MOTIVE AND OPPORTUNITY

April 4 letter to Blaine City Council:

FALL GUY

In my June 20, 2024 letter to Blaine City Council and Planning Commission I wrote,

As your unlawful land use scheme unravels city wide, and outside agencies bring the rule of law to Blaine, you will likely look for a "fall guy" to take the blame for your official misconduct. Now that City Manager Mike Harmon has gone off the rails mentally, he is the logical choice. 

A year later in my May 22, 2025 letter to the city and county I wrote,

For a while, it was anybody's guess whether Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon or Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger would be the fall guy for the City of Blaine's demise. Wenger committed fraud by falsifying environmental designations for developers and handing out permit variances to friends, but Harmon was his supervisor. Both Harmon and Wenger serve at the will of the Blaine City Council, but they are nothing more than Mayor Steward's parrots--with the exception of Councilman Lewis--who opposed this cabal with his motions on restoring oral public comment at city council meetings and adopting a code of ethics for city officials.

Harmon secured his choice of fall guy with his May 12, 2025 defamation of Otto Pointer, spokesman for Blaine Water Coalition, at the Blaine City Council meeting, which Harmon also did previously at a Semiahmoo event. As such, Harmon--once fired from his position--will find it next to impossible to locate employment in the public sector. Repeated malice aforethought is not something prospective employers look for in supervisory roles.

PRIME SUSPECT

In my September 14, 2025 report I wrote,

Regarding The Northern Light September 10, 2025, story about Mayor Steward's unhinged attack on Blaine Water Coalition, there's a clue in the alleged anonymous letter in the part about city employees accused of crimes by us not being able to get jobs elsewhere. As the person who defamed us several times on the record and in the press, Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon is the most likely to be sacrificed as the fall guy when the truth about Blaine becomes known. Harmon knows how precarious the city's finances are, and can see the writing on the wall with the UGA Swap--city hall's salvation--likely to go down in flames before the county planning commission as well as Blaine voters. Harmon has access to emails, and he has a lot to lose.

Motive + Opportunity + History of Retaliation = Prime Suspect

There are only two city staff who could lose their jobs for misconduct exposed by us: Mike Harmon and Alex Wenger, director of Community Development Services.

Revenge for my candidate interview testimony in which I noted Harmon's recent misconduct in attempting to get Sarbie Bains appointed to city council without consideration of other applicants--namely me and Ray Leone--is another factor. Since Leone has never identified himself as a member of Blaine Water Coalition, it is likely another retaliation for Ray standing next to me with his sign at the Free Speech protest.

I don't have the transcript of my candidate interview, but it was pretty damning of the Mayor and City Manager, as was my application for city council appointment.