Blaine Confidential

[March 25 letter to Blaine City Council: A while back, Blaine proposed changing its name to Blaine Harbor, presumably to become a tourist destination like Friday Harbor. Of course, Friday Harbor has the whale museum, ferry rides between the San Juan Islands, and lots of fine art. Still, it never hurts to dream, but  Monday March 23 Blaine City Council entered the Twilight Zone , declaring themselves above the law by exonerating the Blaine Chief of Police for alleged wrongdoing because Chief of Police Rodger Funk and City Manager Mike Harmon decided he was not guilty. No need to let the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) complete its investigation of Funk begun March 9, 2026. Mary Lou Steward, Sonia Hurt, Richard May, Don Enos, Sarbjit Bains, Isaac Newland, and Jiggy Sorrell have essentially declared themselves judge and jury, declaring Funk innocent, and citizens who filed complaints with the CJTC guilty.  In light of this latest in a long line of rea...

March 24 letter to City of Blaine: The proposed  Creekside at the Ridge  PUD in East Blaine is part of the  Urban Growth Area  (UGA) recently rezoned for high density residential development, despite Washington Department of Ecology concerns for this  Critical Aquifer Recharge Area  (CARA), and the high cost of purifying drinking water contaminated by urban pollution.  I first brought this concern to the attention of the City of Blaine, Whatcom County, and the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board in 1994, as  designating the CARA a UGA could cost Blaine taxpayers  hundreds of millions of dollars, based on costs incurred by the City of Bellingham to remove urban pollution from its municipal water, supplied by Lake Whatcom. Seattle, in contrast, purchased its drinking watershed, which is what I proposed to Whatcom County in my November 24, 2025 letter  CARA PROTECTION DISTRICT PROPOSAL . The revelation by Water Planning Matt...

  To: Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission Professional Standards / Certification Unit CC: City of Blaine City Clerk Re:  Limited supplemental submission regarding March 23, 2026 City action, retaliation, witness chilling, and pre-judgment in matters involving Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk Dear Commission: This supplement is limited and incorporates my prior submissions rather than restating them in full. I submit this supplemental letter to add new March 23, 2026 evidence that is materially relevant to the pending certification matters involving Chief of Police Rodger Funk, and to request that the Commission evaluate this new City action as evidence of retaliation, witness chilling, pre-judgment, and compromised neutrality toward complainants and witnesses. On March 23, 2026, the City of Blaine placed on its consent agenda a  Request for Council Action  prepared by City Manager Michael Harmon concerning Resolution 1996-26 and Resolution 1997-26...

My issues of concern are local, but reflect a statewide crisis caused by a betrayal of trust by local governments. Many citizens no longer trust public officials to tell the truth or follow the law, and for good reason.  This is not a partisan issue, but a constitutional crisis for our society. Democrats and Republicans have abandoned the public welfare for private wealth care. Low income seniors and young people paying off student loans can no longer survive in our society, and the real estate industry is partly driving this crisis. By asking nothing in return of developers who drive up rents and utility bills for low income people, local governments are causing the homeless crisis to worsen.

Blaine Anthropological Society (BAS) asks the perpetual question, "How did we get into this mess?"  The answer is that you won't find out by reading The Northern Light, the developers' voice.  Maybe we should start a real community newspaper that isn't in bed with the real estate industry at city hall.

In Blaine City Council lifts downtown building, design requirements for one year , Blaine Planning Director Alex Wenger said,  “I would look at it like an economic stimulus package that’s valid for up to one year." Interesting euphemism for looting public assets on behalf of a Canadian developer. Part of the municipal give-away by Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward and City Manager Mike Harmon approved by Blaine City Council on March 9, 2026 is all downtown on-street parking for the hundreds of condominium tenants coming soon. Those public parking spaces were built by Blaine taxpayers.

The A-1 above-the-fold story in The Northern Light this week is a home decor boutique for real estate staging service . Recent A-1 stories include BP Cherry Point celebrates the Seahawks . During this debut by Kari Mar as the new publisher, Blaine open government activists alleged criminal misconduct by Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon, Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward, Blaine Hearing Examiner Phil Olbrechts, Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk, and Blaine City Councilwoman Sarbie Bains.  No mention of any of this in The Northern Light.

