Thurston County finds missing $60K computer inventory , uses 3 Card Monte excuse

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March 23, 2016

Three Card Monte — This is the game Thurston County expects you play when trying to look at their inventory

In response to last week’s article about Thurston County’s missing $60,000 worth of computer inventory, a frantic search was launched by Thurston County upper management, and the computers were discovered over the weekend- safe and sound. This is good news for taxpayers. However, it raises serious concerns about how Thurston County manages or fails to manage capital assets and inventory.

For Whistleblowers, please go here to learn more

In Thurston County, the inventory is tougher to find than a parking space at the courthouse

Discovering and admitting that a problem exists is the first step on the road to recovery. Based on Thurston County Manager Cliff Moore’s response to this problem at Tuesday’s County Commissioner meeting, it appears that Thurston County is still in the denial stage. Despite this, there is always a glimmer of hope. A policy cure exists if Thurston County is willing to accept responsibility for the assets they manage on our behalf. The County Manager Cliff Moore and the two legacy commissioners, Sandra Romero and Cathy Wolfe, may not want to fix this long festering problem, but there will be two new commissioners after the elections in November.

The Three Card Monte Excuse

Both citizen activist Jon Pettit and I spoke during public comment at the Commissioner meeting Tuesday afternoon regarding the problems that are being uncovered by regular citizens casually reviewing the inventory and capital asset programs in Thurston County. Constructive critiques and suggestions for solving these problems were presented, some of which are detailed at the end of this article. However, Thurston County Manager Cliff Moore’s explanation was so fascinating, it is worth analyzing in itself. Once the TCTV video of the meeting is finished, I will post a link here (Cliff Moore starts speaking around 22 minutes into the meeting, please note he misstates RCW 36.32.210 ).

You never know what you are going to find at Thurston County. Maybe the inventory is here. — It is anyone’s guess what will be found at Thurston County. Maybe the missing inventory?

The explanation from Cliff Moore about the missing $60,000 computers involved a complex story about how there are three different inventory lists in Thurston County. One is the formal

Cliff Moore has lots of excuses for missing inventory

Capital Assets Report linked here on the Thurston County

Auditor’s site (kudos again to the Thurston County Auditor’s office for putting these online now). The other two inventory lists are some type of alternative ghost inventory lists which apparently are not accessible to anyone trying to audit the county. However, like a game of Three Card Monte or a 3 shell game – citizens are expected to guess which inventory report is the real one, even though only one is legally binding. No matter which list you pick – it will be wrong. County Manager Cliff Moore’s understanding of the law (at least as he explained it on Tuesday) is just wrong and displays impressive ignorance of the law and basic inventory management practices.

Only one inventory list matters

Under Washington State Law (RCW 36.32.210) only one capital asset list counts. It must be accurate and requires a sworn oath signed by the commissioners attesting to its accuracy. If it is not accurate either the county prosecutor or a local citizen (or both) can bring criminal charges against the commissioners and they can lose their political office. Yes, it is that serious. This law was originally passed in the 1930s – from a time when activist citizens believed in holding their elected officials accountable. Please read it yourself. Until last year, only a few of us had ever read this law in Thurston County and the legacy commissioners had been playing fast and loose with the inventory reports for at least a decade.

It can’t be denied that the current Capital Assets List is false. It is not clear how many other items existing on other Three Card Monte secret inventory lists are also missing. Some assets may never have been recorded in the first place. Some may never be found. Now you see them – now you don’t. It is difficult to research when existing lists are inaccurate, and the only way to be sure is to review every purchase order, match it to the invoice, verify nothing was backordered, then physically track the stuff down. A serious, genuine, private-sector audit is needed. (Which appears to be as similar to the Washington State Auditor’s efforts as World Cup Soccer is to everyone-gets-a-trophy soccer leagues)

On Tuesday, The Commissioners had to listen to citizens provide suggestions on how to fix the inventory tracking challenges facing Thurston County

All Apologies

I feel a personal apology is in order – to those Thurston County employees who met with me off hours over the last few years and told me things were screwed up – I owe you a public apology. You were right, and my skepticism at the magnitude was unfounded. Thurston County really does need more help than even I realized. Please forgive me for being so slow to accept it really is exactly as bad as you indicated.

To the Thurston County Commissioners – I apologize for not being more aggressive on this issue when I first confronted you on it last year. Counter to all past experience, I thought that someone would take this issue seriously after we raised such a stink about it. I was wrong. Instead, it seems that plastic bag bans, creating new septic tank taxes, Inventing a new pocket gopher tax, building doggie parks, giving away money to the Capital Land Trust, and to the City of Olympia are all higher priorities than fixing real core-functions of government problems. I admit, they are probably a more fun way to spend your time. However, it is time to get back to basics.

The Thurston County Commissioners can be pointed in the right direction.

Solutions and Suggestions:

Institute some type of RFID tracking system for inventory control and tracking of small and attractive items consistent with the Office of Financial Management’s policy 30.40. Right now there appears to be no real policy of any kind, and no way to even know what has disappeared, or what exists in inventory. (H/T Jon Pettit)
Re-issue the 2015 Capital Assets Report, along with the 2015 Capital Assets Purchase Report which are both clearly inaccurate.
Don’t reinvent the wheel on inventory management. Just implement a simple, private sector solution utilized by any one of a few hundred businesses in the area. It shouldn’t require a gopher study or cost as much as a bag ban survey, which the county seems to consider priorities. Instead, implement rational, time-tested procedures and processes. Related to this, a one time physical audit should probably be conducted so that the baseline can be verified.

For More Background on Thurston County, Read these Articles

Thurston County spends $5K for $3K computer, then loses 12 of them

Thurston County invents $42,000 gopher tax for new homeowners

Cliff Moore to Citizens – Living here is a real gamble

Thurston County punishes rural serfs – again

Childish Political Leadership in Thurston County is Costing Taxpayers Millions

Thurston County demonstrates how NOT to build a jail

Thurston County Commissioners deny the reality of math

Thurston County Commissioners create a plague of consequences

Misty Chastain – A video of how Thurston County tried to destroy her livlihood

Bert Wasch – A video about how Thurston County destroyed his dream of building his own home.

Jay Howell – Video about Thurston County imposing expensive gopher fees

Donna Baker – Thurston County causes her to lose her home.

Taxing the Tax – A local government tax scheme

By

Glen Morgan

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March 21, 2016

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by-law-we-must-collect-tax-2 — Taxing the tax - because they can get away with it

“You think you have been taxed to the max, then they find a way to tax the tax.”

Most people know that they pay taxes on their utility bills. Your power, water, sewer, phone, internet service – there is a tax on each of these services. However, most of us don’t know that most local governments in Washington State have found another way to take more of our money by taxing the taxes they already charge us. Without realizing it, most of us pay these taxes on the tax we’ve already paid.

For Whistleblowers, please go here to learn more

Taxes Ahead — Not only ahead, but already imposed…

Washington State Law has authorized a utility tax since at least since 1935 (RCW 82.16). However some utility taxes have been introduced more recently. Most relevant state law about what cities and towns can tax is found in RCW 35. (The most interesting part of this law is 35.21 “Miscellaneous Provisions” which makes for interesting reading). Authority for taxing utilities like your power bill appears to be RCW 35.21.860 originally passed by the state legislature in 1982. The legislature intended to restrict the potential total local utility tax burden at 6% as explained in RCW 35.21.870.

