Blaine Confidential

January 25 letter to Washington Attorney General: Hearing examiners  in Washington State are independent, quasi-judicial officers appointed by local government bodies—such as city councils—to conduct impartial hearings on land use and administrative matters.  Their primary role is to  make objective,   legally sound decisions free from political influence , ensuring fairness and due process.  This is  not what we have in Blaine . Hearing Examiner Phil Olbrechts bulldozed fairness and due process,  altering the public record  to  remove evidence unfavorable to the city and developer  of the Avista at Birch Point planned unit development. [How can he be impartial when he is paid by the city?] When Blaine Community Development Services Director Alex Wenger altered the public record to financially benefit Blaine Planning Commissioner Sam Randhawa and Freeman Real Estate (see attached), he was committing felony fraud. Is it felony fraud when ...

FALL 2025   POLICE   MISCONDUCT TIMELINE   September 29  Donna M. requests criminal Official Misconduct investigation into Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk and Mayor Mary Lou Steward.  Chief Funk refers request to Ferndale Police Department.   October 9  Donna M. submits public records request for mayor's texts and emails regarding apparent election interference by her and other Blaine officials.   October 13  David Brudvik, a convicted violent felon, threatens to murder  Donna M. and three other critics of the mayor  during a Blaine town hall meeting. October 14 , Donna M. reports death threat to  FBI .   October 15  Death threats victims start making reports to  Blaine Police Department . During one intake call, that never appeared in the police report, Officer Zachary Taxdahl tells Donna M. that  no death threat had occurred.   October 16  Chief Funk, with a criminal investigation into hi...

The new owner of The Northern Light, Kari Mar , got her startup money for acquiring La Conner Community News and The Northern Light from Tiny News Collective , funded in part by Knight Foundation to support communities historically harmed by legacy media , as we have been harmed in Blaine by the former owner of The Northern Light, who covered up crimes by Blaine officials. All Northern Light staff have apparently remained the same . This means TNL Publisher Pat Grubb and Editor Grace McCarthy are still able to control what is published. Given their record of misinforming readers to protect the real estate industry (TNL's bread and butter advertisers) from exposure as the industry took over Blaine's government 2023-25, that's not good. Mar will soon need to choose between the convenience of not replacing Grubb and McCarthy, and her alleged commitment to community leaders The Northern Light has defamed at the behest of the mayor, city manager, and dishonest developers they ar...

The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) now has three Certification Complaints against the Blaine Chief of Police for violating our equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution. The state criminal justice commission will begin an investigation, including reviews of officers involved in framing and defaming us at his request.  There are a dozen officers involved, mostly in minor rolls such as refusing to take our police reports, but only three are named in my complaint--1) Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk, who lied to the county prosecutor and Whatcom District Court in order to protect the convicted violent felon who made death threats against us, 2) Ferndale Police Officer Richard Hart, who authored a selective and biased report demonizing me and my associates at Funk's request, and 3) Blaine Police Officer Trevor Chau, who served me a Notice of Trespass banning me from Starbuck's, Bordertown Mexican Grill, Blaine Visitors Center and Chevron ...

January 22 letter* to Blaine City Council: A dirty police department is a symptom of a dirty town. It indicates a dirty government, and an uncaring community. Even  death threats against fellow citizens --threats subsequently supported by the mayor and chief of police--cannot stir them to speak out. Fear of  official retaliation  keeps them silent. A classic case of  government misconduct . As noted in my February 25, 2025 letter to Blaine City Council,  A Town that Never Learns  is doomed to failure. I once assisted the U.S. Department of Justice in convicting Christian Patriot white supremacists for making bombs, so I know what can happen when things get out of control. Blaine City Council needs to remove Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk for violating the  equal protection  rights of Blaine citizens opposed to his boss, Mayor Steward. *Blocked, apparently in retaliation for my filing a Certification Complaint against Blaine Chief of Police Ro...

Ferndale Police Department conspired with Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk to frame and defame  Water Planning Matters open government activists for "harassment"  of Blaine City Council. This so-called harassment consisted of  demanding public records and holding the city government accountable  to state and federal laws. Ferndale Police Department knowingly covered up felonies by Blaine officials, never even looking at our public documents proving perjury, self-dealing and fraud. FPD was simply out to get us in retaliation for filing a complaint against Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk with the WA Criminal Justice Training Commission. Ferndale Police Officers contributing to the defamatory FPD report (Case No. 25F9556) at the request of Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk were reportedly as follows: Travis Card, Kevin Davis, Richard Hart, Michael Healey, Matt Huffman (Ferndale Chief of Police), Kyle Olivarez and Josh Scott. Blaine Police Officers helping frame...

