Former candidate for Whatcom County Council smears County Executive Satpal Sidhu / Noisy Waters Northwest, Sandy Robson

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Screen Shot 2020-06-17 at 12.47.11 PM

Screenshot taken from a January 15, 2020, online article published by The Northern Light showing a photo of Satpal Sidhu being sworn in to office on January 11, 2020

June 17, 2020  Sandy Robson

These last few weeks or so have reflected a turbulent period of time in our nation’s history after the unmistakable and terrible scene we witnessed in Minneapolis where George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck, pinning him on the ground for nearly nine minutes. Continue reading →

Primer on the forces behind negative campaign ads attacking Satpal Sidhu’s candidacy / Facebook post, Sj Robson

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Screen shot of the (C1 report) for the Coalition for a Better Northwest Washington filed with the Public Disclosure Commission. The C-1 report, originally filed on August 21, 2019, as shown in this screenshot, displays a submission date of October 22, 2019

November 2, 2019  Sandy Robson

Currently, Tony Larson is running for Whatcom County Executive against Satpal Sidhu. A political action committee (PAC) named the “Coalition For a Better Northwest Washington,” was recently formed to support Larson’s candidacy, and to oppose Satpal Sidhu’s candidacy. Continue reading →

Satpal Sidhu’s responses to my questions about a sanctuary ordinance and farm workers on the Riveters Collective Ask Me Anything event / Dena Jensen

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July 27, 2019 Dena Jensen

One of the great election-related services that the Riveters Collective — which organizes and supports actions in Whatcom County and local communities — offers to our community, is their Ask Me Anything (AMA) events on Facebook, where members of their Facebook group can ask questions to find out what they want to know about candidates running for office during election season.

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Why there was reform to talk about at the Whatcom County Community Justice Forum / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic image of the Whatcom County Courthouse with people on the steps and a branch in the foreground to access audio recording of the Whatcom Community Justice Forum on Soundcloud

July 26, 2019 Dena Jensen

I listened to the KGMI recording of the Whatcom Community Justice Forum today. There was a lot of good information presented, however it did seem rather like a giant campaign ad for Sheriff Elfo with a final plug for a new jail thrown in at the end. There was actually less focus on a new jail in the forum, though, than there was when Sheriff Elfo was on KGMI’s Saturday Morning Live radio broadcast last weekend.  

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On prohibiting additional fossil fuel refineries at Cherry Point / Facebook post, Sj Robson

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July 18, 2019 Sandy Robson

In listening to part of the audio recording of the County Council Special Committee of the Whole (SCOTW) meeting held Tuesday, July 9, 2019, Council member Barbara Brenner made a motion to remove a proposed code amendment which would prohibit additional fossil fuel refineries at Cherry Point. Council member Satpal Sidhu seconded that motion, and then there was a discussion by the Council. The code amendment pertains to Whatcom County Code, and would be to address the County’s Comprehensive Plan policy specific to Cherry Point.

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‘26,000 bucks a door is just a hard pill to swallow’: delinquent renovations of the Whatcom County Jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to access the YouTube video of the Whatcom County Council March 12, 2019 meeting.

March 20, 2019 Dena Jensen

County Council Member Rud Browne expressed the sentiment twice at the Whatcom County Council March 12, 2019 regular meeting during the Council committee reports segment near the end of the meeting. One exact quote was: “Yeah, so anyway, anyway, so, I just, 26,000 bucks a door is just a hard pill to swallow.”

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Stay on top of actions that will help reduce further injustice at the Whatcom County Jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Scope of services being proposed incremental jail renovations

November 7, 2017  Dena Jensen

To try to stay on top of actions that will help reduce further injustice being perpetrated on incarcerated individuals at our downtown Bellingham jail I sent a letter today to Whatcom County Council and Deputy Executive Schroeder today about the consent agenda item on the Council’s Finance and Adminstrative Services Committee agenda tomorrow (11/8) about renovations on the downtown Bellingham jail. You can send one too! : council@co.whatcom.wa.us.

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Both Councils Ignore Jail Studies / NorthwestCitizen, Juliette Davis

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Jul 15, 2017  Juliette Daniels

On Monday, July 10, The Vera Institute presented its preliminary data findings on the Whatcom County justice system at a special meeting of the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF). It took months for the Vera Institute to obtain the necessary data on the County Jail population in 2016, but the results confirmed stunning racial disparities in the jailed population, as well as a sizable pre-trial population that could be significantly reduced with the use of evidence-based methods of incarceration prevention. Continue reading →

Accounting of the 6/27/17 afternoon Whatcom County Council Special Committee of the Whole RE: the jail agreement / Noisy Waters Northwest

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scotw 062717 cob letter

Click the graphic to  access the complete 6/20/2017 letter from the Bellingham City Council to the Whatcom County Council

July 1. 2017  Dena Jensen

On June 27, 2017 the Whatcom County Council’s Special Committee of the Whole (made up of all seven council members) met for an afternoon session to discuss the letter they had been sent by the Bellingham City Council regarding the currently proposed Jail Facility Finance and Use Agreement.  I listened to the audio of the meeting and wrote up fairly detailed summaries of the comments and discussions during the meeting that I had posted in the comment section to a Facebook post. I thought I would share that material here to give more people access to the information, since it might come in handy over the next few weeks while the JFFUA is under consideration and the potential looms of a .2% tax to finance a new Whatcom County Jail going on the November 2017 ballot.  Here is the link to the audio for that meeting: Special Committee of the Whole PM June 27 2017.mp3

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