaine official were exposed in BLAINE TOXIC COVERUP . Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger appointed Gurdeep Bains to the Downtown Advisory Committee, where he was instrumental in taking a lead--alongside Blaine Planning Commissioner Kevin Owens--in   amending the Blaine Municipal Code to financially benefit Central Business District developers , including Gurdeep Bains and his wife Sarbie.  Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon's attempt to manipul...