Commenter Role • Member since Apr 04, 2016
"John-thank you for your insightful article about the Port Commissioner race. It was an eye opener! I as a liberal and environmental conservationist would have bought the Shepard line had [...]
"We in the Grandview area of Birch Bay have the smell of sulfur much of the time. Tonite it was especially strong. It wasn’t “gaggable” but evident none the [...]
Will be posting election recommendations today. Have not had time for some good posts the past week.
Reliable rumor has it that another weekly newspaper will start publishing in early November
So the Public Disclosure Commission is investigating Foster without any complaint. Yet they pretend to not know of flagrant violations of the PDC laws being committed by Mark Asmundson as Mayor - to w
I’ve just posted up a commentary by Stephen Trinkaus on all the local elections. He gives the perspective of a liberal activist - one who has participated in the local process and knows what is happen
Today’s Herald devoted much of the first section of the paper to promoting the levy tax for EMS services, under the guise of reporting the issues. They printed two big graphs showing increases of resp
That is the question making the political rounds this afternoon. Foster Rose, who came in third in the primary election for mayor, today endorsed Mayor Mark Asmundson for reelection. Foster’s voters h
Tip Johnson has written the best analysis of the mayor Mark’s record that will appear anywhere. Tip, a hero to local environmentalists and liberals, takes an honest and courageous look at Mark Asmunds
The Bellingham Police Guild will endorse Don Hansey today for city council. Their executive board voted 100% last night to endorse Hansey and not Bornemann. To most political observers this will be a
The City Council yesterday evening showed their disdain for public process and for state laws against using city facilities for promoting campaign issues. And in their afternoon session they bowed to
telling me they are voting for Brett Bonner for mayor. Some very prominent ones - but they are not going public. Why not? Fear of retaliation.
Why are they against Mark? Two reasons in general.
are abuzz about the trap Brett Bonner stepped into on Tuesday evening at the Labor Council. Dave Warren blindsided Brett without even allowing an introduction. They jammed questions at him, and baited
The two differed strongly on several issues. The differences between them are becoming more apparent and this should continue for the next two weeks.
Brett continues to develop his Lake Whatcom
Port Commissioner by Sheri Ward
So what happened to all the heat among contenders for this race? It was only a few short weeks ago… (<a href=”http://nwcitizen.us/oldsite/elections/2003/ben
We need one to follow Asmundson during the next three weeks - and to nudge the Herald to do minimal checking of facts before publishing. I’m referring to Friday’s post below, where it was noted how St
If you’re a liberal and just figure you’ll vote for Mark for mayor, then read Tip Johnson’s analysis of the two candidates. Compared to John Stark’s report in this morning’s Herald, Tip gives a far su
Mayor Mark is in trouble with young liberal activists - just the voters who normally would support a liberal mayor. But they are remembering his presiding over police and court abuses that targeted yo
I am posting commentary on the election races by several very qualified local political observers who have agreed to write up their views of selected debates, candidates and issues. The first one i
The first of three Bellingham Herald Election Forums is taking place this evening at the County Council chambers.
The forums are being broadcast live on KGMI radio, 790 AM. You can see the vide
Indeed, I watched CBS news and they have the story now. (see 3 pm below) Still nada at the CNN and FOXnews websites. A search shows nothing. Novak of CNN wrote the article that exposed the identity of
How many war prisoners is the USA holding? 6,000? A new website is trying to track all the foreigners the USA is holding in secret prisons or not telling us about. Amnesty International is involved. T
All week I’m hearing from political pros how Mark will still beat Brett for mayor. Mark is too smooth, they say. Mark knows what to say in every situation. Brett is doing a poor job of exposing Mark’s
Did you know that US soldiers who get wounded in Iraq and are hospitalized in military hospitals - for amputation of their foot or other treatment - are then charged for the food they receive in the h
The look of this home page has changed today. The flag is larger and now fits official flag specs. My thanks to Conrad Suckow for this. While it is larger, the image for downloading is 1/20 the former
25 ballots today. In the only close race, Don Hansey has firmly out-polled Sheri Ward. Given how the Herald viewed the big absentee count on Friday afternoon, we can expect them to tell us tomorrow m
The dates of the Lunch Time Soapbox Forums schedule has been adjusted. It will now start on Wednesday, October 8, instead of the 1st as originally posted. The forums from that first week have been mov
Don Hansey has out-polled Sheri Ward and will face Terry Borneman for city council representative from the 5th Ward. Terry polled only 44% and probably faces a stiff race to retain his seat. Don is to
Were 8 US soldiers killed yesterday, besides the 3 being reported? We may not learn for days, weeks or months. As casualties mount, the US military appears to be playing with the numbers. The US only
Foreign Internet news sites are reporting 8 US soldiers killed in Iraq today. Nothing at the CNN, Fox and MSNBC websites. These reports are three hours old. What is happening? That would total 11 US b
It is humbling and most satisfying to see the voters choose for change in leadership at City Hall and the Port. For an incumbent to get less than 40% of the vote is a mandate for change. Ginny and Mar
The Auditor will post election results in almost-real time this evening. First post should be about 8:15, and because of the very few races the evening count may be done by 9:30.
