Ah ha! I bet “Jumpy and Grumpy” Jack Louws is mad already. He certainly got in Joy’s face and was quite rude to her at a public meeting two weeks ago.

Really, Jack Louws significant act is ramming this boondoggle jail down our throats and the County Council meekly went along with it. It was only after public outrage that the Council started thinking about some of the problems.

A vote for Jack is a vote for waste of public money and further problems with too-high incarceration rates.

A vote for Joy is a vote for sanity in the County and restorative community.

Thank you for the article, I did not expect my words to be published, but I am good with that. And, I am delighted at the opportunity to run for office.  It is an honor actually to stand up for Right Action today. 

And I wish to correct the idea that the pressure to stand down came from any particular sector.  It did come, but it came from a source that was concerned and thinking on a whole different level than I had thought, frankly.  So it was appreciated that I got insights into other ways of seeing things.  It was surprising however.  And it is a new experience getting what I would call “very strong” guidance from so many different people who have differing opinions and worldviews.  So, while I did receive encouragement to withdraw from the race, I would not really “blame” it on the “good old boys”.  I find those are divisive words simply because they mean so many different things to people that may or may not be accurate, or current. There are different types of “good old boys”, and from my history working across the county, I imagine some will want me to run, and some may not. 

At the same time, it has been interesting how many times I have been told to “stand down” in the past five years. It happened with the Port project, with the jail project and now with running for elections. Why is standing up for the people something worthy of that kind of resistance?  I think having discussions is necessary for freedom to prevail.

I have learned that some factions truly do not want to engage the public in any debate at all about “the regional jail project” as it was recently called.  I think that is absurd to not talk to the people who have to pay the bills.  Here is why:
 
1) Some of those taxes will run in perpetuity for generations - which is a huge debt liability for our grandchildren. 
2) This is not only the single largest capital project in Whatcom County’s history, it will have a massive overhead and operating cost that will only expand as costs of gas and housing go up - and retirement expands for increased staffing.
3) Most people have not realized that this is also the biggest expanse of a regulatory bureaucracy - and it is being planned without transparency and without an open discussion about those implications on the people, on jurisdictions, on opportunity costs.
4)  This has been done without a taxpayers Needs Assessment and SWOT analysis, and no market analysis of solid community alternatives that would allow the people to downsize the jail the Executive Branch wants to build.
5)  This purchase is huge, and the overhead will be ongoing and expanding operating costs.  In this case, if markets shift, then it could be disastrous for the taxpayers and eventually could bankrupt the citizens. 

Frankly, these things have all kinds of implications to civic governance, to business people and taxpayers.  Why wouldn’t the taxpayers need to know and discuss the ramifications? While it might be technically “outside the scope of planning to build a jail” it seems to be within the scope of public safety for the taxpayes.  This should be a raging conversation in my opinion.  It is simply illogical not to talk with the people about it in transparency and with solid public debate, so the people can bring their best solutions to the table, and so that the Councils have te best choices, and the people are fully informed.

Run, Joy, RUN !!!