The Southside Forum last night had a packed-house attendance - showing a strong voter interest despite the mid-summer timing of the election and the lack of media coverage. The Herald could not bring itself to list the time and place in yesterday’s paper, only referring to “various neighborhood forums”.

Mayoral candidates:
To this listener, combining the two nights of forums, a pattern emerged. The incumbents respond to critical questions in a reactionary manner, down-playing problems and citing all the progress made till now. This group includes Don Keenan who was an integral team player with mayor Mark for years and Bob Ryan who has been on the city council for years. All of us have a viable next mayor in any of the three young challengers - Dan McShane, Seth Fleetwood and Dan Pike. All three provided new ideas in sharp contrast to rehashes of old talking points from Keenan and Ryan.

An example. For years, South Hill neighborhood residents have been trying to get the city to enact a view-protection ordinance. Sheri Ward led the effort on this before she became involved in the Whatcom Independent weekly paper. City Hall - with Ryan and Keenan on the team - could not have cared less. Last night Ryan, in response to a question about new tall buildings on the South Hill blocking views, said that despite no current view ordinances, “... no one would ever let that happen.” Guess Mr. Ryan does not know that it has been happening all during his years on the council. This was typical of the out-of-touch-with-reality responses from Keenan and Ryan.

Over the next couple weeks we can try and learn more about the three viable candidates. Let us hope any two of them make it into the General Election. The Bill Mize forum will give very little time to each of them but the Whatcom Independent forum on July 31 should give plenty of time and opportunity for us to compare these three excellent candidates.

City Council:
Same conclusion on the At-Large council race. Ham Hayes and Michael Lilliquist had fresh ideas and Louise Bjornson could only read her usual list of past accomplishments - and most of them council decisions which she did not always play much of a role in. She flubbed badly on the questions from the audience, stopping short on one answer by saying her time was up - while she still had plenty left. Ham and Michael both knew the problems that they were asked about and had thoughtful answers. We need them both in the general election so we can put them through a campaign and make our choice and get fresh thinking on the council.

An example. They were asked about the lack of budget oversight by the council as evidenced by up to $47 million not being spent on projects the council budgeted that departments later used on other projects. Louise had not a clue this was happening and said she thought that was for the reserve funds. Both Ham and Michael had studied this issue and gave similar answers, noting this has been occurring these past few years and the council has not dealt with it.

5th Ward candidates Bill Geyer and Terry Bornemann also answered questions although they are not in the primary. Again, challenger Geyer showed a better grasp of the questions the audience asked and provided fresh thinking. On that same budget question, Terry expressed bafflement and said he “... did not know…” that much was not being spent as budgeted each November. Bill said the unspent funds meant the departments were setting the priorities instead of the council. He said the council needed to carefully manage the budget as it evolved during the year. We are three months away from voting for one of these two and it should be an interesting campaign.

I hear that the local liberals are abandoning Louise but sticking by Terry. While the Rainbows and Dems may name her in their endorsements, as individuals many have little interest in helping her. Same for some of those prominent liberals who have endorsed her in previous elections - they are missing this time. Louise has voted too erratically too often and her previous supporters have finally figured that out.

There is a primary election we - including myself - have overlooked. It is the Bellingham School District Position 3. It has three candidates and will be voted on by all of us in Bellingham - plus by many in our rural areas near the city limits. Last night I met one of the candidates and was so informed. The three are now listed in the right column and I will link to their web sites as they go up.

So - these comments do not pretend to be “coverage” of the forums. These are my observations - and it is sad that the Herald was not even at last night’s forum. Nothing in today’s Herald about last night. I wrote more than the Herald on Wednesday’s forum and some told me last night that I did a better job. Well, the Herald reporters are so new to town they do not know the players nor how they became players nor what they represent. Many of you reading this have years or decades of experience in our local politics and read this to compare your thinking with what I write - and because this seems to be the only commentary available online. I hope for the general election to have some additional knowledgeable writers posting here with diverse but honest opinions.

We all thank Pam Went who was the primary organizer of last night’s forum at the old Firehouse Performing Arts Center on Harris Avenue. It was sponsored by the Coalition of Southside Neighborhoods.