REMOVE BLAINE POLICE CHIEF

On February 23, 2026, Whatcom County Sheriff Donnell Tanksley--former Blaine Chief of Police--wrote an op-ed suggesting that voters recall chiefs of police and sheriffs found by the Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) to have violated the law in their duties, rather than have them step down immediately upon being decertified by the CJTC as law enforcement officers. Current Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk is presently being investigated by the CJTC.

That is not the way to handle serious breaches of duty that violate the U.S. constitutional rights to equal protection under the law. When police are used to intimidate citizens for political purposes, it's wrongheaded to ask communities to vote on whether they support denying protection to minorities and advocates opposed to those in power. This makes me think Tanksley has Funk's back.

Tanksley's department declined to charge Blaine City Councilman Mike Hill when he accosted open government activist Otto Pointer, aka Geoffrey Baker, at the November 12, 2024 city council meeting. (Case #24A39027)

The CJTC investigation team might examine connections between Blaine PD and Whatcom Sheriff that were possibly a factor in the Sheriff's Department not charging Blaine Councilman Mike Hill for accosting an open government activist later threatened by Hill's convicted violent felon friend David Brudvik. 

Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk has used his office to prevent criminal charges against both Hill and Brudvik, turning his body mic off during the November 12, 2024 incident where a screaming Hill had to be escorted out of council chambers by Chief Funk, and persuading the Whatcom County Prosecutor to not charge Brudvik.