Immediately after receiving death threats from David Brudvik at the October 13, 2025 Blaine City Council meeting, four open government activists from Water Planning Matters filed police reports with Blaine Police Department. At the time, Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk had a pending criminal complaint against him by one of the four for previous misconduct, and thus should have referred the case to the Washington State Patrol to avoid this conflict of interest.  Instead, Chief Funk retained control of the investigation , and recommended to Whatcom County Prosecutor Eric Richey that he not bring charges against Brudvik. On November 4, 2025, Chief Funk voluntarily testified in Whatcom District Court on behalf of Brudvik, a convicted violent felon who spent 30 months in prison for two drive-by shootings.  The misconduct by Blaine Police Chief Rodger Funk is ample ground for revoking his certification as a law enforcement officer. Retaliatory policing should never be tolera...

The same law firm that provides Blaine city attorney Peter Ruffatto also provided attorneys to fight the  Water Planning Matters   State Environmental Policy Act  (SEPA) appeal against the Avista at Birch Point planned unit development, which the city expedited by issuing a fraudulent SEPA determination and Critical Area determination.  In 2024-25, former councilman and lifelong Blaine resident Mike Hill--owner of Chevron, Starbuck's, Blaine Visitor's Center, and Bordertown Mexican Grill--voted in violation of the state  Ethics in Public Service Act  and the Blaine Municipal Code to increase the value of his commercial properties in the Central Business District. No attempt was made by the mayor or other council members to stop this criminal self-dealing by a public official. On October 13, 2025, Hill organized a 'lynch mob' to support  David Brudvik's death threats  against Water Planning Matters leaders at the Blaine City Council meeting, and ne...

On January 19, 2026, Blaine City Councilman Jiggy Sorrell tried to follow the daughter of one of the open government activists threatened by his friend David Brudvik on October 13 at city hall. Protection orders and surrender of firearms were issued by Whatcom District Court Judge Angela Anderson against Brudvik on November 4.  In his post-threats Facebook message to Brudvik,   Sorrell said,   "Thanks, David, for standing up for what's right...We need more community members like you, well-informed and willing to speak up..." Immediately after Brudvik's death threats, former councilman Mike Hill--who organized a mob to support Brudvik at the town hall--and developer Skip Jansen greeted Brudvik with congratulatory handshakes. 

[My January 19, 2026 complaint to Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC), which has the authority to suspend or revoke certification of law enforcement officers. Documents for  my CJTC report # P-20260119-00002 were  submitted separately as attachments. This complaint illustrates selective and retaliatory policing, as well as severe deprivation of equal protection, and reckless disregard for human life by Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk.] "On November 4, 2025, Blaine WA Chief of Police Rodger Funk voluntarily testified on behalf of convicted violent felon David Brudvik in Whatcom District Court, where Judge Angela Anderson issued protection orders and surrender of firearms against Mr. Brudvik for threatening to murder four open government activists, including myself, for requesting public records that revealed perjury, self-dealing, and fraud by Blaine officials. https://www.thenorthernlight.com/stories/judge-denies-request-for-protection-order-recons...

January 18 letter to Blaine City Council: The January 15, 2026 request for proposals to overhaul Blaine's land use codes (see below) reminds me of the  Freeman Real Estate Scandal  when on March 13, 2025 Freeman Realty listing agent and city planning commissioner Sam Randhawa committed perjury and self-dealing voting himself a $50K windfall by rezoning two properties to benefit his clients (see attached).  Request for Proposals to Simplify Land Use Codes City of Blaine seeks to solicit proposals to simplify its code and reduce overly burdensome regulations related to land use and development.  Affordable housing is needed in Blaine and often government regulations add unnecessary costs to construction and development.  Blaine seeks a professional third party to complete a comprehensive review of its land uses and development codes, as well as the standards and specifications for development construction for unnecessary, duplicative, or other overly bur...

January 17 letter to Blaine City Council: When law enforcement officers  threaten the state legislature , or join in the  U.S. Capitol riot  against federal lawmakers, or testify on behalf of a convicted violent felon who  threatened to murder open government activists  as Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk did on November 4 in Whatcom District Court, they can  lose their badge . Chief Funk has been reported to the  Criminal Justice Training Commission  for decertification as a law enforcement officer. Let's hope the CJTC is more responsive than the Whatcom County Prosecutor Eric Richey who has shrugged off Funk's misconduct, and Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown who ignores the problem.

[from Donna] On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we are reminded that justice is not a slogan — it is a duty. Dr. King warned that,  “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” His words remain relevant today, especially in Blaine, Ferndale and Whatcom County...particularly when those entrusted with enforcing the law fail to provide equal protection under it. Dr. King understood that the greatest threat to democracy is not criticism of government, but government that shields itself from accountability. When investigations are compromised by conflicts of interest, delayed without cause, or redirected from those who report wrongdoing, justice is not merely postponed — it is denied. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law. That promise does not disappear when the accused holds power, wears a badge, or occupies a position of authority.  How many people have stripped four death threat victims of their Fourteenth Amendment rights? Law enforcement e...

