“Another example of audience-inciting was the October 2011 Gateway Pacific Forum hosted by the conservative Northwest Business Club and the Whatcom County chapter of Citizens Alliance for Property Rights (CAPR), and emceed by Lynden resident and long-time property rights espouser, Ron Reimer, who is heavily involved with CAPR, owns a local excavating business, and who some theorize as one of the authors of the Whatcom Excavator blog, a Tea Party and property rights oriented blog whose authors continue to cloak themselves in anonymity. Videos of this forum posted on the Northwest Business Club’s website (which have since been removed) that were reviewed, showed Reimer working the audience into a froth, at one point likening the local environmental organization, RE Sources, to Nazis reporting on people, referring to RE Sources’ routine checks on property owners and farmers to ensure pollution protections are being met. Reimer waved a piece of paper in his hand that he said contained a list of 50 environmental organizations, which in his mind are evil enemies of property owners. Property rights groups’ leaders strive to cause their followers to see red, when they hear the word green.

“The forum audience included farmers, local politicians including Ferndale Mayor Jensen, some of the County Planning Commission members, and more. The featured panel speakers included; Republican Senator Doug Ericksen who was also running for Whatcom County Executive at the time; Washington state Republican congressional candidate during 2011 and 2012 John Koster who made headlines during his candidacy for saying “the rape thing” is not a good enough reason for a woman to have an abortion; former Northwest Central Labor Council President and co-founder of Northwest Jobs Alliance Dave Warren; Dick Donahue a financial advisor who hosts a radio show on KGMI; Ferndale resident Perry Eskridge, a land use attorney who is the Director of Governmental Affairs (AKA lobbyist) for the Whatcom County Association of Realtors; and Steve Neugebauer. a hydrogeologist who according to an October 11, 2011, article in the Whidbey News-Times is known for his questionable wetland science presentations for property rights groups, and for fighting the Washington state Department of Ecology. Both county and state specialists criticized his wetland study referred to in the article.”