However, due to lack of clarity in state law, most cities in Washington State discovered they could overcome the total tax burden limitation in the law by taxing the actual tax they charge the citizen. Here is how it works:

Let’s say you had an original power bill of $100 from Puget Sound Energy.
This bill includes the $3.873 for Washington State’s portion of the tax.
If the city charges you the maximum balance up to 6%, your bill would be $105.78 (at least five cities listed below decided to take that approach).
If the city decides they will also tax the Washington State utility tax, your bill would be $106.00 (at least six cities listed below took this approach).
If the city decides on the Max Tax approach, they tax the state tax and their own tax, which means your bill will be $106.36 ($0.58 higher than it should be if they were not taxing the tax).
There are also cities who resisted the temptation to impose even the maximum allowed utility rate of 6%, and these are listed below as well (this list was added to the article 3/23)

While option 4 & 5 explained above may seem to be in violation of the total tax burden limitations defined in RCW 35.21.870, most cities believe they can get away with it and they do. This may not seem like huge amount of extra taxes they can collect, but as pointed out to me by local tax activist Leroy Stevenson, in the City of Covington alone the total extra dollars the city collects is well in excess of $128,000 annually. Even smaller cities can pad their bureaucracy quite a bit with tax crumbs like this.

While most city bureaucrats disagree, arguably, it is immoral to tax taxes. It also lacks honesty and transparency that should be expected in local government tax policy.

The City of Covington – A Case Study

The City of Covington actually provides a pretty good case study in the unpopularity of these types of taxes, but also illustrates how addictive they are for local government bureaucrats and politicians. Covington is a relatively new city, formed in 1997. For a few years there was no utility tax imposed on the residents of Covington. However, Ordinance 26-04 was passed by the Covington City Council in 2004 which included a provision allowing citizens to collect signatures for a referendum on the tax if they chose to reject it. The citizens did just that (here is the special election voters guide, and here is what it looked like on the ballot). The citizen effort prevailed. 73% of the voters rejected the utility tax. It is interesting to note that the city tried to defend their utility tax with misleading language in the voter’s guide linked above, and the critics were proven correct in their assessment of where this tax was going. After being soundly rejected by the voters, the City of Covington waited a few years, then they passed Ordinance 16-07 which imposed the current 6.65% (effective rate) utility tax.

Credit Where Credit is Due

The following cities chose to not tax their residents at the highest rate possible for a utility tax. They really deserve credit for keeping the tax lower than the max limit allowed by statute (this list added to article 3/23, based on this reference document from PSE):

Bellevue – Ordinance #5578 – passed 2005 – 5%

Burlington – Ordinance #459 – passed 1994 – 3%

Edgewood – Ordinance #14-0413 0%

Kenmore – Ordinance#04-0222 – passed 2005 – 4%

Lakewood – Ordinance#232 – passed 2000 – 5%

Medina – Ordinance #893 – passed 2013 – 4%

Puyallup – Ordinance #2950 – passed 2010 – 2.2%

SeaTac – Ordinance #14-1015 – repealed 2015 – 0% (was 6%)

Woodinville – Ordinance #200 – passed 1998 – 2%

To give credit where credit is due, the following cities, sometime in their political past, made the most honest choice when taxing their residents by refusing to tax the tax. Feel free to give them kudos, because they made a decision to not follow the Max Tax crowd: Cities of Edmonds, Lynnwood, Oak Harbor, Port Orchard, and Poulsbo.

To give partial credit where some credit is due, the following cities decided that re-taxing the state tax was okay, but taxing their own utility tax again was a bridge too far. Join me in recognizing them as well, and perhaps asking them to not tax the state tax: Cities of Des Moines, Fircrest, Tumwater, Yelm, Orting, and Hamilton.

Utility Tax Hall of Shame

Somehow these two cities were able to really violate the law and jack their utility rates up to levels far and above even the crowd who tax the tax (added 3/23, based on this reference document from PSE):

Federal Way – Ordinance #06-539 – passed 2007 – 7.75%

Olympia – Ordinance #6326 – passed 2004 – 9% !!

Taxing Poetry

In closing, sometimes poetry is an effective way to express the situation:

Tax his land, tax his wage,

Tax his bed in which he lays.

Tax his tractor, tax his mule,

Teach him taxes is the rule.

Tax his cow, tax his goat,

Tax his pants, tax his coat.

Tax his ties, tax his shirts,

Tax his work, tax his dirt.

Tax his chew, tax his smoke,

Teach him taxes are no joke. taxedtodeath

Tax his car, tax his grass,

Tax the roads he must pass.

Tax his food, tax his drink,

Tax him if he tries to think.

Tax his sodas, tax his beers,

If he cries, tax his tears.

Tax his bills, tax his gas,

Tax his notes, tax his cash.

Tax him good and let him know

That after taxes, he has no dough.

If he hollers, tax him more,

Tax him until he’s good and sore.

Tax his coffin, tax his grave,

Tax the sod in which he lays.

Put these words upon his tomb,

“Taxes drove me to my doom!”

And when he’s gone, we won’t relax,

We’ll still be after the inheritance tax.

The Tax Poem – found here

There are many ways to tax us to death and beyond... — There are many ways government greed can justify taxing us to death and beyond…

*Policy Recommendation: Finally, there seems to be a legislative policy opportunity to address the dishonesty in local utility taxes by reaffirming the intention of RCW 35.21.870 and make the current practice of taxing the tax illegal.

Action Suggestion: Call your city and find out how they tax your utilities. Even if you don’t live in Washington State, you are probably paying very similar taxes, and most bureaucrats like to copy bad ideas from other places.

Other articles of interest:

Creeping City Utility Taxes Exceed 36% in some Cities

Thurston County Invents new $42,000 gopher tax for new home owners

Snohomish County’s Double Secret Probation

Taxing the Dance Away (Taxing the Opportunity to Dance in Seattle)

Big Government’s Business – Crushing Tomorrow’s Dreams Today

Stifling Human Ingenuity

What happens when the Central Planners Fail?

Shooting owls, counting slugs, fighting evolution – the US Fish and Wildlife Service at work

Thurston County spends $5k for a $3k computer, then loses 12 of them

By

Glen Morgan

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March 17, 2016

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Thurston County has found a classic way to waste $122,000 (and apparently lose another $60,000). Last year, our money was wasted on the purchase of 73 overpriced laptops. Twelve of them are nowhere to be found. Apparently, this is also business as usual. The same people who invented the $42,000 pocket gopher tax, produced budgets where the math doesn’t add up, built a $61 million jail that sat empty for almost 5 years, and set a new state record ($12 million) for losing a land use jury verdict, wrote yet another chapter in poor resource management.

For Whistleblowers, please go here to learn more

Deep in the bowels of the Thurston County bureaucratic archives sits a rarely-seen document called the Capital Assets Report which all 39 counties in Washington State must file (RCW 36.32.210). Historically, this document was impossible to acquire without a public records request. Last year, several local good-government activists confronted the county about the slipshod filing history of these reports (in violation of state law) and the jumbled mess that the reports represented. That is a story for another time. However, to the credit of Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall, the document is now available online (linked here) for all to download, review, marvel, and weep as they see fit.

Getac B300 Ad today - the same one purchased by Thurston County for $4992 — Getac B300 Ad today – the same one purchased by Thurston County for $4992

According to the most updated report, last year Thurston County purchased 61 Getac Ultra Rugged 13” Notebooks at a price of $5,945.86 each (A few were purchased at 1 cent less – maybe a volume discount?). They were purchased through a national company called PCS Mobile and Tessco. According to county records, these laptops were intended for use with the Sheriff’s office, although General Services has “possession” of the assets at Thurston County according to their own records. See page 23-24 on this document.

Certainly, the sheriff’s department does need military-grade laptops in their road vehicles. Anyone who has ever been on a ride along with the sheriff’s office can appreciate the value of having quality tools in the field. However, this was a fairly significant expenditure ($356,751 – even using Common Core math, note the actual invoice amount of $393,204 was different). The problem with this purchase is that even with a cursory review on Price Zombie (and there are many free apps to track historical pricing), anyone could see that this same laptop was available for $3,318. This isn’t cheap but is $2,628 less than $5,946. It appears that the total money lost in this one transaction is $157,672 (however, the actual invoice paints a different picture).