Washington Coalition for Open Government president and former Seattle Times executive editor Mike Fancher reports on the legislative battles in Olympia protecting the public's right to know what their governments are up to. In Blaine, we have fought the same battle to obtain public records .

The contemptuous conduct of Blaine City Council is something straight out of the President's playbook:  lawlessness, looting, and thuggery.

During her two-months as publisher of The Northern Light, Kari Mar has done two major stories; one in which she allowed Ferndale Police Officer Richard Hart to call open government activists in Blaine criminals for holding Blaine officials accountable for self-dealing, and another in which Mar covers up the crimes by Blaine officials that took place on March 9 at the city council meeting, where the city conferred unlawful privileges on downtown developers, including Councilwoman Sarbie Bains' husband, Gurdeep.

Astounding as it is that the citizens of Blaine have tolerated the misconduct of Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon for the last three years since the city unwisely hired him, it is reprehensible that the new publisher of The Northern Light--Kari Mar--has in her brief tenure at the helm allowed her newspaper to defame open government activists who revealed him and his staff to be committing crimes to benefit developers. When Harmon convinced the city council to confer special privileges to downtown developers on March 9, including Councilwoman Bains, by removing building height and parking restrictions, he was gifting all downtown on-street parking to the developers free for their condominium tenants, likely in the hundreds as six-story buildings replace existing small businesses, which will no longer have any parking.  The Northern Light maintains silence on the issue of municipal corruption, a feature of Blaine City Hall added by the hiring of Harmon, but never an item in the news. ...

March 15 letter to Blaine City Clerk: From: Jay Taber 715 G St #22 Blaine WA 98230 tbarj@yahoo.com (360) 371-4387 To: Samuel Crawford City Clerk City of Blaine 435 Martin Street Blaine, WA 98230   Date:  March 15, 2026 Re: Follow-on demand for formal investigation, referral, and Council action record; Ordinance 26-3043   Dear Mr. Crawford:   I write as a follow-up to my prior complaint already submitted to your office regarding the March 9, 2026, adoption of Ordinance 26-3043 and the alleged undisclosed conflict of interest, non-recusal, and related misconduct arising from that vote.   This letter is not a restatement of that complaint. It is a formal demand that the City state, in writing, what action has been taken, what authority governs the City’s response, and whether an independent investigation will occur.   The City’s Rules of Procedure require that all regular and special council meetings be recorded by the City Clerk or designee. Rule 13 further p...

March 15 letter to Blaine City Clerk: Dear Blaine City Clerk Samuel Crawford, On March 12, 2026, I attempted to make a police report about alleged misconduct by Blaine officials and city administration through the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office regarding the March 9, 2026 adoption of Ordinance 26-3043, the  downtown Interim Zoning Control Ordinance . I was advised that the Sheriff’s Office would not take the report and that the City of Blaine has an internal process through the city clerk or city manager. Since Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon is a party to the alleged government misconduct described, I am contacting you. This complaint is submitted as a supplemental and escalated priority misconduct complaint, building directly upon the formal complaint submitted to the Department of Justice and Attorney General on June 14, 2025 (see attached), which alleged criminal conflicts of interest, public record manipulation, and procurement fraud in connection with Blaine Ordinance 25-302...

CONTACT INFO Nick Brown , Washington State Attorney General 1125 Washington Street SE, Olympia, WA 98501 publicintegrity@atg.wa.gov      nick.brown@atg.wa.gov    tienney.milnor@atg.wa.gov    Eric J. Richey , Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney     erichey@co.whatcom.wa.us      Tom Seguine, Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney     311 Grand Avenue, Suite 201, Bellingham, WA 98225     tseguine @co.whatcom.wa.us        TEMPLATE LETTER TO SEND TO ABOVE CONTACTS To: Attorney General Nick Brown Office of the Attorney General Attn: Criminal Justice Division / Appropriate Integrity Review Unit 1125 Washington Street SE PO Box 40100 Olympia, WA 98504-0100    CC: Tom Seguine, Civil Deputy Prosecutor, Whatcom County    Re: Request for Attorney General investigation, City of Blaine Ordinance 26-3043, self inurement and targeted private benefits for developer and ...

