Go back and read that headline. Over $330k raised and spent on elections in Whatcom County . . . so far. It is only September and we have yet to see the big independent expenditures kick in. This is just the money the candidates themselves have raised and mostly spent since May. That is a mind-boggling amount of money. To help put that in perspective, I've gathered some comparisons about what we could do with $330,000 in our community.
- Provide 44 students a full ride scholarship at WWU for a year.
- Run our juvenile court program (minus probation officers) for a year and a half.
- Pay most of the bill for a jail planning firm to deliver us a plan that is too large for our needs.
- Hire five new patrol officers for the City of Bellingham Police Department
- Triple the number of service providers in our Whatcom County Mental Health program.
The fact that this much money is cascading into our community for positions that pay $20-30k is obscene. That said, I am "The Political Junkie" and you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you so here is what you really want to know: Who is buying off whom.
Here is my breakdown of the County Council candidate's fundraising.
Then this is where I examined the Port candidates.
Before completing with the City Council candidates.
Take your time, if you find anything I've missed, feel free to comment here on NWCitizen and discuss it. Before you start filling out that ballot, it is always helpful to know who else has filled out a check for the same person.