What Happened to the Missing Laptops?

When a records request was filed with Thurston County for the actual invoices involved in this transaction, the picture doesn’t improve much. It appears that Thurston County actually paid $4,992 per computer, so they only overpaid $1,674 per computer (So only $122,202 wasted – still enough money to cover the cost of at least one more road deputy). However, the invoice related to this purchase raises even more questions:

Purchase Order #15001258-00 and the invoice/receipt from PCS Mobile indicates Thurston County purchased and received 73 laptops, but only 61 show up on the Capital Assets Report. If you look at the Assets Purchased Report for the same year – you can also see the 61 laptops. What happened to the missing 12 laptops?
We are looking for twelve of these

A simple, online price quote check at the time of purchase would have revealed a price of $3,318 for these laptops. Why did Thurston County pay $4,992 for them? (Probable answer – because the Washington Department of Enterprise Services has a standing contract with these vendors linked here , and why would staff take an extra 5 minutes to google the price of anything anyway? It isn’t like they get recognized or rewarded for any cost savings) Why do they record each computer as an asset at $5,945.86 and how did they even justify that final inflated number?

Ultimately, this is just a small transaction for Thurston County which has an annual budget of $93 million ($330 million including all funds), outstanding debt of $102 million, and a capital asset balance of $705 million. However, even looking at smaller transactions like this can raise serious concerns about how local government uses our hard-earned tax dollars. Shouldn’t our elected officials and the bureaucrats they supervise be better stewards of our limited resources?

They certainly deserve to be recognized for all they have achieved. Note the two on the left are still there.

Many observers conclude that government is wasteful, incompetent, and a terrible steward of our resources. However, shouldn’t someone be responsible somewhere? In Thurston County, there may be nobody actually responsible. Certainly nobody will be held accountable. In theory (and legally according to RCW 36.32.210) the Commissioners are personally liable for the accuracy of the Capital Assets Report. However, there is ample wiggle room in the legal language, so they can claim they “didn’t know” the information was inaccurate provided they don’t pay close attention. The County Manager, Cliff Moore, seems more concerned with imposing septic tank fees, inventing pocket gopher taxes, and ridiculing property owners for their home-building dreams. The assistant county manager (and former finance director) Robin Campbell received a 30% pay raise and promotion when she couldn’t even produce a budget that made mathematical sense in 2014. She is unlikely to be concerned with missing inventory or a wasteful procurement process.

At least the county auditor, Mary Hall, posts the Capital Assets online now, but that office receives annual certificates of achievement awards for excellence no matter how screwed up the finances might be. Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim primarily uses his office to legally shield the Thurston County Commissioners from scrutiny and always gives staff and elected officials a pass regardless of the laws they might be breaking.

The Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley (if he can stay out of federal prison and survive the 17 current Federal Indictments for fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion filed against him) is hardly in a position to pay attention to financial problems of the jurisdictions in the state. Even with Initiative I-900 giving greater authority for the State Auditor to utilize performance audits, this small example of questionable purchases could probably be justified and the missing inventory wouldn’t even be noticed. The state auditor staff who visited Thurston County last year didn’t even bother to look at the capital assets for the last six years because that isn’t where most of the financial messes are typically found. No other Thurston County staff take any responsibility for this type of minor mistake. It is only $122,000, and only 12 missing computers worth another $60,000 or so. What bureaucrat would even notice something like this?

The lesson here is that local government frequently cries poverty and claims they don’t have enough money. In Thurston County, staff and the legacy elected officials are constantly seeking new ways to extract more money from local residents. If the bureaucrats can’t care enough to pay a decent price for computers or even pay attention to the inventory they possess, what are they doing with the larger budgets or the more expensive and complex projects?

If we can’t trust them to do something this simple, why should we trust them on anything else?

This is Thurston County.
However, Thurston County is hardly alone. These types of transactions are occurring in your city, county and state governments as well. Nobody is minding the store. Many citizens don’t have the time or resources to scrutinize their elected officials. It is up to civic minded folk like you and I to sound the alarm.

**See Below for Policy Recommendation and Possible Solutions**

Related Background Articles About Thurston County:

Thurston County Invents $42,000 gopher tax for new home owners

Thurston County punishes rural serfs – again

Thurston County Manager Cliff Moore to property owners: Living Here is a Big Gamble

Childish Political Leadership in Thurston County is Costing Taxpayers Millions

Thurston County demonstrates how NOT to build a jail

Thurston County Commissioners deny the reality of math

Thurston County Commissioners create a plague of consequences

I have been criticized for identifying problems and not providing solutions. Fair enough. Here are a few solutions I would recommend to address this type of problem and hopefully avoid these things in the future:

Thurston County Policy Changes:

Short term – Find the missing inventory.
Audit the current inventory process and review how many other items have vanished in a similar fashion, and find them.
Record true, fair-market value for all assets in the Capital Assets Report rather than the inflated and misleading numbers currently used.
Don’t include sales tax paid as a long term asset.
Don’t include “assets” that have zero market value and can’t be sold. Sure money was spent on them, and they should be tracked as an “asset,” but not with original sunk cost value.
Rather than blindly following year-old DES negotiated price agreement, particularly with large technology purchases (maybe any purchase order over $50k), at least have some type of policy where 30minutes can be spent verifying the price of the item on Google or elsewhere. Technology prices tend to go down – quickly. Leverage this fact to benefit the tax payers.

State Policy Recommendations:

The entire Capital Asset Report requirements should be updated and strengthened to reflect accuracy and true fair-market value similar to what has been required for businesses the last 40+ years. This is a time tested standard and will produce more accurate results.
The DES contracts should be aggressively revised on a regular basis. Particularly on technology purchases. It really appears that a lot of money is wasted on technology because of simple inertia and archaic price structuring. This must be reformed.

Frank Chopp and Donald Trump – closer political allies than we thought

Washington State Government

By

Glen Morgan

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March 3, 2016

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Trump Chop hand shake (1) — Donald Trump and Frank Chopp agree to support Eminent Domain Abuse

There is no indication that Donald Trump is planning to visit Washington State soon, but if he did, he would find solid common ground with Frank Chopp (D-43rd), the Democrat leader in the Washington State legislature. These two politicians might appear to be unlikely allies. However, they both appear to support government using eminent domain to forcibly take away homes from low income people and give their property to large corporations and billionaire developers for private profit. Donald Trump supports eminent domain and has used it for his own profit. Frank Chopp, Democrat Speaker of the House, is the one who would make it possible for Donald Trump to profit in this way in Washington State. Donald Trump has said “I love eminent domain!” Frank Chopp seems to feel the same way, because he is blocking an eminent domain reform bill that has gained wide bipartisan support in the State Legislature!

For Whistleblowers, please go here to learn more

Frank Chopp has dedicated himself to supporting eminent domain for Donald Trump’s future fortune by personally blocking and preventing this reform in the state legislature right now. Despite substantial bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans in both the Senate and the House, Frank Chopp alone is preventing this reform from landing on Governor Inslee’s desk. If he holds out until the cut-off date Friday – both Trump and the corporations who abuse this legal loophole can benefit. There is no official word from the Trump campaign about how thankful he would be to Frank Chopp.

Many political insiders at the capital have reported that despite the bipartisan support for this long-overdue reform in Washington State, Frank Chopp has personally blocked SB 5363 from receiving a vote on the house floor. Last month the bill received two thirds support in the State Senate, passed unanimously out of the Democrat controlled house judiciary committee, and now the bill languishes at the pleasure of Frank Chopp. Is Donald Trump grateful to have Frank Chopp on his side?