Blaine City Councilwoman Sarbie Bains must be removed from office for self-inurement (self-dealing) on Monday, March 9, 2026, when she voted to remove restrictions on development downtown where she and her husband own three commercial properties that increased in value by her vote. That is a crime requiring forfeiture of office . The Whatcom County Prosecutor, Washington Attorney General, and State Auditor must charge and prosecute her, but they won't do that unless they hear from concerned Blaine citizens.  Contacts:  Deputy County Prosecutor Tom Seguine  tseguine@co.whatcom.wa.us  (360) 778-5729 Washington Attorney General Nick Brown  publicintegrity@atg.wa.gov Deputy State Auditor Kelly Collins  kelly.collins@sao.wa.gov

Katherine George, a Seattle attorney and a member of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, is unsurprised by the state’s dismal grade for public disclosures. Widespread misperception persists, she says, that unreasonable delays in complying with open-records requests are permissible if based on staffing constraints. “Often, agencies could eliminate backlogs if they devoted as much staffing to records disclosures as they do to public relations,” George says. Obtaining records would be faster and easier if agencies “worried less about over-disclosing, which is protected from liability, and worried more about under-disclosing.” George is concerned Washington may be backsliding on its commitment to ensuring citizens’ access to government records and data. Washington’s Public Disclosure Act was originally enacted with fewer than a dozen exemptions for disclosures. The number of exemptions today stands at more than 400, and the total is growing. -- Washington gets D+ grade in Integri...

March 13 letter to Whatcom County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney: The March 9, 2026  self-inurement by a Blaine City Council member is the second incident  we at Blaine Water Coalition formally  reported to the county prosecutor's office , the first being June 14, 2025, regarding self-inurement by a Blaine Planning Commissioner. Two 2024 incidents of self inurement by another city council member were informally reported to the county prosecutor and the state auditor's office. SAO Deputy Kelly Collins is currently looking at government misconduct in Blaine, in particular the  four incidents of self-inurement  by Blaine officials, manipulation of public records and process, and cost shifting from developers to municipal utility customers. I am one of four  open government activists in Blaine  holding our city accountable. For our efforts, we have been defamed by the mayor and city manager, and based on their demonization of us we were  victims of death...

March 12 letter to Washington Attorney General, Public Integrity unit: Please see the attached  misconduct complaint against Blaine City Councilwoman Sarbjit K. (Sarbie) Bains , who on Monday night, March 9, 2026  voted to change zoning to financially benefit her family's multiple commercial properties in downtown Blaine .  Since I was a  candidate for city council appointment in July 2025 , one month after Blaine Water Coalition of which I am a member  filed a complaint with the State Auditor and Attorney General against Blaine Planning Commissioner Sam Randhawa for self-inurement , Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon and Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk began defaming and intimidating me for holding Blaine officials (Councilman Mike Hill, Commissioner Randhawa, and now Councilwoman Bains) engaged in self-inurement accountable.  Whatcom County Sheriff Donnell Tanksley was former Blaine Chief of Police, so it is necessary for Washington State to intervene to ...

No mention in The Northern Light story on suspension of the rules for downtown developers approved by Blaine City Council members Monday night, including Councilwoman Sarbie Bains, whose husband Gurdeep Bains is a downtown developer who owns three commercial building sites. The last time Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon asked the council to suspend the rules was on June 23, 2025, when he violated electoral law by attempting to have Sarbie Bains appointed without allowing others to apply.

Kari  Mar's  lecture  in the current Northern Light is to provide cover for her not publishing letters critical of city government. Mar's ace card is that she says verification of facts by her staff takes time, and since they don't have time, nothing important gets published. Just like her news section.