January 14 letter to Whatcom Democrats: I belong to Whatcom Democrats because they oppose bigotry and punishing the poor. I would be more active with Whatcom Democrats if they included open government in their civic agenda. By open government, I refer to government transparency, open access to public records, meaningful public participation in governance, and accountability of public officials. In the City of Blaine, we have none of the above, and we need Whatcom Democrats to step up to help us end this  civic nightmare  where citizens holding their government accountable are threatened with murder by a friend of the mayor.  Whatcom Prosecutor Eric Richey has known about this for two years and done nothing other than support the convicted violent felon friend of Mayor Steward by not charging him for the death threats Whatcom District Court Judge Angela Anderson issued protection orders and surrender of firearms over. Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk voluntarily testifie...

January 14 letter to Blaine City Council: While Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger has mastered the art of fraudulent SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) determinations and Critical Area determinations in order to benefit developers, it was his predecessor, Stacie Pratschner (now development director in Mount Vernon), who set in motion the aquifer conflict in east Blaine by issuing a false SEPA determination for the land use zoning change that enabled planned unit developments over the city drinking water aquifer. Those developments--East Maple Ridge, Mott's Hill, and Creekside--now threaten the aquifer, Dakota Creek and Drayton Harbor, which is currently under a 303 TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) mandatory cleanup under the supervision of the Washington Department of Ecology and the EPA. Now, Blaine Hearing Examiner, Phil Olbrechts, is following in Pratschner's footsteps by removing key Department of Ecology evidence from the Avista at Birch Point SE...

January 12 letter to Blaine City Council: I first alerted Blaine City Council regarding mentally ill behavior by Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon in June 2024, when he play-acted that I was a threat to his child when shopping at IGA grocery store. I suggested that Harmon's apparent mental illness is a liability to the City of Blaine. Harmon is widely considered to be the real source of the so-called "anonymous letter" used by Mayor Steward to  demonize citizens  from  Water Planning Matters , who are holding the city accountable to state and federal environmental laws intentionally broken by Harmon and Community Development Services Director Alex Wenger. Harmon is widely considered the 'director' of the Mike Hill and David Brudvik live theatre at Blaine City Hall on October 13, 2025, when Brudvik threatened to murder four  open government activists  opposed to self-dealing by Councilman Hill and Commissioner Sam Randhawa as well as felony fraud by Wenger. As a pa...

[My letters to the editor of The Northern Light 2023-25 serve as a snapshot of local civics.] 2/02/23 The Editor: Our community would benefit from a visioning process – like we did for the new library – to gather public input on redevelopment of Blaine civic center, which includes the library, police station, skate park and old city hall site. Since these public holdings in the heart of downtown are contiguous, it’s possible to develop a master plan for the entire site. A new library, art center, affordable apartments and a parking garage are some of the ideas. Others may emerge as we hold a public discussion about Blaine’s future. If we want that future to happen for us rather than to us, we need to talk. Jay Taber Blaine 7/20/23 The Editor: Noticing the new sign on the former Wild Bird thrift store saying future home of Christ the King church, I wondered why a nonretail use is allowed in the heart of the tourism retail area between the plazas. After years of special downtown recovery...

After Blaine Councilman Mike Hill was watched by Blaine citizens on CCTV accosting Otto Pointer from Water Planning Matters, and convicted violent felon David Brudvik was watched on CCTV threatening to murder Mr. Pointer and his associates for holding Blaine accountable to state environmental laws, Blaine City Council has decided to remove the CCTV cameras from the council chambers.  While city governments nationwide pour resources into widespread CCTV in order to allegedly catch criminals, the City of Blaine is reportedly trying to hide the biggest criminals in town from exposure.

When convicted violent felon David Brudvik threatened to murder four citizens opposed to fraud by Blaine development director Alex Wenger and self-dealing by Blaine officials Sam Randhawa (planning commissioner), Mike Hill (councilman), and Gurdeep Bains (husband of councilwoman Sarbie Bains) at the October 13, 2025 Blaine City Council meeting, it is reported that captured on CCTV applauding the death threats was Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon's wife Ashley, an ARNP at Blaine Family Medicine. Harmon is widely considered the real source of the "anonymous letter" defaming the four open government activists that he claimed to have received and was then used by Mayor Steward to incite violence against these four citizens, who are routinely defamed by Mike Harmon and Mary Lou Steward. 

