Wed, Sep 17, 2003

A few words are in order. 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 Mark are getting less than 30%.

Ginny is gone. Her hopes for a better showing in the rest of the county are forlorn. If she cannot carry her district, she is out of there. Jim Jorgensen is an outstandingly qualified person for Port Commissioner. The other three candidates have already given their support to him. The powers that be behind Port politics have also quietly moved to back Jim. Ginny is out in the wind. Gone.

The mayor's race is different. Expect a lot of money to go into the general campaign. The conservatives - the BIA, the Republicans, the right side - have failed in every attempt to elect a mayor for over twenty years. This time they have a good candidate. And they have the support of many of us Independents, Libertarians and progressive Liberals. Foster may or may not support Brett, but those who voted for him will chose for themselves. Estimates from political operatives last night see 30% to 50% of Foster's votes going to Brett. Of course the vast majority of Russ Weston's supporters will vote for Brett. The feeling is even some of Sharon Crozier's votes will go to Brett. With that, we have a 50-50 race for mayor.

Even Terry Borneman is in trouble. If Sheri Ward wins the primary - and we may not know until Sep 26 - then Terry has a problem. Sheri is an activist who knows the issues and is supported by the very Liberals who supported Terry four years ago. Sheri can count on the conservative vote because she is a fiscal conservative. If Don Hansey wins the primary, then Terry can probably win. Don is way too far to the right for Bellingham. But - Terry has only 43% of the vote at this stage in the counting. For a Liberal incumbent from the Liberal 5th Ward of Bellingham, that says voters do not approve of his first four years. The rest of Bellingham is not as Liberal. With a good opponent, he will be turned out of office.

Tue, Sep 16

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 Internet election results from the Whatcom County Court House was the November 7, 1995 general election. It was on this NwCitizen website. Barry Bowen and I set up a computer in the rotunda with a dialup connection via nas.com and keyed in the results as we got the printouts from Shirley. We also took digital photos of the election night crowd and posted them up. We had fun and most folks thought our project a temporary fad. Tonight, one prominent mayoral candidate will entertain supporters at his home while they watch the results via Internet.

Mon, Sep 15

Can this website influence the elections? 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 are my thoughts on the primary election.

Mark Asmundson is a corrupt mayor and must go. He constantly surprises even politically savvy folks with his audacious duplicity. It has always worked for him. You have seen that oversized postcard showing the McRory's with Mark. Notice the text does not say they support him. The McRorys have told friends they are embarrassed about the use of the photo for Mark's campaign. Just a small example of Mark's MO. He runs the city with closed door deals. And, if you can remember back even a few months, they all cost us too much money.

I'm backing Brett Bonner. He is much more moderate than his old radio show suggested. He is intelligent, knows the issues and is experienced at management. He will be fair to all factions. My second choice is Russ Weston. Russ would be a very honest mayor and would not hurt our city. Foster Rose would be too much the advocate for downtown and as a council member was very arrogant. Both Brett and Russ will listen and work with all citizens. Sharon Crozier is too new to city issues. I hope she stays active in city politics. Regardless, I will strongly back whoever makes it through the primary against Mark.

Sheri Ward would make an outstanding city council member and I strongly support her. Terry Borneman has ignored citizen input for over three years and has discovered it only this summer. He is claiming and taking credit for things he actually opposed. The Herald reported that the building code height loophole was fixed with Terry on the council, implying his support. In truth, Sheri worked for two years to convince a majority on the council to close the loophole, with Terry voting against it. The Herald ommitted any mention of Sheri's role. Indeed, Sheri is running because of Terry's arrogant attitude towards citizens and his record of always voting for whatever mayor Mark puts before the council. Terry likes to close public hearings by calling for a council vote on the issue with no discussion of the input by citizens.

Sheri has worked for five years as a neighborhood activist and will bring a much needed independent attitude to the city council. We should not miss this opportunity to vote her in. Many conservatives think Sheri is liberal and liberals think she is conservative. In truth, her belief is for fairness to all. She wants city planning codes that don't allow planning staff to interpret them different ways for different applicants. Developers should support her as should any who support neighborhood values such as views and predictability of future developments.

Don Hansey really should not be running. His "20 years experience" is in the county and even that ended almost 20 years ago. He has not participated in any city issues. Don is very conservative and would be the shill for the Building Association.

Port Commissioner. As you probably know, I made my mark on local politics by exposing corruption at the Port about 10 years ago. I know the Port and how much it _could_ benefit our local economy. With three good Port Commissioners, we would be the most prosperous city in Washington State. We have not had that since the 50s. While commissioner Scott Walker and I disagree on much, he is our only intelligent and business oriented commissioner. He needs a second commissioner to make any improvements at the Port. Right now, Executive Director Jim Darling sets the agenda with Doug Smith and Ginny Benton his lap dogs.

I support Travis Holland but have to admit that Jim Jorgensen might be the best candidate. Travis knows Port issues, has served for years on government committees, is a working pilot at the airport and has much good business experience. Jim Jorgensen has a lifetime of marine experience in Blaine and has worked hard on Port projects up there. Jim brings maturity to the table.

Jack Grant is also very good and Ron Wilson would even be much better than Ginny. Jack is an attorney who works on trade and business ventures. The Port has squandered its free trade zones for years, with the commissioners not knowing how to develop them. Jack and Scott Walker would get those going. Ron Wilson is a fine guy with integrity and is a member of the Ferndale city council, but I think he is the least qualified of the four.

Ginny must go. Her personal legal and financial dealings are a mess. I have touched on them but have not fully exposed how bad they are. If she is dumped in the primary there is no reason to post them. More importantly, Ginny does not bring anything to the table at the Port. She just votes the way Jim Darling asks her to. She is deaf to any discussion of issues.

There you have it. Liberal and conservative values play a role only in which challenger you vote for. Most liberals who are active in city issues do not support Terry or Mark. Most conservatives tell me they are supporting Ginny while they hold their noses. Changes to these three offices will benefit all of us and will not offend the values of any of us. We are lucky to have such good challengers to chose from this year. Lets give them our votes.