Blaine Confidential

The remark about over 50s being no use by a reader on Next Door indicates a sentiment of intergenerational betrayal. That sentiment is reinforced by cities that cater to luxury developments for well-heeled seniors, moving here in droves, driving up rents and utility bills for the young and not well off.  The costs of growth are rarely examined by cities hungry for home sales taxes, the higher the better. Blaine's growth will soon put us in a higher rate for wholesale electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration. Expanded sewer and stormwater treatment capacity to accommodate luxury housing will cost us a bundle.

January 26  Blaine City Council   voted 5-0 (Bains, Enos, May, Newland, Sorrell) to approve Avista at Birch Point   planned unit development. The development was opposed by   Water Planning Matters   (formerly Blaine Water Coalition). Mayor Steward recused herself, and Councilwoman Sonia Hurt was reportedly hiding in the backroom. Sorrell refused to recuse himself, despite publicly supporting   death threats   against Water Planning Matters   open government activists   by his friend David Brudvik, whom Judge Anderson ruled threats to murder. The applicant for Avista, Wayne Schwandt, was also the developer of Sea Smoke, which has caused downhill flooding for Semiahmoo homes, as well as roadway damage. Schwandt received a setback to his plans at Birch Point, when  Whatcom County rejected the proposed annexation by the city of unincorporated Birch Point . The City of Blaine has lower environmental protection standards than the county , mak...

January 28 letter to Ferndale City Council: Ferndale Chief of Police Matt Huffman conspired with Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk   to defame four 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 (see attached). Ferndale Police Officer Richard Hart covered up felonies by Blaine officials, ignoring public documents proving they committed perjury, self-dealing and fraud. Hart then defamed us in retaliation for filing a complaint against Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk with the WA Criminal Justice Training Commission. This defamation was repeated without question by The Northern Light newspaper, after Chief Funk sent them the November 14, 2025 Ferndale Police Report (see attached) hastily concocted by Officer Hart on Chief Huffman's orders. This violation of my constitutional right to equal protection under the l...

January 27 letter to Blaine City Council: The January 21, 2026  letter to the editor  by former Blaine City Councilman Rhyan Lopez thanks our "outstanding city manager" (who committed  perjury, fraud and defamation  of those who opposed him). Lopez then thanks Blaine Police Department for it's "integrity" (even as three Blaine police officers, including Chief Rodger Funk, face investigations by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission for  violating the U.S. Constitution  equal protection rights of the mayor's opponents).  Topping off his shameful career on council, Lopez on October 13, 2025 presided over the town hall where convicted violent felon David Brudvik  threatened to murder  four people for holding the city manager, mayor, and chief of police accountable. While Lopez made sure to cut off his opponents at the two-minute mark, he gave Brudvik and other friends of the mayor several minutes extra to speak, most notably ...

January 27 letter from Donna M. to Blaine City Councilman Isaac Newland: Council member Newland,    I did not know who you were before you entered Blaine politics. That gave you an opportunity most people do not get: a clean slate.  The first time I noticed you was the night a convicted violent felon publicly threatened to murder four citizens. I watched the video carefully. You did not clap. When I later saw you at a council meeting, I recognized you and introduced myself and congratulated you for that. I meant it.  Last night made it clear that my initial assessment was wrong.  With Mayor Mary Lou Steward recused from the Avista vote, you were given your first real taste of power in Blaine politics. From the citizens’ perspective, you failed—miserably.  Let’s review what you presided over.  The city attorney, Peter Ruffatto, invited comments on whether any council members should be excluded from participating in the vote. A citizen raised a legitima...

January 27 letter to Blaine City Council: Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon is widely considered the actual source of the so-called "anonymous letter" he produced, that Mayor Steward relied on to demonize  open government activists  holding her, Councilman Hill, and Harmon accountable. As such, Harmon is likely the instigator of the Brudvik-Hill incident at Blaine City Hall on October 13, 2025, when convicted violent felon David Brudvik threatened to murder four of the open government activists, including me, while former councilman Mike Hill led a lynch mob standing ovation. Former Blaine City Councilman Mike Hill, owner of Chevron, Starbuck's, Blaine Visitors Center, and Bordertown Mexican Grill, has a record for assault and battery.  Brudvik spent 30 months in prison for two drive-by shootings . As a city councilman, Hill committed two acts of criminal self-dealing by voting to increase the value of his commercial properties in the Central Business District. On October 2...

It isn't easy being a Drayton Harbor oyster. Currently under a 303 listing at the EPA for Category Five (filthy) human and canine fecal bacteria pollution, Drayton Harbor is unsafe for humans.  Some of this urban pollution is possibly due to unregulated residents at Semiahmoo Marina, but the most likely culprit is the Lighthouse Point sewage treatment plant in Marine Park. (Cain Creek contributes additional human fecal bacteria to Drayton Harbor.) Marine Park was created over a municipal dump on state tidelands. Toxic waste seeps out into Drayton Harbor and Semiahmoo Bay. The old shipyard at Blaine Marina still has a toxic waste site nearby where petroleum products saturate the soil.  Mike Hill's Chevron adjacent to Drayton Harbor is the site of another toxic waste site on the waiting list for cleanup by the Washington State Department of Ecology. Meanwhile, benzene in the groundwater across Peace Portal from the Chevron station is headed for the harbor. In Drayton Harbor, tha...

January 26 letter to Ferndale City Council: While the president's ICE gestapo murders law abiding citizens, the mayor's ICE LITE, Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk, Ferndale Chief of Police Matt Huffman, and Ferndale Police Officer Richard Hart--who authored the defamatory November 14, 2025 FPD report  framing four Blaine open government activists  as disruptive of governance  for exposing criminal misconduct by Blaine officials --now face investigation by the Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission for violating our equal protection rights.  Keeping in spirit with the ICE fascism,  Chief Funk supported convicted violent felon David Brudvik  in Whatcom District Court on November 4, 2025, when Judge Angela Anderson issued civil protection orders for the four open government activists Brudvik  threatened to murder  on October 13, 2025 at Blaine City Hall, directly in front of Chief Funk and Mayor Steward.  Steward later 'liked' Brudvik...

January 26 letter to WA Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC): On October 17 , 2025, Ferndale Chief of Police Matt Huffman--whose department was investigating a complaint by Blaine open government activist Donna McGaffic of misconduct by Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk and Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward--received a text from Chief Funk asking him to call. (Funk, at the time, was under a pending criminal Certification Complaint to the CJTC from Ms. McGaffic.) Chief Huffman immediately emailed Ferndale Police Officer Richard Hart, the officer investigating Funk for police misconduct, saying, “Can you make it a priority to finish this case? Apparently, there is now a complaint filed with CJTC, so Chief Funk is going to need our report.” Chief Huffman then emailed Chief Funk--the suspect of the investigation--saying, "The report is not done yet. Hart is off until Monday so I will get an update for you early next week.”   Huffman and Hart never contacted the four Blaine ope...

January 25 letter to State Senator Sharon Shewmake: Washington State's land use planning process is  designed to expedite development  to garner home sales taxes, regardless of environmental laws. Despite all the government  propaganda about public participation , the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and Critical Area determinations by cities and counties are not reviewed for compliance with state and federal laws by state agencies. Nor are these laws enforced by the state when concerned citizens document perjury, self-dealing and fraud by public officials at the behest of dishonest developers. Washington State needs to provide truly independent Hearing Examiners by creating a pool that cities and counties pay into in order to avoid conflicts of interest posed by Hearing Examiners paid directly by local governments. Enforcement left to the citizens is a  betrayal of trust  that is unfair and unlawful.

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...