November 11, 2023 Dena Jensen

Below is the email I sent to the Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force today:

Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2023, 12:06:47 PM PST

Subject: Whatcom jail campaign season is over but what will be its legacy?

Dear Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force:

It seems apparent that a majority of voters have agreed to an increase in sales tax to fund a new Whatcom County Jail and the other projects noted in the ordinance for the tax associated with Proposition 2023-4. Now that Election Day has passed, I wanted to make sure you were aware of an action the YES! Safe Jail, Healthy Outcomes Political Action Committee took near the end of their campaign to support the sales tax. 

I am bringing this forward for a few reasons. One is because there are some officials who serve on the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force and one of its subcommittees who also were members of the YES! Safe Jail, Healthy Outcomes PAC. These are IPRTF members, Whatcom County Council Chair Barry Buchanan and Lynden Mayor Scott Korthuis, as well as a member of the IPRTF Behavioral Health subcommittee, Peter Frazier, who served as chair of the PAC.

My other reasons involve the action’s implications – on top of those of a couple other other 2023 election season issues I have previously brought to your attention – related to race, equity, and the pursuit of the goals of your task force.

I will describe the PAC’s action in detail a little further on in this email, but in general it is a Facebook post they made on November 2, 2023 that never got circulated much. However, the facts that it did surface on social media, and that information reached KGMI about details on which the post was focused, are indicators to me that there was potential for similar types of targeting of the No Mega Jail in Ferndale Political Action Committee which had occurred in the Facebook post, to also have gone on in phone calls, email, and any canvassing that was done. 

Even if it was the post alone that was problematic, one reason it is significant is because the organizations which were affiliated with and endorsers of the No Mega Jail in Ferndale PAC were nearly all ones whose focus is to contribute to and advocate for racial and social justice, some of the members of which may have experienced racial or social injustice themselves. The Facebook post, which targets a campaign fueled by members of these groups and a financial pledge/contribution from a foundation which strives to ensure equity and racial justice through the grants they provide, should serve as a warning to be vigilant in guarding against future actions supported by those serving on government bodies that can increase discrimination, marginalization, and incarceration in our county.

The November 2, YES! Safe Jail, Healthy Outcomes PAC post demonstrates that there is potential for members of your task force or other local government agencies, to resort to such unjust actions when pressure is on to achieve a specific goal that is seen to be critical and urgent. This is part of the insidious and odious nature of systemic racism and injustice. And it is particularly dangerous to individuals who are part of disproportionately mistreated groups in our community who get caught up in our dicriminatory system of justice.

I sense such matters are of importance to your task force because of the language in the Land Acknowledgement you revisit at each meeting and because, as your task force reported in June of 2022, Whatcom County became a member of the Local and Regional Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE).

On November 2, 2023, the YES! Safe Jail, Healthy Outcomes PAC made a Facebook post which stated:

“Yes campaign: $37k from 90+ Whatcom county donors. 

No campaign: $75k from a Seattle nonprofit and not a single Whatcom county donor. 

Yes campaign: Endorsed by nearly all elected leaders and candidates. 

No campaign: Endorsed by…I don’t know. Go find out.”

The post included a link to a post on KGMI’s website entitled, “Group against new jail funding gets massive donation from Seattle foundation” which raised a few specific points about a $75,000 donation to the No Mega Jail in Ferndale campaign on October 30, 2023. (The PDC report filed on October 30, shows the $75,000 as a pledge. In PDC filings so far, the No Mega Jail in Ferndale PAC shows $3,938.61 in expenditures and $3,918.31 in debt.) 

In the political dog whistle style post, the YES! Safe Jail, Healthy Outcomes PAC targeted a PAC supported by at least 23 organizations, the members of the vast majority of which, for years, have directly provided services and have raised awareness to promote racial and social justice in our region. These organizations are listed on the Who We Are page of the No Jail in Ferndale website which carries a copyright at the bottom of the page with the name of the No Mega Jail in Ferndale Political Action Committee.  This PAC is registered with the PDC as Opposing #2023-04 Whatcom Co Levy, Bond or Advisory Vote 2023.  Here is the list of the organizations:

