Satpal Sidhu is the candidate with the greatest technical expertise to enact policies and execute changes needed to meet the demands that growth will create in the near and distant future of Whatcom County. The committee agrees that he is a brilliant visionary who looks ahead with a 10 year view. He has the credentials and the ability to understand and explain  our most pressing issues; we believe the County would be in good hands with Satpal.

His impressive analytical skills, administrative experience, and policy knowledge will enable him to carry out his vision. He explained his understanding of county issues in depth, and advocates planning for unconventional solutions. He understands the financial grip of corporate control on our food distribution system, so advocates for increased support for local growers.

With a long time commitment to civic involvement and participation in local government, he has a record of bringing together diverse communities both professionally and in his personal life. He is responsible for the hiring of a Punjabi speaker in the Sheriff’s Department. He raised significant funds to build the Arch of Reconciliation which brought him the Peacebuilder Award. He recognizes our synergistic relationship with Canada and the synergistic needs we share with each other as a community.

We enthusiastically endorse Satpal Sidhu for County Executive.

While we appreciate the time and energy the candidate spent in our endorsement process, we sadly cannot offer endorsement to any individual candidate in this race. Our platform is bold. Unfortunately, the person interviewed for the Whatcom County Sheriff did not present a plan that we felt met the degree of progressive vision we espouse through our platform. As an organizing collective focused on civic engagement, we applaud people who step up to the plate and run for office. However, we hold all candidates to high standards, especially when it comes to incarceration issues.

Rebecca Xczar has both professional experience as a third generation real estate appraiser and elected experience on the Ferndale City Council to bring a fresh and needed voice to an open seat. She will modernize the office as she noticed the need for an updated database to streamline, improve access, and provide more information to county taxpayers. Her experience serving on Planning Commission with elevate her work as Assessor. We loved that she is an advocate for nonpartisan valuations, civic education and engagement.

Brian Estes is a believer with courage, as he’s running in a newly created position as a progressive in what is considered one of the most conservative districts in the county. He is a champion for mental health and disabled services, and will ensure that outreach and services are available in District Four.  He is a longtime member and volunteer for NAMI, and believes those experiencing mental illness are among the most marginalized in our community.

Well-acquainted with the Whatcom County Health Assessment’s report on the inequities in outcomes for both our city and county communities, he sees Public Health as being one of Whatcom County Government’s most important mandates. Brian is also a passionate advocate for 39% of our county population who are employed, yet still experiencing poverty. He believes no one who works full time should be in or near poverty, and data from ALIC supports his view that this requires a laser focus on wages.

We wholeheartedly recommend* Natalie McClendon for the position 5 seat on the county council.  Natalie’s beliefs, particularly her record as an environmental advocate align with our platform.  We’ll need her voice on the council to maintain a progressive majority to continue to limit expansion of fossil fuel exports from Cherry Point.  Natalie recognize the need to do better at monitoring and enforcing current environmental regulations.  And she understands and respects the protected treaty rights of our local tribes, seeking to work collaboratively for inclusive solutions to our current water challenges.

*After the primary election, the Riveters Collective board of directors voted to recommend Natalie as our preferred candidate in the general election.

Riveters Collective is thrilled to re-endorse incumbent Carol Frazey for Whatcom County Council At-Large position. With her enthusiastic and infectious energy, Carol told us her motto: “Whoever you are, we will help you.” She’s resourceful, seeking input from a wide variety of sources. We like her strong focus on solving upstream problems. She is thoughtful about the needs of people with disabilities.

Her concerns are our concerns. We valued her impressive commitment to public health responsibilities and mandates of county government. It seems that the theme of community health ties all her priorities together.

She loves doorbelling – an indication the value she puts on reaching out and communicating with her constituents. She is generous, warm and an advocate for hands on service to those most vulnerable in our community. She is just getting started service of great value to our wider County community and we believe she would serve us well in a second term.