You can get involved:

In order for the state legislature to be able to vote on this bill, it needs to be passed out of the rules committee by Friday. If you are interested in helping convince Chopp to abandon his alliance with Trump and end eminent domain abuse for private corporate profit, you can reach him directly here: (360) 786 – 7920 or frank.chopp@wa.leg.gov

On the other hand, if you support billionaires and think government should subsidize their dreams by taking property from low income homeowners by force, then call the Trump campaign and let them know his friend and ally Frank Chopp is keeping the option open for him in Washington State. Maybe Trump can build his next casino in Seattle: 646-736-1779

It could be you if Donald Trump and Frank Chopp have their way — It could be you

The history of Eminent Domain for the benefit of billionaires like Trump

Eminent domain is the right of a government to take private property for public use by virtue of the superior dominion of the government over the lands in its jurisdiction. Typically, most people assume this refers to freeways, schools, military uses, or some other clear public “good.” However, there has been a trend over the last seven decades to expand the use of eminent domain to include taking people’s homes and giving their land to large private developers justified because the government collects more taxes that way. Sometimes large corporations can convince local government to declare a low income area “blighted” so that the homes can be condemned, destroyed, and the land given to a corporation for an office park or some other economic development scheme. In Donald Trump’s case, he wanted to forcibly take Vera Coking’s home, so that he could build a limo parking lot instead.

It doesn’t take much imagination to predict how corrupt this expansion of eminent domain has become. The concern about this issue, however, tended to percolate exclusively among think tanks, academics, property rights activists, and advocates for the low income folk who are proportionally the people impacted the most by this policy. The national apathy on this issue changed in 2005. That year, in a 5–4 decision, the US Supreme Court held that the general benefits a community enjoyed from economic growth qualified private redevelopment plans as a permissible “public use” under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

A book written about the Kelo decision — The Kelo decision is well documented. Washington State has yet to reform the “Kelo” (now “Chopp/Trump” loophole) allowing eminent domain in our state.

The Kelo case shook off the nation’s apathy about the abuse of eminent domain because the epic legal battle was such a clear case of the little guy (Suzette Kelo) losing her home so that the Pfizer corporation could build a big “urban renewal” office park there instead. The City of New London, Connecticut thought this was a great plan and removed the lower income neighborhood and the people who lived there through eminent domain. Suzette Kelo also forcibly lost her little pink house. Then, Pfizer changed their mind and walked away from the big Central Planning scheme. The land once occupied by homes is now an empty wasteland used to dump garbage. The Central Planner’s utopia never happened.

When the decision was announced by the Supreme Court, it generated much public disgust from all sides of the political spectrum. Surveys taken since the Kelo decision have consistently demonstrated over 80% of Americans strongly opposed this decision. This is one reason why nearly every state in America has reformed their eminent domain laws. Washington State is one of the few who have not, even after a 2009 Attorney General’s report clearly indicated Washington State needed to close the “Kelo” loophole (maybe we should call it the “Chopp/Trump” loophole).

I have testified at the legislature in favor of this reform for almost half a decade now. The Citizens Alliance for Property Rights (capr.us) has been lobbying for this reform for years as well.Last week was no exception. As legislators and senators have become more knowledgeable – Democrats and Republicans alike – they have supported this legislation. Only one man (in addition to Trump) stands in the way – Frank Chopp.

Donald Trump and Frank Chopp might not agree on everything, but they appear to share common ground supporting Eminent Domain Abuse (image appears to be photoshopped – we can’t find any confirmation they have ever shaken hands)

Again, here is how you can get involved to actually do something about it:

In order for the state legislature to be able to vote on this bill, it needs to get out of the rules committee by Friday. If you are interested in helping convince Chopp to abandon his alliance with Trump and end eminent domain abuse, you can reach him directly here: (360) 786 – 7920 or frank.chopp@wa.leg.gov

Or, if you support billionaires and think government should subsidize their dreams by taking your property by force, then call the Trump campaign here and let them know his friend and ally Frank Chopp is helping him. Maybe Trump can build his next casino in Seattle: 646-736-1779

“Something has gone seriously awry with this Court’s interpretation of the Constitution. Though citizens are safe from the government in their homes, the homes themselves are not.”

^{Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – 545 U.S. 469, 518 (2005)}

For more background information on this subject:

The City of Seattle Abuses Eminent Domain so a parking lot can become a parking lot

City of Bremerton takes homes through eminent domain, changes zoning, gives land to car dealership – inspires eminent domain reform

Washington State Supreme Court refuses to hear case where City of Burien takes Strobel Sister’s business via eminent domain because their business wasn’t “upscale enough.”

Kelo Supreme Court Decision

Basic Background on the Kelo Decision

Donald Trump and his history of Eminent Domain Abuse

Seizing someone else’s Private Property for his own profit is no problem for Trump

Donald Trump calls Eminent Domain a “Wonderful Thing”

The Donald, the Widow, and Eminent Domain – a short video

Donald Trump – Playing Eminent Domain – another video

Washington State Eminent Domain 2009 Attorney General Task Force Report

Thurston County Invents $42,000 Gopher Tax for New Homeowners

By

Glen Morgan

-

March 1, 2016

35

Pocket Gophers Are Now Taxed — Pocket Gophers are Pests, But Govt Can Still Find a Way to Tax them

The Thurston County Commissioners in collusion with the US Fish and Wildlife Service have created a novel method of extracting additional tax dollars from prospective new homeowners in Washington State. According to public documents, Thurston County staff has proposed a new gopher tax, up to $42,000 for new homeowners who might consider building a home on or near land that might be inhabited by a rodent called the Mazama Pocket Gopher. This gopher tax (called “mitigation” in planner-speak) would be in addition to any other fees, permits, taxes, or other costs that might be imposed on the construction of a new home in Thurston County, Washington. For direct links to the concept files written and presented by Thurston County planning staff go here and here.

For Whistleblowers, please go here to learn more

The $42,000 gopher tax is likely to become law later this year. Two of the three Commissioners (Sandra Romero and Cathy Wolfe) have been supportive of the plan and the process for many years now. In addition, the Thurston County Planning Department has been largely controlled by the US Fish & Wildlife Service for years – many of the county employees are entirely subsidized by USFWS grant money. This has been a concern of property rights advocates for many years because local county staff won’t question their orders from USFWS when their jobs depend on grant dollars from that federal agency.

Another aspect of the gopher tax that has local observers concerned is the current plan for much of this money to be transferred to an out-of-state nonprofit organization. Some of these gopher tax monies would stay in Thurston County, but it appears that after insiders get their cut, most of these funds would be sent to an out-of-state organization to manage local taxpayer-purchased land that could be set aside as bonus pocket gopher habitat.

The Pocket Gopher – Endangered Animal or Convenient Excuse?

The Thurston County Mazama pocket gopher was listed as a threatened species by the USFWS in April, 2014. The listing process was controversial, and generated a lot of local citizen backlash as well as open ridicule by rural Thurston County residents directed at the Commissioners, USFWS, and others who championed the original listing process. Most casual observers could see that something was very wrong in Thurston County.

Protesting pocket gopher listing — A pirate might know it is stealing, but Thurston County calls it a tax or a “fee.” It is all about the money.

Pocket gophers are considered pest rodents throughout most of the United States where they live. They are prolific and resilient creatures, often found in areas that have been heavily disturbed by agriculture or forestry efforts. In fact, the two largest concentrations of pocket gophers in Thurston County were found at the Olympia Airport and the surrounding industrial park and at the nearby Fort Lewis Firing Range. Interestingly, the very gophers who USFWS claims are threatened, thrive in the middle of the artillery impact range on a piece of land that has been repeatedly pulverized, destroyed, and burned for most of a century. Now, both USFWS and the Thurston County planning department argue that building a home on 5 acres will so harm the gophers that a prospective homeowner must pay $42,000 for permission to apply for a home – maybe.

