BLAINE CIVIC REFORM

October 17 letter to Whatcom County:

For county officials not living in Blaine, it is perhaps difficult to comprehend the criminal misconduct that defines the City of Blaine government. This past Monday, at Blaine City Council, past council member Mike Hill (who was investigated in 2024 for accosting Blaine Water Coalition spokesman Geoffrey Baker) organized a hate campaign against BWC leaders that included his friend and fellow convicted violent felon David Brudvik. Mr. Brudvik issued death threats against BWC leaders Geoffrey Baker, Tina Erwin, Donna Newman, and myself during the town hall open session, and then passed out his manifesto with our names on it to the audience. Mr. Hill and Mr. Brudvik also threatened Blaine City Council members Richard May and Eric Lewis. Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk was present, and neither he nor Mayor Mary Lou Steward said a word.


This incident was the direct consequence of Mayor Steward's September 8 attack on BWC and Councilman Lewis, citing an anonymous unsubstantiated letter full of baseless accusations, as well as the persistent defamation of BWC by Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon.

Baker, Erwin, Newman and I have submitted petitions for protection (restraining orders) to the Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney, and police reports to Blaine PD, which should refer to an outside agency due to bias by the Chief of Police and conflicts of interest involving Blaine officials.

This two-year saga of government misconduct in Blaine can only be reformed by state and federal intervention, in a process of civic reform to end the systematic exclusion of public participation in planning our future, and the preferential treatment of realtors and developers by Blaine Community Development Services, giving them the perception that they are above the law. Since self-dealing and interference with elections by Blaine officials is now endemic, this means agencies such as the Washington State Auditor, Attorney General, and the U.S. Department of Justice (public integrity unit) will need to be involved in reforming the City of Blaine government.

This transition to the rule of law, transparency, and accountability will be a challenge for the community, which has been kept in the dark by our local newspaper, The Northern Light, that caters to the real estate industry which has taken over our city government. It is too large an undertaking for county government, but the county has an important role to play in forcing compliance with state and federal law by the City of Blaine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BLAINE TOXIC COVERUP

2/25/25 letter to City of Blaine : BLAINE TOXIC COVERUP A Town that Never Learns By  Jay Taber Blaine Water Coalition Blaine City Council member  Mike Hill --recently under investigation by the Whatcom County Sheriff's Department for accosting Blaine Water Coalition activist Otto Pointer at the November 12, 2024, city council meeting (Case #24A39027)--has a problem with his plan to develop condos across Peace Portal Drive from his  Chevron  station downtown. In a November 28, 2023,  Hazardous Materials Analysis Report  presented by GeoEngineers to the City of Blaine, Hill's Chevron is listed as a 'high-risk' Department of Ecology site (Cleanup Site ID # 9280) due to confirmed releases of petroleum products--including  Benzene --on and off the property,  contaminating the groundwater  that migrates from the Chevron station under Starbuck's toward  Cain Creek  and  Drayton Harbor . The  Drayton Harbor estuary  is home t...
Read more

Letter to County Prosecutor

To Mr. Eric J. Richey, Whatcom Prosecuting Attorney, 311 Grand, Ste. 201, Bellingham WA 98225 I write to you as Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney in hope you will protect the rights of the people of Blaine from a city government that--due to embedded corruption--is unable to effectively govern and is putting our health and prosperity at risk by their unlawful acts. Your reply requested.  I am told you have the authority to empanel a grand jury to investigate official misconduct and encourage you to do so. I copy my most recent letter to the City of Blaine below. This is the tip of the iceberg, and we have abundant evidence of widespread intentional wrongdoing.   To Blaine City Council, Planning Commission, and Community Development Services As you proceed with the downtown rezone/development regulation items of parking and building heights this month, I remind you that this process was corrupted at the outset when on 3/24/2023 Blaine City Council ordered the Blaine City...
Read more

GUEST COMMENTARY REJECTED BY CASCADIA DAILY NEWS

The CDN article about the  East Blaine de-annexation  and UGA Swap excludes any mention of the extensively documented Blaine Water Coalition objections we sent to CDN well in advance. I feel this is not fair and balanced coverage. CDN reporter Julia Tellman attended the July 14, 2025 Blaine City Council meeting where as a city council vacancy applicant I introduced myself as a member of the Blaine Water Coalition (BWC) speakers bureau, and provided both an oral and written presentation with alleged legal violations by the city related to the proposed UGA Swap, as well as BWC's legal objections to previous well-documented evidence of City misconduct. Tellman mentioned none of this, nor the fact that I alone was hastily appointed at the meeting to write the voters pamphlet statement against the city-sponsored initiative, despite four additional qualified  ‘Con’  applicants  (important n ote: the City received only one ‘Pro’ Applicant) . . This city attem...
Read more