Whatcom Peace & Justice Center

NW Youth Services 

Community to Community Development 

UFC3000

Whatcom DSA

Whatcom Civil Rights Project

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

Racial Justice Coalition

Community First Whatcom

Birchwood Food Desert Fighters

WA Poor People’s Campaign

Western Academic Workers United

Showing Up for Racial Justice Whatcom

ReproJustice Bellingham

No Whatcom Jails

WA Peoples Privacy Network

Veterans for Peace Chapter 111

Whatcom Human Rights Task Force

Whatcom Coalition for Anti-Racist Education

Families of the Incarcerated

Bellingham Unity Committee

La Resistencia

Bellingham Tenants Union

The $75,000.00 in funds highlighted in the YES! Safe Jail, Healthy Outcomes PAC post came from the Inatai Foundation whose mission statement is, “Our mission is to transform the balance of power to ensure equity and racial justice across Washington and beyond.”  The post of the PAC supporting #2023-04, with its accompanying KGMI post, identified the potentially politically triggering Seattle location of the Inatai Foundation and no information about the focus and work of the organization. 

The post informed readers of the official nature of the endorsers of the “Yes campaign” and claimed ignorance of those endorsing the “No campaign,” when the amount of research involved to identify those endorsers is negligible. By not taking that effort and pointing others to do the work instead, the YES! Safe Jail, Healthy Outcomes PAC indicates the endorsers of the No Mega Jail in Ferndale campaign as entities not worthy of respect. In the case of who endorsers are of each of the two PACs, the post pits government officials, some serving in the most formidable local positions of power, against grassroots organizations advocating for racial and social justice in our community. 

This kind of campaign game does not take place on anywhere near an even playing field in this instance, and I believe many of you are aware of that. 

Now that Proposition 4 has all but officially passed, you have a big lift ahead to move forward in the Justice Project Implementation Plan without taking advantage of these same kinds of discriminatory conveniences in the process. This can result in a very unbalanced approach to the projects which Justice Project proponents and the Implementation Plan itself have professed will be balanced.  

The organizations that joined together in opposition to Proposition 4 know the dire threats to life and well-being that individuals of groups they serve face at the hands of our existing justice system and in the absence of critically needed services. Now they have been exposed to new examples of unjust actions during the recent campaign season that help bolster and perpetuate those dangers. In turn, those kinds of actions may end up creating more obstacles to your task force building trust and developing engagement with communities of color; unhoused individuals; those with mental illness or disabilities; those living in poverty; or those who are currently incarcerated (to name a few).

I call on you to take all actions necessary to make amends to those who have been unjustly treated, and to make frequent and robust use of Whatcom County’s membership in GARE and all of the resources it offers. I remind you that related to the racial equity tools offered by GARE it is advised by the Alliance that, “The earlier you use a racial equity tool, the better. When racial equity is left off the table and not addressed until the last minute, the use of a racial equity tool is less likely to be fruitful. Using a racial equity tool early means that individual decisions can be aligned with organizational racial equity goals and desired outcomes. Using a racial equity tool more than once means that equity is incorporated throughout all phases, from development to implementation and evaluation.” 

I call on you to recognize that many of the members of the organizations who joined in opposing the expediting of funding for a new jail facility – that is anticipated to be able to incarcerate more of our community members – are people who have been working long before your task force was formed to do what it takes to prevent and reduce incarceration. Members of the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force would be wise to make unprecedented efforts to become their allies in this pursuit rather than putting themselves in positions to be their opponents. 

I call on you to move forward in all Justice Project planning with early, ample, and meaningful input from those communities at risk of being disproportionately locked up in any new jail facilities, and from those who continue to suffer from aspects of the County’s management and delinquency of life safety renovations at the current Whatcom County Jail. 

Sincerely, 

Dena Jensen

Birch Bay, WA

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This email was sent to the following addresses:
To: IPRTaskForce <iprtaskforce@co.whatcom.wa.us>
Cc: peter.frazier@gmail.com <peter.frazier@gmail.com>; council@co.whatcom.wa.us <council@co.whatcom.wa.us>; ccmail@cob.org <ccmail@cob.org>; G. CC. Immigration Board <immigrationboard@cob.org>; Health <health@co.whatcom.wa.us>; phab@co.whatcom.wa.us <phab@co.whatcom.wa.us>