Joy Gilfilen came out of nowhere and filed late Friday afternoon to run for county executive, challenging incumbent Jack Louws. She put up her own $1,538.65 to file for the position. On Monday, she resisted pressure to withdraw from the campaign. This evening she posted a statement on her facebook page. It says it all so nicely. Dena Louise deserves credit for selecting the core of her post - and I repeat that here.
Joy Gilfilen:
"You know what I am? I am a mom, a concerned parent. I am a business woman. I am a taxpayer and a citizen of this great county, part of a nation I have been proud to live in for a long time...and I have been far less proud the last while. And I have been proud to live here and work in this community for a very long time...until lately when I am a little less proud. And I am deeply concerned that my children's future is in a mess.
"So I have a responsibility. I have an obligation to stand up for what is Right Action. I am standing up for the true stakeholders of this community...the people of this community who care, deeply care about their legacy leave, not their pocketbooks. People who have invested lifetimes in conservation, good business practices, honorable ways of taking care of our community. I am standing up for the students who inherit our mess or our vision. I am standing up for those who are no longer listened to in the political machinery of competition.
"You see, I believe that our grandchildren need us to step up to the plate right now. They deserve a whole lot better than they have been getting from our Executive branch. And that is what I am running for.
"Today, I stand for decency in doing the communities business. What that will look like as a campaign platform, I will find out. This is not a game. This is real."
You can read her complete statement at her Facebook page. But you know to see her entire fb site you need to log in.
We look forward to hearing more from Joy. They mocked U.S. Senator Patty Murray when she first ran for office, and today the good old boys were trying to tell Joy she had no business running for county executive. Well, her post this evening seems an answer to them. We look forward to her campaign.
Comments by Readers
Walter Haugen
May 19, 2015Ah ha! I bet “Jumpy and Grumpy” Jack Louws is mad already. He certainly got in Joy’s face and was quite rude to her at a public meeting two weeks ago.
Really, Jack Louws significant act is ramming this boondoggle jail down our throats and the County Council meekly went along with it. It was only after public outrage that the Council started thinking about some of the problems.
A vote for Jack is a vote for waste of public money and further problems with too-high incarceration rates.
A vote for Joy is a vote for sanity in the County and restorative community.
Joy Gilfilen
May 20, 2015Thank you for the article, I did not expect my words to be published, but I am good with that. And, I am delighted at the opportunity to run for office. It is an honor actually to stand up for Right Action today.
And I wish to correct the idea that the pressure to stand down came from any particular sector. It did come, but it came from a source that was concerned and thinking on a whole different level than I had thought, frankly. So it was appreciated that I got insights into other ways of seeing things. It was surprising however. And it is a new experience getting what I would call “very strong” guidance from so many different people who have differing opinions and worldviews. So, while I did receive encouragement to withdraw from the race, I would not really “blame” it on the “good old boys”. I find those are divisive words simply because they mean so many different things to people that may or may not be accurate, or current. There are different types of “good old boys”, and from my history working across the county, I imagine some will want me to run, and some may not.
At the same time, it has been interesting how many times I have been told to “stand down” in the past five years. It happened with the Port project, with the jail project and now with running for elections. Why is standing up for the people something worthy of that kind of resistance? I think having discussions is necessary for freedom to prevail.
Joy Gilfilen
May 20, 2015I have learned that some factions truly do not want to engage the public in any debate at all about “the regional jail project” as it was recently called. I think that is absurd to not talk to the people who have to pay the bills. Here is why:
1) Some of those taxes will run in perpetuity for generations - which is a huge debt liability for our grandchildren.
2) This is not only the single largest capital project in Whatcom County’s history, it will have a massive overhead and operating cost that will only expand as costs of gas and housing go up - and retirement expands for increased staffing.
3) Most people have not realized that this is also the biggest expanse of a regulatory bureaucracy - and it is being planned without transparency and without an open discussion about those implications on the people, on jurisdictions, on opportunity costs.
4) This has been done without a taxpayers Needs Assessment and SWOT analysis, and no market analysis of solid community alternatives that would allow the people to downsize the jail the Executive Branch wants to build.
5) This purchase is huge, and the overhead will be ongoing and expanding operating costs. In this case, if markets shift, then it could be disastrous for the taxpayers and eventually could bankrupt the citizens.
Frankly, these things have all kinds of implications to civic governance, to business people and taxpayers. Why wouldn’t the taxpayers need to know and discuss the ramifications? While it might be technically “outside the scope of planning to build a jail” it seems to be within the scope of public safety for the taxpayes. This should be a raging conversation in my opinion. It is simply illogical not to talk with the people about it in transparency and with solid public debate, so the people can bring their best solutions to the table, and so that the Councils have te best choices, and the people are fully informed.
Ryan M. Ferris
May 20, 2015Run, Joy, RUN !!!