Ferry deckhand Anthony Distefano’s lifelong maritime background, experience working with tribes, and commitment to protecting our most valued lands and sea contribute to our strong endorsement for his candidacy for Port Commissioner Dist. 3.  He communicates expert technical knowledge about threats to orcas and gray whales, and is an advocate for environmental clean up measures that exceed federal standards. In addition, he stands for proactive strategies rather than reactive measures with respect to point source pollution in our sea: replacing culverts, dealing with run-off, supporting activities such as those of the River Keepers.  He favors sustainable economic development, but not to the exclusion of managing public lands and waters in ways that honor the community’s values for preservation, conservation, and equitable access. Even as a candidate, Distefano is convening technical experts from county schools, WCLS, business, small cities and residents to a work group next month to ensure that this plan will be put into action.

In a crowded field of competent candidates, we’re excited to endorse April Barker for Mayor of Bellingham. April is passionate, articulate, and literate in progressive cultural change beyond policy and procedure. She is a seasoned community organizer with deep ties to her neighborhood. April has successfully built bridges between communities in the Birchwood neighborhood. She is anticipating future changes in our demographics and wants to lay groundwork for meeting the needs of an aging population and a young, more diverse workforce.  April believes it is vital that everyone in our community belongs and has a voice. She envisions herself as a bridge builder who forms partnerships with government and non-profit organizations for the benefit of the entire community, including those most vulnerable. She made a strong case for increasing city staffing and committing resources to HR to expedite hiring and job development, and offer more trauma-informed and diversity, equity, and inclusion training for all staff. We believe April is the leader Bellingham needs.

With two excellent options in the race for Ward 1, we endorse both Elizabeth Hartsoch and Hannah Stone. Hannah and Beth are both very qualified and either would serve the City Council with distinction.

Riveters would not exist without Beth because she co-founded the group back in November 2016. The vision she employed to form this group, gather like-minded people to help lead, organize to recall Doug Ericksen, dare to create a PAC and influence elections, and many other brave leaps into the unknown exemplify our belief that she would make an excellent city councilor. Beth would work collaboratively to include many perspectives, and has clear ideas about next steps.  We believe she fully embodies what the Riveters Collective stands for and aims to achieve in our communities.

With some great wins under her belt during her brief tenure on the City Council, Hannah’s work has just begun. As an immigration lawyer who was asked to be the front line of defense at the northern border when the Trump ban took effect, it is clear she walks the talk. It’s clear she perceives her role going beyond standing in solidarity towards elevating concerns of voices in the community. Hannah has worked to learn the ropes as a newly appointed person on the council, and feels she is now ready for action. Her values are strongly aligned with the RC platform.

In the election for Bellingham City Council, we endorse both Dan Hammill and Ashanti Monts-Tréviska.

Ashanti is an engaged community member and effective communicator who spent substantial time volunteering in non-profit and international organizations to create solidarity among marginalized people. She is definitely an advocate and reaches out to be a voice for the people with disabilities. As a person who lives through her own intersectional experiences, Ashanti has overcome barriers the other candidates have not faced. She would bring a valuable, and missing perspective to the Council.

Dan’s experience as a seasoned Council member is evident and truly an asset. He has a passion for criminal justice reform, early learning and climate action. Despite bringing broad knowledge to the table, he always seeks opportunities to learn, especially about marginalized people. We appreciated his awareness and accountability to his privileged position as a white man. We valued his input on supporting training for police in implicit bias, investing in children’s interventions, managing the campaign for the Bellingham Home Fund, and advocating for sewage treatment conversion to anaerobic digestion.  Dan has clear ideas about which next steps are needed to continue working towards a community in line with the Riveters Collective vision.