January 10 letter to Whatcom County Council: While the Whatcom County Council wisely saw through the City of Blaine empire-building annexation plans, and rejected the proposed Birch Point annexation, you have yet to act on behalf of the  public interest  by intervening in the  criminal enterprise  run by the Blaine city government. Now, the Blaine Hearing Examiner, Phil Olbrechts, has been caught  altering the public record  by  removing evidence  unfavorable to developers at Birch Point.  Whatcom County Council rejected Blaine's Birch Point annexation due in part to the existence of extensive wetlands and aquifers that  moderate flooding and pollution  of Birch Bay. The Avista Planned Unit Development is adjacent to the rejected annexation area, and according to Washington State  Department of Ecology maps , contains  extensive wetlands and aquifers . Whatcom County Planning uses the DOE maps, but Blaine created their own...

January 9 letter to Blaine City Council: While it became almost routine in 2025 for Blaine Community Development Services Director Alex Wenger to commit felony fraud by  altering the public record  (see attached) to remove citizen comments unfavorable to developers, it is a  somewhat  new development for Blaine Hearing Examiner Phil Olbrechts to do a little of his own 'ethnic cleansing' of the public record. (We're accustomed to him being biased toward the city and developers.) Olbrechts  removed evidence  from the public record that showed the city had used  fraudulent maps  showing little or no aquifers and wetlands where state and county maps showed a lot of each. Those fake city maps were exposed under cross examination, so Olbrechts removed the state and county maps from the record. Learn more at  Water Planning Matters , waterplanningmatters.org

Blaine Hearing Examiner Phil Olbrechts  has  removed evidence from the official record  on  the Avista SEPA appeal by Water Planning Matters (WPM) against the City of Blaine. This evidence submitted by WPM disproves city claims. Hearing Examiner Olbrechts simply removed Department of Ecology maps and Whatcom County maps that contradicted the City of Blaine's maps regarding water quality, climate projections, and aquifer mapping. "The Hearing Examiner effectively dismissed the evidence and 95% of the top 10 mitigations expressed by Blaine and Birch Bay citizens.  These mitigations are based on over 200 public comments  and expert witness testimony and technical reports."

(from Donna M.) Imagine the horror of being one of four victims of a death threat and you discover that at least two [police] officers hid intake calls containing material evidence in a death-threat investigation. Not one. Two. Maybe more.     The chief of police—who was under an active criminal Official Misconduct investigation initiated by one of the victims just weeks earlier—retained control of the entire investigation.     Ask the only questions that matter: Why? What was so important that evidence had to be excluded? Who was being protected?  Why would all of these officers be involved in such an egregious act? Was this a full-blown conspiracy against the victims who were outspoken critics of the mayor and the city government and officials?     Here are some of the things I said in that intake call that got buried:     “I don’t feel like this guy did this on his own at all. You know, he’s never been to a city council meeting before, we’...

Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk and Officer Zachary Taxdahl apparently cooked the books on the so-called investigation of citizens opposing financial conflicts of interest by Blaine officials.  Instead of investigating proven allegations of perjury, self-dealing and fraud by Blaine officials, Blaine police were used by the mayor and city manager to intimidate open government activists who exposed Commissioner Sam Randhawa, Councilman Mike Hill, and developer Gurdeep Bains for 'self-dealing'. Chief Funk then sent officers to the homes of the open government activists with notices that we are banned from Starbuck's, Bordertown Mexican Grill, Blaine Visitor's Center, and Chevron (tenants of Mike Hill). After we informed Starbuck's attorneys, Chief Funk phoned us to say we can now shop anywhere but Chevron. He will be getting a call from their attorneys as well. Additionally, Chief Funk chose to testify on behalf of a convicted violent felon in the Whatcom District C...

Washington legislators and local governments have been brainwashed by the real estate industry to believe that allowing developers to build whatever they want wherever they want without regard to the law is somehow going to magically solve the homeless crisis. The problem with this delusion is that cities seek luxury housing for higher tax revenue, thus driving up rents, property taxes, and utility bills by making land more valuable and water more scarce. That will increase homelessness.  This scenario is now playing out where our environment and public participation are being trampled on by local government planning departments in bed with developers who commit fraudulent environmental determinations in order to generate home sales taxes. Local governments locked into this greedy scenario refuse to even consider requiring quid pro quo agreements with developers, where in exchange for increased density they make a percentage of units available for low-income tenants. This is class ...

 [from Donna M.] Questions for the Blaine Police Department Regarding the Investigation and Handling of a Court Verified Threat to Murder Was the individual who issued a threat to murder four critics of your boss, the mayor, formally interviewed by Blaine Police? This is a binary question…yes or no. If yes, on what date, by which officer, and where is the recorded interview? Why did we not receive it in the PRA request for the police report? If no, why was the primary suspect in a death threat not interviewed?  Isn’t this the most   basic police procedure … especially in a death threat investigation? On May 21, 2025, Chief Rodger Funk stated: “I’ve conflicted two cases out… one was an allegation that we didn’t adequately investigate an incident in Blaine, and because the complaint was against how we investigated it, I asked another agency to look at it again.” Given that four citizens formally complained that a credible death threat against them was inadequately investiga...