Few observers accuse the USFWS of staying true to science or the facts when it comes to listing endangered species. On the east side of Washington State, USFWS attempted to list the “White Bluffs Bladder Pod” as an endangered species certain that this plant was so rare that it justified land restrictions. However, a local agricultural organization took samples of the “endangered” plant, conducted DNA tests, and determined that it was a very common weed found in many Western States. USFWS still plans to list the plant as endangered regardless of the truth or science. This wouldn’t be the first time USFWS has listed an animal on the Endangered Species list that wasn’t endangered. In some cases, the listed animals haven’t even been proven to exist.

The pocket gopher listing process has become just as silly. No USFWS employee is willing to say how many of these endangered pocket gophers actually exist. In fact, they tend to become angry if anyone dares ask. Partly, this is because past population counts have proven to be wildly inaccurate. Another reason government staff requires forced ignorance of the gopher population numbers is that it would lead to a logical question which they also refuse to answer – how many gophers do you need for them to no longer be considered threatened? None dare even think these thoughts, at least not if you want the grant gravy train to continue. Solving a real problem has never been the goal.

Gophers can be killed, just not by humans — Gophers are a natural part of the food chain, but Thurston County is the ultimate predator and plans to profit from the gopher tax they impose on new home owners.

Interestingly enough, the DNA samples for this “endangered” gopher exist at the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife, but they refuse to allow an outside organization to take samples for an independant DNA test. It is illegal for someone to trap a gopher and take independent samples – you could be arrested and get a criminal record like this guy. Willful ignorance appears to be the order of the day in Thurston County and at the USFWS. Science and the facts are entirely irrelevant. The process is the point and the punishment.

It isn’t about the gopher

stop work order - pocket gopher — Thurston County gets a lot of mileage out of the pocket gopher – a great excuse to prevent people from living rurally.

As the handful of extremists who have testified in favor of these pocket gopher property restrictions have publically stated in the past, “it isn’t about the gopher.” It is about the private property inhabited by the gopher. For those using the gopher as their excuse to legislate rules and taxes, it is about power, money, and control. It will never be enough.

A casual review of these proposed gopher tax plans also reveals an effort by Thurston County planning staff (under the direction of the USFWS) to severely restrict the use of the homesite property, even after the gopher tax has been paid. The diagrams and concept homesite maps indicate restrictive size limits on the home, restriction of outbuildings, landscaping, and even how far away from the home a dog house could be located. It appears that a “buffer” around the home will be “allowed” for a yard and maybe playground equipment, but the rest of the property will become NO Touch zones of some type.

Gopher habitat restrictions have been in place throughout rural Thurston County for several years. These have included forcing homeowners to hire a gopher site inspector to inspect the property to verify if the gophers live there (only between the months of June and October – if you need to build something else at a different time of year – you must wait until the gophers are more active). Eventually, this changed to three different gopher site inspections by government gopher experts three times during the limited months gophers would be active. Despite the large amount of taxpayer resources dedicated to gopher plans, Thurston County failed to match their written policies with their actual policies, which has led to another lawsuit filed a few months ago by the Olympia Master Builders, Thurston County Chamber of Commerce, and other local business organizations.

These past property restrictions, lack of science, evolving rules, and unpredictable outcomes has created resentment in the affected communities. Thurston County local government has clearly lost credibility with rural residents. Many rural south county residents have complained that Thurston County refuses to adequately fund law enforcement while devoting massive resources towards gophers and other central planning schemes like increasing taxes on septic systems, increasing (or just inventing) wetland buffers, denying permits to make minor property improvements, and building doggie parks. Some of this resentment was translated into election outcomes in 2014, which confounded local political insiders. Newcomer Independant candidate Bud Blake became the newest Thurston County Commissioner by defeating incumbent Democrat Karen Valenzuela who had been a champion of the gopher tax plans and private property restrictions. Commissioner Blake beat the incumbent veteran politician despite being new to politics. He was outspent by the Democratic incumbent almost three to one. His overwhelming support from the rural voters helped him achieve a nine point margin of victory.

Glen Morgan speaking to 200 citizens in Rochester, WA about Pocket Gophers — Pocket Gopher Town Hall – Glen Morgan speaking to 200 rural residents in 2011 in Rochester, south Thurston County. Most concerns recognized then, are becoming reality now.

The two legacy incumbent commissioners Sandra Romero and Cathy Wolfe have both stated they will not seek reelection. Instead, they are pushing staff to finalize the $42,000 gopher tax and other rural property restrictions as early as this summer before they depart their offices. Two new commissioners will be confronting the gopher legacy when they take office next year. Many residents have begged the lame duck commissioners to delay imposing further harmful restrictions before they leave. Those constituent requests have fallen on deaf ears. In fact, County Manager Cliff Moore has often told local residents that it is just their tough luck because owning property in Thurston County is a gamble.

cliff-moore, Thurston County Manager — Thurston County Manager Cliff Moore – ridicules property owners for daring to own land in Thurston County.

Thurston County is a test location for USFWS and their effort to control local planning

For those who do not live in Thurston County, this story may seem like a parody of government gone awry. The absurdity seems like it could never happen elsewhere. However, bad ordinances and central planning schemes, no matter how absurd, tend to fester and spread like a disease to other local governments. It is well known that USFWS is using Thurston County to test this concept of outsourcing local planning control to a federal agency like USFWS. USFWS tosses a few million dollars into the local jurisdiction, effectively rents the staff for a few years to do their bidding, then once the final nail is in the coffin for local residents, USFWS staff move on to their next victims. It is interesting to note

USFWS Lacey, WA Director Ken Berg gets award in Thurston County after gopher gets listed. Then he leaves the state.

that most senior USFWS staff who laid the groundwork for this pocket gopher tax scheme have moved to other states to continue their harmful work on the taxpayer dime. We can laugh at Thurston County today, but nobody will be laughing when they experience the same rules where they live.

Thurston County has operated like a caricature of incompetent local government over the past several years. Many scandals have plagued the Thurston County Commissioners including an expensive jail that was built against the will of the voters and then

Stop Taking Our Property Thurston County — Many Citizens opposed Thurston County’s aggressive land abuse ordinances from the beginning

remained empty for almost 5 years because they failed to budget for operations. Budgets have been difficult to produce, impossible to decipher, and frequently didn’t even follow basic rules of addition, subtraction, or even Common Core math. Strange financial decisions have plagued the legacy commissioners. Additionally, the Democrats on the Commission have achieve a new land use jury verdict state record of $12.4 million when they lost the Maytown lawsuit in 2014 (mainly for reckless disregard of the law – according to the jury, the Thurston County Commissioner’s actions “shocked the conscience”). Their obsession with trivial, farcical issues like plastic bag bans, animal costume dances, and doggie parks have been a concern because those have become higher priorities than public safety. Now, they have invited USFWS to direct and manage local planning resulting in this new proposed gopher tax scam. Rural residents certainly believe they have been targeted by the outgoing Democrat Commissioners Sandra Romero and Cathy Wolfe.
This absurd, but very innovative gopher tax provides another example of harmful political leadership in Thurston County. The scheme can still be prevented, but the effort to stop the gopher tax scam will take maximum public exposure, serious political will, and new commissioners who actually want to put people first for a change.

Thurston County Commissioners — It is good to be king in Thurston County where only the little people pay the price…

If you are interested in contacting Thurston County directly, they can be reached at (360) 786-5440. It is always interesting to see how they spin their story, taxpayer funded public information officers are standing by…

Related articles for further background:

Thurston County Punishes Rural Serfs Again

Gophers, Artillery, and US Fish and Wildlife

Gopher wins ESA Listing Based on Genitalia Size

Can a Well-Endowed “Endangered” Gopher Really Drive a Tractor?

