Five days until election day.  5 days!!  Our county auditor sent a notice Tuesday that only 7% of ballots have been returned. In the August primary, by the same seven days before the election, over 11% of the ballots had been returned. This is not good. General elections are supposed to have higher turnouts than primary elections. This is an important local election.  

Why are we voters of Whatcom County dragging our feet on filling out our ballots? Well, I think we all know. It's those 12 amendments to our county charter. The Voters Pamphlet is multiple pages of fine print text and seven of the amendments have only a partial analysis. I wrote Charter Amendments for Whatcom County two days ago. If I could find another well presented analysis, I would post a link. But I cannot find one. Let us all know in the comments if you are aware of one.  

Notes on election issues and candidates

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Oh yes, the GOP and Dems have listed their endorsements - but with zero explanation for their choices. I could link to both of their websites, but it is just as easy for me to show you here. So, here is a quick chart of what the Whatcom Democratic Party and the Whatcom Republican Party each recommend, along with what I recommended in my recent article. They give you no more information on each amendment than I show you here. They expect us to blindly vote as they dictate. Absurd. 

Below are my recommendations for other issues on the ballot.

Vote for Five Port Commissioners

The reason to vote for 5 port commissioners is to get better decisions from our Belligham Port Commission. Simple as that. Troika's have never worked when things got complicated. Three county commissioners were great 100 years ago when the primary job of Whatcom County was to build and maintain roads; it's the same with port commissions. Today's ports deal with much more than docks and railroad spurs. We county residents have perhaps a billion dollar asset in our port holdings. No private corporation worth that kind of money operates with less than five board members. 

Those few voices saying it will cost more if we add two commissioners are ignoring the millions of dollars lost by bad desicions. The ABC Recycling fiasco was a terrible decision by the three port commissioners. Buying the toxic Georgia Pacific property for $10 allowed GP to get out of hundreds of millions of dollars in legal cleanup costs. We paid $10 for a $500 million obligation. Idiotic purchase by the three commissioners. The KAP fiasco in 1991 when two out-of-town scammers took the Port for over $6 million dollars was the result of a closed process by three men blindly following staff advice. There are more examples, but these three should suffice.

For a comprehensive perspective on this Port issue, read Tip Johnson's Historic Port Vote here on NW Citizen. 

Ken Bell or Carley James for Port Commissioner

I am voting for Ken Bell because if we vote for five commissioners he will help buffer the two new commissioners from the bully on the commission: Bobby Briscoe. You can pin the ABC fiasco on Briscoe and port staff for manipulating the other two commissioners. The Port is a complicated organization - almost like an industrial development commission - and guidance from Bell and Michael Sheppard will be invaluable to the two new commissioners. And a vote for five commissioners will show our disgust with the ABC decision. Vote for five commissioners. On the other hand, Carly James is exactly the qualified type of person we want on the commission. If she loses to Ken, who is favored, then hopefully she will run for one of the new port seats if the expansion wins voter approval.  

8201 - the state constitutional amendment

Vote Rejected.  If approved, the retirement funds for all our state's public employees would be invested in Wall Street, hedge funds, and god knows what sort of investments. What could possibly go wrong?  Even the most judicious investing by the smartest people can be largely lost on a stock market collapse. It all goes swimingly for 20 or 30 years and then.... Investing is for discretionary funds, not public employee retirement funds. The only citizens who should be voting on this are those whose retirement funds would be invested. Let us keep these funds in safe, guaranteed, and insured savings. The rest of us have no business risking the retirement money of other people. Read Dick Conoboy's article Vote No On 8201 here on NW Citizen.

Bellingham Initiative 25-03

Vote NO. Apartment dwellers deserve a safe and peaceful place to live. This is legally called the right of "quiet enjoyment." This initiative would give extreme groups the right to enter private properties and conduct unwanted, uninvited solicitations. They would also be allowed to use common areas for political purposes, regardless of the views of the rent paying tenants. Home owners have the right to quiet enjoyment. Home owners decide if political signs are put up on their properties. Apartment tenants should have the same rights. This initiative is a dream wish put together as the tenants rights movement swings to the extreme.

Apartment dwellers: if this passes, you may see people whose views are apalling or the polar opposite of yours, in your apartment complex. Even neo-nazis. Apartments should be neutral places for living, not places for political demonstrations.

Michael Lilliquist vs Andrew Reding for City Council

We residents of Bellingham's southside are facing a carpet bagger trying to represent us. Andrew Reding is not part of our community and does not play well with others. Please help us retain Michael Lilliquist as our city council representative. Michael tries hard to represent our concerns and do what is best for Bellingham and the southside. He has mellowed with the years and is easier to work with. He really does his best and is an honorable person. Many of us who have worked for years on southside and Fairhaven issues are behind the reelection of Michael Lilliquist. He comes by our endorsements honestly. Read Tip Johnson's article Re-Elect Michael Lilliquist right here on NW Citizen. 

That's it. I wanted to cover these few issues and candidates. Sadly, our two newspapers have ducked giving coverage to issues. I was very disappointed in the Cascadia Daily for not covering the charter amendments. Why do they think we subscribe? Voting is the only real power we citizens have.