He offered to fax the two-page job description of the PR guy to me. I told him I had no fax but if he could leave a copy with his receptionist then I could stop by later in the day and get it. He said he would. And at 4:20 pm on Thursday, August 16, I entered the reception area and she said she would have the copy for me in a moment. Instead, he stepped out and said hi, offered his hand for a shake, and asked if I would step back to his office. I said I had to be at the County Auditor’s office before they closed at 4:30 but could for a minute.

I followed him the few steps down the hall and into his office door and he motioned to a chair by the door at a round conference table. He sat down and so I did - expecting he had some questions. He said nothing. A couple seconds later Pete came through the door glaring at me and yelling “You’re a liar. A liar. Your whole website is lies. It has been lies for years. All lies. You are nothing but a liar and everyone knows it.” That’s a paraphrase - very close to a quote. I said “Pete, you are on the record - do you realize that?” “I don’t care. You are a liar and everyone knows it. You post lies and it is just outrageous.”

About this time, Joe burst into the room past Pete and started yelling at me “You’re a liar - you’re a liar. I’ve known you for many years and you have been a liar all that time. And you are the worst liar in the county. You are marginalized, no one believes you and no one likes you and I don’t know how you can continue to print your lies on your website”. He said close to that or worse.

It was an ambush. I was sitting in a chair and they were standing, moving back and forth, pushing their faces at me and yelling at me. Yelling. Pete Kremen and Joe Bates. In Dewey Desler’s office in the Executive suite of the Whatcom County Courthouse. I wanted out - and said I was leaving. Joe called me chicken. Pete said I was afraid to discuss the lies I post. I said I had no desire to take that abuse and besides I had told Dewey I had to get to the Auditor’s office before they closed. More derisive words about my lack of being able to listen to the truth. So I said I would come back. I left.

At 4:34 pm I came back into the County Executive’s office suite. Joe was leaning against the far wall - and said “I lost the bet”. I had returned. The next 40 minutes are almost a fog - a surreal memory. I sat back down and they never sat down. The verbal abuse started up again. I felt like leaving but was fascinated that these two would be so arrogant as to think they could scream at someone, insult and berate so abusively and get away with it. It was like being called in by the Gestapo and given a complete chewing out and then told to leave and mind my own business and never step out of line again.

In reflection, I think they have done this to others and it has worked. They seemed to work off each other. They used the word ‘liar’ on me 40, 50 - maybe 100 times. I have no idea. They had printouts of my Northwest Citizen website and some other website pages they thought I was editing. I wasn’t editing others but they called me a liar when I denied it. Joe said my web pages had the words “Independent News” at the bottom and that was a lie. I told him the words were not there and never had been. “Liar” came back. And it was yelled from three feet with an angry face directed at me.

I asked what the lies were. Joe read how I posted that he made “...a nice salary.” He started ranting about this - how he took a pay cut to come to the county job from KVOS. He read a list of the things he has done on his new job - read from two pages he held - and yelled at me to not interrupt and to listen. I wanted to know the lies. He wanted to know why I had printed that he was working on Pete’s campaign when there was no evidence. I pointed out his presence at forums and I had heard from others I trusted and that what I wrote was my opinion. I asked if he was helping on the campaign and he said no. He challenged me to allow him to submit a rebuttal and I said he could submit and I would probably post it but no promise as I don’t sign blank checks. He said I would never print it - but I told him to send it to me and I probably would print it - if it was to rebut my opinion that he was working for Pete’s campaign. He said he would. (The next day he declined to submit.)

The yelling and the calling me a liar continued by both of them. I really wanted to leave as it was really an abusive experience. But I stayed - I was not in physical danger and it was just too unreal. If you are being yelled at by the Gestapo you cannot leave and physical harm is a real threat. I was physically safe. These two guys were just two dysfunctional and gross thugs who were in power. They were exposing themselves to me for what they were - a couple of bullies. A couple of guys who thought they could browbeat me down and scare me into not posting any criticism of them again.

The idea of free speech being threatened is usually something we think of in relation to the Federal government. Gentle reader, it is also threatened by local government people. These guys tried to shut me up by scaring me - insulting me and making me feel like a chump. They were not angry for a couple minutes - it continued for the better part of an hour. And when I did get up to just walk out each of them stuck their hand forward for a hand shake. And I - like an idiot - shook them.

Dewey? He sat there quietly. Took some notes. My guess is he was there as the witness if I were to agree that my post was a lie. I felt that he had set up ambushes before. There are more subjects that were brought up and that I was told I was a liar about - and I will probably post some of them over the next few weeks.

This experience left me traumatized - and I enjoy healthy political give and take. These guys were out to humiliate me and demean me. They were dumb. I may sit there and take their abuse - but I am now posting up the truth - what they did. My guess is they have gotten away with this in the past. My guess is others have suffered this. And that it has worked. Perhaps county employees who could not afford to lose their jobs. Perhaps people who did work with the county who depended on Pete’s goodwill for their work. Perhaps just citizens with some question of information that they did not want public.

Pete is not worthy of public office. I supported him when he first ran and won in 1995 - and was one of only about 10 people at his celebration that election night. I have worked on many campaigns for 30 years and have never seen a person run for office expecting to become corrupt. But after about 10 years in office I have seen most of them become corrupt - arrogant, abusing power, bending the law, getting land-buy deals from developers, doing favors for their friends, and other corrupt practices. Pete has become an arrogant and gross bully. Joe Bates is his partner and they appeared to be co-dependent on each other.

By posting this I hope others who may have suffered will take heart that this sort of abusive activity can be exposed. By posting I hope others in official power will look carefully at Pete to see if he is abusing others. And, if so, act to stop it.

The next day I was still staggered. This was written about 30 hours after the abusive session, while it was fresh in my memory but when I’d recovered a bit. I will be posting more later of what they said. If they deny it then I’ll let my integrity go up against theirs. I’m just a citizen who speaks out more than most others. It is my right as an American. These three guys tried to take that away from me. I will speak out even more from now on.

It was the August 16 post that they objected to. It was put up about noon that day and my request to the county was for more information on Joe Bates.