Shooting Owls, Counting Slugs, and Fighting Evolution, USFWS hard at work.

A Plague of Consequences in Thurston County

Thurston County Commissioners Deny the Reality of Math

Thurston County Bag Ban – Paper or Plastic?

Lawsuit Filed Against Thurston County over Pocket Gopher Process

Stifling Human Ingenuity

Tales of Tyranny – Bert Wasch Story – Thurston County denies his right to build a home for 5 years

Thurston County to Citizens: Living here is a real gamble

Childish Political Leadership in Thurston County is costing Taxpayers Millions

Thurston County Demonstrates How Not to Build a Jail

Washington State Protects Gophers Better than Cops, Citizens

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature Behind Pocket Gopher Hoax

Secret Gopher Map Reveals Washington Agency’s Power

Government Claims About Pocket Gopher Protection Remain Flawed

Outdated Essays on Pocket Gophers Reveal Lack of Evidence for ESA Listing

Washington State Fish and Wildlife “FAQ” sheet about pocket gophers

Stifling Human Ingenuity

By

Glen Morgan

-

February 26, 2016

11

1975 - Newcastle, WA — My Dad and I and our illegal home

For Whistleblowers, please go here to learn more

There is something cruel and malignant in today’s Central Planning departments. It is manifested in a desire to force everyone into “compliance” and “submission” to “The Plan” found in every city, county and state in America. Perhaps you don’t think this matters to you, but you will be made to care eventually.

I recently wrote about a public meeting in Thurston County, Washington. This isn’t the first, and it won’t be the last meeting where imperious elected officials collude with staff and the community busybodies to impose aggressive and rapacious ordinances upon their neighbors. Watching staff celebrate the harm inflicted on their community through their deceptive effort and toil was a sad experience. Unfortunately, this also wasn’t the first time I have witnessed this behavior. The Central Planning establishment seems certain the rules won’t apply to them in the future.

Endless white papers, articles, videos, and lectures are produced which detail the escalating destruction of rural communities and rural living initiated by bureaucrats, ideologues, and figurehead politicians. Facts, figures, and trends are clear boardroom presentations, conference power point slides, and lecture hall indications of these trends. However, it is the individual human stories of dream destruction which touch the soul. Each story of abuse is heartbreaking all on its own. The challenge is how to tell these stories in a compelling way so that the as-yet-unaffected are motivated enough to wake up and engage before it is their turn to have their dreams destroyed.

Six years ago, I became engaged in this fight. I was fortunate enough to work for The Freedom Foundation, which, for a short time, supported producing Tales of Tyranny videos, some are linked at the end of this article. Sometimes we were successful in reversing the abusive state. Other times, we exposed the truth too late to make a difference. Now I am Executive Director for the Citizens Alliance for Property Rights (CAPR), and there is still an endless number of similar stories which need to be shared with the world.

At this week’s meeting one of the people testifying against adopting the proposed code enforcement ordinance mentioned how he had door-belled hundreds of rural residents, and he was certain that most, if not all, homes were technically in violation of one code or another. The same speaker noted that few of these families were in an immediate position to “comply” with the rules, and the proposed fines would greatly harm if not financially destroy their dream of independent living entirely. His eloquent and thoughtful testimony was ignored, of course. His observations matched mine, and I shared his concerns for my rural neighbors who are not prepared for the tsunami of fines, harsh government intrusion, and callused lack of regard for their dreams from those-who-know-best.

Central Planners, Gang Green and those who profit from their schemes are successfully creating a world where they stifle human ingenuity by design. Not by accident. The tragedy lies in the corruption caused by their collective desire for power and control, often disguised by appeals to a mystical and quasi-religious view of nature combined with an apocalyptic view of humanity as a disease which must be contained (just listen to the pro-Big Government folk). Those who actually live closest to nature are the first to be targeted. The green religious fervor and/or the greed for tax profit is high, and compassion for those who they destroy is nowhere to be found.

This issue is very personal to me. The city folk who typically lead these Gang Green jihads and Central Planning schemes are impressively unconcerned about the human damage they inflict. They rarely display human compassion at all. The heart of a bureaucrat is hardened towards the undesirables. Those of us who live rurally or even in the suburbs – we are all in the way of “The Plan”and our very existence is an obstacle to their schemes.

I was old enough to remember when my parents moved my siblings and I into the home which they had been building for a few years. In our extended family (my dad was one of 9 kids), it was largely expected that you could build your own home. Every part of it. We were fairly poor, but my parents were willing to work hard. They also were not intimidated by the challenges, and they had the grit to overcome the hardships. When we moved into the “house,” we were still bucketing water from the well, our windows were semi-clear painter’s plastic stapled over the holes in the wall, and the door was a piece of plywood. Upstairs was a hayloft for the first few years, our stairs and deck had no handrails, and at night when us kids were asleep, my dad would continue finishing the electrical, plumbing, sheetrock, etc as time and money allowed. 30+ years later, I was the last one to move out of the house as it was demolished for a new subdivision in the no-longer rural City of Newcastle. My Dad never did get a final certificate of occupancy for that house, yet it was a home for decades.

I am certain today my parents couldn’t launch their family into a rural farm/homesteading situation like that in our state anymore. Sure, we had fresh milk from our cows, fresh eggs, a garden, and a lot of hard work fixing the place up, but there would be no acknowledgement, forgiveness or acceptance of diversity of lifestyle from the Central Planners of today. As part of the Progressive modern trends, our bureaucrats would impose $15,000 fines and drive a low-income family like ours into bankruptcy using every “tool” that an abusive government enterprise can invent or acquire. This isn’t progress for anyone except the petty tyrants who profit from the harm they inflict on others.

People make the lifestyle choice to live rurally for many reasons. One common element is the desire to be independant and as unreliant on others as possible. This means we might have a community of neighbors, family, and friends on whom we depend when times are tough or when a little help is needed. But, mostly we find a way to do it ourselves or figure it out eventually. It might not fit the picture-perfect Potemkin village image of peasant rural living the city folk want to see on their Saturday bike rides through the bountiful byways of the county. However, rural folk are not harming anyone, and we live mostly in harmony with nature and neighbors all around us. It isn’t utopia, and nothing is perfect, but we like our lives. We don’t want the cookie cutter condo living being foisted on us by others. We aspire to prosperity, but we want to make a living and feed our families. Sometimes we want to feed ourselves with the food we grow or hunt. Primarily, we want to be left alone.

The Central Planners, Gang Green, and the rest of the crew won’t leave us alone, however. They can’t help themselves. Their will to power, money, and control drives them. The inertia and utopian logic of their beautiful dreams and theories convince them that they know better than us how to live our lives. Their dream becomes our nightmare, and they will never stop voluntarily. Their desire to stifle human ingenuity, independence, and freedom at every opportunity can’t be exaggerated.

For 6 years now I’ve worked around our state with property rights activists from Seattle to Spokane. I have helped many opposing the crazy “Friends” in the San Juans, the CRC fiasco in Clark County, and the Pocket Gopher silliness in Thurston. Sometimes we have victories, and we have lost many fights. In the end, we can win, but the solution must be political. Exposing the truth should be a high priority for us – the apathetic can only be shaken from their slumber by the truth. Confronting the cronies, crazies, and the bureaucrats who sponsor them must always be part of our plan. If we don’t confront them, they just keep turning the screws tighter – and it will never be enough. Finally, we must elect good, strong people willing to do the hard work to constrain, shrink, and ultimately erase the Central Planning State as we know it today. After we elect them, we must hold them accountable.

This won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight.

Built by Uncle Ed Dalby 1922, Union, WA — Dalby Waterwheel, built 1922 – Union, WA – no permits when it was built, no buffer from the stream, no bureaucrats got their cut, but still a tourist attraction nearly 100 years later and the world didn’t come to an end.

