Request from Bellingham Environmentalist Terry Wechsler

This a plea for doorbelling volunteers for this Saturday supporting Democrats from local environmentalist Terry Wechsler. Terry is famed for her local involvement opposing GPT development plans. (She approved my re-post of her email.) I have met Terry and she is an animated conversationalist and dedicated activist.  She is also offering to treat to coffee and pretzels at the Farmer's Market on Saturday.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <wechslerlaw@comcast.net>
Date: Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 4:40 PM
Subject: Can You Help This Saturday?
To: wechslerlaw@comcast.net

At 10:00 this Saturday, I'm going to do something I really don't want to: doorbell for candidates for county council.

If you're already helping the Whatcom Wins campaign, please disregard this email. If you have some extra time, though, and can come out Saturday, please do. Democratic candidates win with hefty margins in federal elections with Whatcom County voters, but the local party estimates as many as 21,000 may not vote in this off-cycle election. It is so critical this year because the conservative majority we have on the county council now has virtually declared war on all land and water use planning. The only guiding principle seems to be the misguided principle of property rights for Kershner, Elenbaas, Luke, and Knutzen.

If we don't get Carl Weimer and Ken Mann re-elected, the council will become radically anti-planning. Kathy Kershner has recently shown herself to be the worst sort of Tea Party ideologue, attacking the EPA in her role as chairwoman of the seated council for daring to enforce standards with a large farm illegally negatively impacting our water. For his part, Bill Knutzen openly scoffs at witnesses such as myself who testify about impacts on our water of such actions as the recent upzone of our agricultural lands to allow industrial-class slaughterhouse facilities.

We have to help get Weimer, Mann, Brown, and Buchanan elected.  If the Gateway Pacific Coal Terminal permits were to come to a vote in the next 4 years, we have to have a county council the majority of which did not receive donations from BNSF and SSA Marine, laundered through the state and county Republican parties.  See http://sweeneypolitics.com/2013/10/02/how-the-coal-industry-funneled-40000-into-whatcom/. I fully expect to see and hear our airwaves saturated with ads designed to hurt this slate of candidates when the ballots are mailed, funded by Independent Expenditure campaigns that needn't declare their donors in a post-Citizens United world.

We can't do anything about outside mega-corporations attempting to influence our local governance. But we can do something for a couple of hours -- no matter how little we want to -- to implore identified democratic voters to vote in this election. We'll have lists of identified voters, very carefully collected, and that's all we have to do: personally tell folks why it is so important that they vote, and have them pledge to do so. This one-on-one form of communication is very powerful and could make the difference in elections that may see margins with as little as 200 or fewer votes.

The Tea Party candidates recently pulled out of the second debate forum. They have nothing to gain and everything to lose by showing up and saying what they really believe. We may not have unlimited funds to pour into campaigns, but we can do that which conservative candidates won't:  show up and talk about what's important to a majority of citizens in this county.

We'll be gathering at the Whatcom Wins! office:

Saturday, 10:00 a.m.

Herald Building #106, 1155 N State St. Bellingham, WA

220-7828

If you have a couple of hours Saturday, please show up. If you'll let Whatcom Wins! know you're coming by calling , that would be great, but if you don't call, don't feel like you can't show up! Afterwards, I'm buying coffee and pretzels at Saturday Market for anyone who has the time.

Hope to see you Saturday, and thank you!!!

Terry

Terry J. Wechsler
Bellingham, WA