The first live
I doubt it. Most visitors are political experts - elected, bureaucrats, reporters or junkies - and have their own candidates to support. Few casual citizens even know of this site. Regardless, below a
So now the US is crawling to the UN asking for help in Iraq. And asking France and Germany to help. George W and his Neo-conservatives are facing the abyss - defeat and humiliation.
Gentle read
A new political pressure group is organizing to try and slow the growth of Whatcom County and Bellingham. Pro-Whatcom claims to be a diverse grassroots group of citizens but is actually a savvy
Phone outage in Whatcom County, Bellingham and much of Skagit County since 7:45 am this morning according to news reports. KGMI is on top of this and the Bellingham Herald is posting special reports o
AlJazeera’s English language website has finally opened. This is the Arab news site that scooped the US news media on a weekly basis during the war last spring. The US Government supposedly blocked th
According to today’s Herald, editorial page editor Carolyn Nielson is on leave. Eric Thomas, who has been writing goofy editorials aimed at humor, is now going on vacation. So - during the two weeks l
You would think the Port of Bellingham getting a windfall of $17 million would be news. But since posting that here - and scooping the paid news media in Bellingham - they have ignored this. Th
Ginny Benton, seeking her third term as commissioner, stated this evening at the Rome Grange that she will not respond to the “mud slinging” being done against her. She will “not stoop” to dignify thi
At yesterday’s forum, the mayor and four challengers faced the audience for over an hour of questions. The forum does not allow them to use notes, so the give and take is very entertaining as well as
Go pick up today’s issue of the Bellingham Weekly and read the Skinny. It reports on the Bellingham Police giving jaywalking citations to downtown merchants who have dared to criticize the police. The
If you are interested in giving the raspberry to George W when he visits Washington State next week, then check out www.stopbushseattle.com and make travel plans. W is coming here for some photo ops o
If you like a good read then check The Door to War and the Futurist Markets article. The author takes the concept of a Terror Futures Market and looks at how the world works.
Amazing. I can call the supposed president of our country insane and my conservative friends only object to the f word. This is an adult site. If my “credibility” rests on that, then folks know nothin
Tuesday afternoon, the Bush administration back peddled from the Terrorist Futures Market idea under fire from Senators from both sides and ridicule from news media. You should know this plan was not
They are proposing a future’s market on terrorism, assassinations, atrocities and war. These guys figure out a way to make money on most anything. So this is their vision of the future - war for profi
The Bellingham Herald has good reporting in today’s paper on the City Council’s stumbling into a $300,000-plus gift to a local business. The business happens to be owned by one of the best friends of
Just to finish the reporting on the carpenters, the union members approved the new contract, which retains their health benefits. The basic reason they went on strike was to avoid cuts in these health
A tentative agreement was reached last evening by the carpenter’s and the contractors associations. Construction will resume on all the sites Monday morning and and the agreement will go to a vote of
The Associated General Contractors and the Carpenter’s Union will meet tomorrow morning to try and settle the health benefits dispute and end the strike, which has stopped major construction projects
The carpenters’ strike continued all day Friday - at St. Joe’s Hospital and at several other large construction sites around Bellingham. Nada in the Herald, of course. All over Western Washington, sit
The carpenters’ strike at St. Joe’s Hospital continues. They are also striking several other construction sites around Bellingham. The dispute is over the construction industry association reducing th