However, I am optimistic that human ingenuity can prevail regardless of how hard they try to stifle it. I wrote an article three years ago where I discussed the Dalby Waterwheel built by my Great Uncle Ed Dalby in 1922 in Union, Washington. He didn’t get a permit or ask permission. He just needed a way to get electricity to his home. Today he would be fined, imprisoned, and his dream would be destroyed before it ever began. Today, he would be stifled by seven different competing agencies, all looking for a cut of the action and an excuse to stop him. Fortunately, for him and all of us today, those bureaucrats didn’t exist back then.

He built his dream, and it is a tourist attraction to this day. Uncle Ed Dalby was buried in the pioneer cemetery nearby. People still come from all over to photograph, paint, and visit his waterwheel almost 100 years after he built it. Nothing these Central Planners, Gang Green, or abusive politicians do today is going to be remembered fondly by anyone 100 years from now.

Some of the Tales of Tyranny Videos:

Joe Remenar – Whatcom County – Crimes Against Bureaucracy

Errol Speed – San Juan County – Criminalizing Code Violations

Kay Kohler – Snohomish County – Bait and Switch Government

Farm Boat – City of Seattle – Sinking the Farm Boat

Bert Wasch – Thurston County – No Home for you

Bethel School District – Pierce County – No Schools Allowed

The Damen Family – Olympic Peninsula – Don’t cut those trees

Chris Weaver – Thurston County – A criminal for trapping a gopher

Nick Jones – San Juan County – No farm stand for you

Charles Dalton – San Juan County – No Blueberries for you

Thurston County punishes rural serfs- again.

By

Glen Morgan

-

February 24, 2016

13

(Copyright Image: DLC for Assassin’s Creed III. An Alternate History called The Tyranny of King Washington – 2012)

For Whistleblowers, please go here to learn more

Harmful ordinances spread like a disease, and there is no doubt that Thurston County has a staff infection.

On Tuesday, the Thurston County Commissioners decided to inflict more suffering and abuse on the rural residents of the county by passing a controversial code enforcement ordinance called Title 26. The final draft of the ordinance is linked here. The vote was not unanimous. Commissioner Bud Blake, who represents my county commission district voted against and spoke against the ordinance. However, lame duck Commissioners Cathy Wolfe and Commissioner Sandra Romero both voted in favor. Neither of these commissioners were moved by the pleas from the rural residents who spoke against this ordinance both at the public comment time on Tuesday and during previous public hearings on this ordinance.

Testifying at County Commission — Attempting to testify in front of the Thurston County Commissioners Feb 23, 2016. A peasants eye view…

The room was packed with citizens. Extra chairs were added. Due to fire code maximum occupancy requirements, many people had to wait in the hallway straining to hear the public testimony. While 15 minutes were allotted to the Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim to introduce the newest employee of Thurston County – a dog named “Marshal” complete with business cards and a Facebook page – the citizens were permitted only three minutes to speak (my testimony can be seen here and here, and some great testimony by local resident Michael Savoca here) and promptly ignored if they opposed the ordinance. In one case, when resident Jon Petit pointed out some process problems with the ordinance, the public testimony was abruptly halted, and staff attorney Elizabeth Petrich was used to discredit public testimony. This is Thurston County.

Marshal Courthouse Dog — Marshal, the newest Thurston County employee demonstrates the position that rural residents are expected to follow under Title 26 -prostrate before the Commissioners and staff

The night before, Commissioner Romero had issued an order to the Thurston County Democratic Party to fill the audience with anyone who would support the ordinance. Sandra Romero is a former Democratic legislator for the 22nd Legislative District, whose political career trajectory in the Washington State Legislature was changed by a drunk driving conviction for driving the wrong way on I-5 and attempting to elude police in the City of Olympia (the report is linked here). While the drunk driving ended her time in the legislature, she convinced Thurston County voters to give her a second political life as County Commissioner in 2008. In between political positions she served on the board of Futurewise (part of Gang Green) and helped facilitate their anti-prosperity lawsuit against Thurston County which cost the county over $1.5million in legal fees. Commissioner Romero has long been admired by the Thurston County Democratic Party for ruthlessly pushing destructive, innovative Central Planning schemes on the rural residents of Thurston County. At the Monday night meeting of the Thurston County Democratic Party, Sandra Romero’s orders for supporters to show up at Tuesday’s Commissioner Meeting were read and discussed. According to multiple people who attended that meeting, my name was brought up 5 times in anger for daring to oppose Romero’s schemes (I hope they invite me to the next one).

download — The official Thurston County cheerleaders of all harm inflicted on rural residents.

Following Romero’s directions, her followers who support these harmful and destructive regulations dutifully followed their marching instructions and testified at Tuesday’s meeting supporting Title 26. They were led by former Olympia mayor Bob Jacobs, the Thurston County League of Women Voters, and other tired, familiar faces from the city who are always reliable cheerleaders for aggressive regulation targeting their rural neighbors. Notable in attendance was also Commissioner candidate and current Olympia City Councilman Jim Cooper (also former campaign manager for Commissioner Wolfe). Cooper is a well-known cheerleader for harmful regulation like Title 26. Wisely, Cooper did not testify at this meeting.

Title 26 has been sold and promoted by county staff as a way to “consolidate” the current jumble of ordinances and code enforcement rules in Thurston County. Nobody disputes Thurston County’s current code enforcement process is confusing. Instead, the controversy with the ordinance is focused on two primary concerns. The first, is the invention of new civil penalties including daily penalties of $500 up to $15,000 in fines per incident (a financial windfall for the Central Planners). The second concern is the effort to over criminalize code infractions and

blake — Commissioner Blake was the only one who seemed to care about rural residents, and he voted NO on Title 26

turn minor mistakes into criminal violations.

Related to these two primary concerns are several additional critiques, all of which have been brought to the attention of the Commissioners (and categorically ignored by staff and Commissioners Wolfe and Romero) on numerous occasions in the past. These include:

A very undefined and vague definition of what constitutes
a code violation. The example of filling in a hole without a permit or damaging a “protected” tree could be considered a “major”
violation – according to planning staff (subject to a current fine ceiling of $15,000). This was exposed by staff, once again, under direct public questioning by Commissioner Blake at the hearing.

Total discretion given to staff to define, enforce, and inflict suffering on the rural citizens of Thurston County. There is marginal oversight and nonexistent restrictions on staff. The rural residents of Thurston County will be punished and controlled with religious fervor. Enforcement staff are given free rein to punish the rural poor in any way they desire. There are never consequences for abusive staff except a promotion. A perfect job for petty tyrants, who are attracted to these types of jobs. The opportunity to abuse the citizens is obvious. For some Thurston County examples where staff already does this here, here, and here. This ordinance will make rural life worse and the victim list longer.
Thurston County becomes a lot less bountiful when the Central Planners impose their plans and fines

The ordinance encourages future escalation of the fees, expansion of the already very vague definition of code infractions. It greatly increases the administrative legal abuse staff can inflict on rural residents. No serious observer doubts that “Resource Stewardship” (the euphemistic title for the Central Planning Department) will opportunistically escalate the fines, excuses, and “tools” they can utilize to force “compliance” to their will and central planning schemes. Staff openly gushed about the opportunity to collect revenue from the fines they could impose under this ordinance. Residents of Thurston County will be forced to heel, just like “Marshal” the County Dog employee introduced at the beginning of this meeting.
Thurston County’s newest employee “Marshal” knows how to heel. Title 26 will be used to achieve the same result for the rural poor.

