Riley Sweeney

Citizen Journalist • Member since Aug 10, 2009

Riley Sweeney, raised in the Pacific Northwest, moved to Bellingham during the Bush years, worked on a cross-section of political campaigns during the Obama years, and then fled to the comfort of public service during the Trump years. Before joining the City of Ferndale as their Communication Officer, he wrote a column with Northwest Citizen and then his own blog, the Political Junkie, where he brought humor, insight and a suspicious amount of pop culture references to Whatcom County political reporting. The archives of that blog are available in the linklog at the bottom of Northwest Citizen. Currently, he lives with his wife Bryna and his two darling children, in the rolling fields of Lynden.

Articles by Riley Sweeney

Washington United for Marriage: It’s Time!

By Riley SweeneyOn Dec 06, 2011

Writer's Note: Sorry for the delay in getting this article out, it has been a busy week. Last Tuesday, just over 75 people gathered in the Fairhaven College auditorium to [...]

UPDATE: City’s response focused on favoritism, not lost revenue

By Riley SweeneyOn Nov 30, 2011

More documents released today as a result of a follow-up public records request by the Political Junkie illuminate more of the city's response to employee moonlighting. For a [...]

TPJ Exclusive: Little Documented Oversight for City Employee Moonlighting

By Riley SweeneyOn Nov 28, 2011

Little Documented Oversight for City Employees Moonlighting as Private Contractors Almost a year after two employees were fired over a similar controversy, the city of Bellingham still has few [...]

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Recent comments

"What a bunch of FANTASTIC choices for the Bellingham Planning Commission. I’ve known both Mike and Iris for many years and trust their judgement completely. I’m so glad [...]

Mar 03, 2017 on
City Planning Commission Transformed

"Adding some more information to this discussion, a group of Black Lives Matters activists have launched “Campaign Zero” that is working to provide actionable policy solutions to the law enforcement [...]

Aug 21, 2015 on
Black Lives Matter, Occupy WS & Whatcom Jail

"We aimed for a sample size of 500 - we did 2,000 calls and previous robopoll efforts had netted a 25% response rate, however in the dead of summer, our response rate was [...]

Jul 29, 2014 on
Northwest Citizen Releases Polling of Whatcom Voters

"While I appreciate your points about a small sample size, that is a fair point there, I reject your premise that someone with a bias is unable to conduct a [...]

Jul 29, 2014 on
Northwest Citizen Releases Polling of Whatcom Voters

"Great article, really cuts right to the point.

May 23, 2014 on
Montana & Wyoming to WA: Permit Coal Export Terminals... Or Else