In the election to represent Ward 5, we endorse Chanan Suarez. He would bring a fresh perspective to the council. Advocacy is his gift. This self-described as a proud Jewish, gay, Navy veteran, and Democratic Socialist, and has extensive community organizing experience both in Seattle and locally.  Chanan is very knowledgeable and he brings valuable experience as a veterans’ advocate currently working to connect student veterans to services. He envisions bold approaches to housing issues such as City owned, tenant managed housing. Among his recommendations for dealing with the acute housing crisis, he advocates for short and long term solutions, including tripling City shelter capacity and safe shelter for specific populations such as the LGBTQ community. He seeks to heal the schism between environmentalists and unions by creating green living wage union jobs.

We endorse Hollie Huthman for the At-Large position on the Bellingham City Council.

We’re excited about Hollie’s entrance into seeking elected office because she’s an involved community leader and small business owner. She has been attending council meetings and checking in with organizations such as Northwest Community Services to learn as much as she can about what she cites as priority issues in the downtown core and the city at large.

Her primary issues include the housing crisis facing the homeless as well as low income residents, especially those finding difficulty earning a livable wage in the creative community, the nonprofit sector, or those in caretaking. She also prioritizes criminal justice reform: reducing incarceration through diversion and providing mental health services, as well as preventing incarceration by providing support to children in need from birth. She wants to see smart growth downtown that would involve providing diverse housing options and increasing the residential as well as business density downtown. She wants to lead the city in preparing for anticipated growth by providing alternative transportation infrastructure, and making green building incentives/ grants available to businesses. She believes Bellingham can be a state front-runner in meeting the state’s greenhouse gas emission standards.

Hollie has been a downtown business woman for the past 8 years. She has endeavored to hire a diverse staff in her business and believes the city should model similar hiring practices with staff who are more reflective of the diversity in our community.

While we appreciate the time and energy the two candidates spent in our endorsement process, we sadly cannot offer endorsements to either candidate. Our platform is bold. Unfortunately, none of the people interviewed for the Bellingham School Board presented a plan that we felt met the degree of progressive vision we espouse through our platform. As an organizing collective focused on civic engagement, we applaud people who step up to the plate and run for office. However, we hold all candidates to high standards, especially when it comes to the education of our children.

While we appreciate the time and energy the candidate spent in our endorsement process, we sadly cannot offer endorsement to any individual candidate in this race. Our platform is bold. Unfortunately, the person interviewed for Ferndale Mayor did not present a plan that we felt met the degree of progressive vision we espouse through our platform. As an organizing collective focused on civic engagement, we applaud people who step up to the plate and run for office. However, we hold all candidates to high standards.

We’re excited to endorse Ali Hawkinson for Ferndale City Council. She has strong values around centering marginalized citizens. She has a track record of action to support her values. She seems to us like someone who genuinely cares for others and tries to bring unheard voices forward. She’s a champion of the underprivileged and would serve Ferndale well in this position.

NOTE: Anya has withdrawn from the race.

We enthusiastically endorse Anya Milton for Ferndale City Council Position 3. Anya proved herself to be focused and action-oriented in our interview with her. We appreciated her vocal concern for under-represented community members. She demonstrated her experience advocating for and supporting those marginalized communities. Any was vocal about her respect for native communities in our area and how she hopes to honor them through her service. She wants to focus on youth in our community.

We sadly cannot offer endorsements to any individual candidate in this race. Our platform is bold. Unfortunately, the person interviewed for the Ferndale City Council Position 5 did not present a plan that met the degree of progressive vision we espouse through our platform. As an organizing collective focused on civic engagement, we applaud people who step up to the plate and run for office. However, we hold all candidates to high standards.

We enthusiastically endorse Maralise Fegan for Ferndale City Council Position 7. We perceived Maralise to be a thoughtful advocate for what community improvement should look like in Ferndale. We appreciated that she brought forward specific plans for moving Ferndale toward improved transportation and housing. Her experience as an active member with the Community Emergency Response Team show her ability to plan and respond to the big picture and long-range plans on behalf of the community.