Title 26 may prevent the ability of properties to be sold “as is.” This is probably illegal for various reasons, but after the $12 million Maytown jury verdict of 2014 against Thurston County, few observers believe the legal advice given, particularly from Elizabeth Petrich- is worth the taxpayer money wasted on the bloated legal staff’s salary. (Interestingly Petrich is married to an employee of the Department of Ecology – an agency legendary for gratuitous abuse of rural residents.) Commissioners Wolfe and Romero don’t care. It isn’t their money, freedom, or property being taken. They all live in the city anyway.

The entire Title 26 exercise was invented by staff because two or three property owners in Thurston County (population 265,000) apparently had some hoarding problems. Thurston County staff could not force “compliance” on these handful of property owners using current threats of litigation. Punishment must be found. Hence Title 26 – a way to inflict real harm on all the rural peasants.
In the entire county, only a few properties were “uncompliant”, but that is all the excuse staff needs to inflict harm on the rest of us

Finally, Central Planning staff has sold the concept of using an administrative legal process which does not have to conform to basic evidentiary rules, or assumptions of innocence until proven guilty as a “benefit” to the citizens. In theory, staff reports that this will help “save the legal costs of going to court.” However, in practice it has become a way to ensure that proper legal due process is tilted against the property owner and by abusing the rural resident first at the hearing examiner, county staff can ensure that a proper legal hearing is never possible. Judges give undeserved deference to the administrative process, which always harms the citizen. This has become a well documented phenomenon across the nation. Property owners are starting to wake up to this abuse.

There are additional problems with Title 26, which eerily mirrors the Title 5 draft ordinance from nearby Kitsap County. The residents of Kitsap County were able to convince the Kitsap County Commissioners to temporarily shelf the bad idea, and one of the Kitsap Commissioners was replaced in 2014. In 2014, Thurston County voters also replaced Commissioner Valenzuela when Blake defeated her by a 9 point margin. Apparently, more electoral messages like this must be sent.

Big Government supporters (like the handful of Romero followers who dutifully spoke Tuesday in support of Title 26) wonder why people are disgusted by government. Tuesday is just one example. Title 26 will be a big deal to the future property owners who lose their dream and their future, one family and one home at a time. However, multiply this by the thousands of painful and destructive laws, rules, and ordinances passed every year by governments small and big. Add the waste, incompetence, government greed, and rapacious nature of bureaucracy experienced by most people. These are the building blocks for the road to serfdom, and even us apathetic peasants can start to get angry.

Serfdom Sucks — It does, and so does suffering under Thurston County’s Central Planning Schemes

For people who don’t live in Thurston County, Title 26 should matter to you as well. Here is why:

Throughout the process of ordinance invention, staff predictably falls back on the “everyone else is doing it” mantra. Bad ideas and harmful ordinances spread like a disease, and there is no doubt that Thurston County has a staff infection. Other counties and cities have harmful, destructive, and abusive code enforcement processes. Therefore, according to the infected staff, so should Thurston County. The disease spreads. Each collection of staff in each jurisdiction competes to see who can grow their ordinance the longest, strongest, or most lucrative. It is always easier to justify poor behavior “because everyone else is doing it.” Don’t feel safe just because foolish Thurston County did something stupid, and you don’t live there. What happens here today will happen where you live soon.

Ultimately, we live in a Republic where we elect people to protect us from the abuse of government. Thurston County Commissioner Bud Blake has indicated he cares about rural residents. Commissioner Wolfe and Romero do not. Neither Commissioner has ever cared about rural folk. Both Romero and Wolfe are serving their last terms as Commissioners. Both claim to be retiring at the end of this year.

In November the voters of Thurston County will elect two new people to replace them. We must choose Commissioners who not only will do the right thing in office and start putting people first for a change. They also must be prepared to repeal harmful ordinances like Title 26, and clean out the staff infection in Thurston County.

Thurston County Ballot Box — Ultimately, we have to elect better people to represent us in Thurston County. We have a chance to elect two new Commissioners in 2016.

**My testimony at this hearing is linked here. Taken by audience member on a cell phone, so not the best audio. Another one with better audio is here.

For more Background on the trials and tribulations of the citizens of Thurston County who have suffered under the County Commissioners:

Misty Chastain – A video of how Thurston County tried to destroy her livlihood

Bert Wasch – A video about how Thurston County destroyed his dream of building his own home.

Jay Howell – Video about Thurston County imposing expensive gopher fees

Donna Baker – Thurston County causes her to lose her home.

Thurston County Commissioners Unleash a Plague of Consequences on Residents

Thurston County Commissioners Deny the Reality of Math

Thurston County Demonstrates how NOT to build a Jail

Thurston County to Residents: Living Here is a Big Gamble!

Union Protests Incompetent Thurston County Commissioner

Childish Political Leadership in Thurston County Is Costing Taxpayers Millions

Thurston County ordered to pay millions in Maytown Lawsuit Jury Verdict

Resources for Whistleblowers

Whistleblower Resources

By

Glen Morgan

-

January 11, 2016

1

If you saw some of our TV ads, received a flyer, or been directed to this site by a coworker – you have found the right place.

Hey, I got some information — Anyone who works in state government can be a whistleblower

We have worked with whistleblowers in local government for years. This article is intended to be a handy reference for potential local and state government whistleblowers to help you protect your anonymity and to provide some handy suggestions for how you can expose the truth while reducing the likelihood of exposing yourself.

These suggestions are based on years of experience, learning from past mistakes, and experiencing real success making reform and fixing the problems uncovered. For any additional specific questions, or if you want to contact us, please go to the end of this post for how best to contact us. If you want to learn more, this post will attempt to answer the following questions:

How you can remain anonymous
Type of information for which we are looking
How to provide us information
What do we do with the information?
Information vetting and priority
What type of information we Don’t want to receive
Why the Public Records Act isn’t enough
How to provide us information
How to contact us for questions
Anonymity is a good policy for whistleblowers who want to keep their jobs

How you can remain anonymous

Anonymity is strongly recommended for potential whistleblowers. We have worked with whistleblowers in the past who were not anonymous, and we admire their bravery and willingness to take the abuse and harassment by politicians and bureaucrats. However, one of the biggest concerns whistleblowers have is that they will be harassed, lose their job, and their career prospects will be harmed. Our experience shows these concerns are justified.

We believe there would be many more whistleblowers if they didn’t have these concerns. Our objective is to expose the truth, and fix the problems. If you can remain anonymous in this process, then we believe we can address more problems in government.

Another benefit of whistleblower anonymity is that the bad actors in your office, your supervisor, or your clients will not know who is exposing the truth. This tends to encourage better behavior. We want to stop the fraud, waste, and abuse.

Here are some simple steps you can take to increase the likelihood of your identity remaining anonymous:

Do not contact We the Governed from your work computer, phone, or office. Your email records, phone records, and even browsing history is a public record. You can contact us from your personal phone, computer or borrow a friend’s phone to contact us after hours, or during a lunch break off-campus. If you feel compelled to reach out to us from work, consider using a phone or computer that can’t be easily traced back to you.
Do not discuss your whistleblowing with your coworkers or anyone else who might chat with your coworkers. It is best to keep it a secret.
If you are planning to meet with us – it is best to pick a location where you are unlikely to meet people who will recognize you.
Use common sense when collecting incriminating documents.

Here is the type of information we look for:

The priority matrix for information is as follows:

Fraud and Corruption
Proof of information hidden from previous public records requests (requests made by anyone, not just We the Governed)
Wasting public funds (it might be legal, but most reasonable people would consider it a waste)
Incompetence in government (often this is tied to waste of public funds, and is very common)
Unethical, dishonest, or just plain strange decisions/actions
Something hard to categorize…we learned long ago that whistleblowers will often expose scandals and issues we never could have categorized in the first place.

How to provide us with information

There are a number of ways you can provide information to us, however here are some basic steps you can take.

Digital Files are best. We can certainly use hard paper copies of documents, but we usually scan them digitally anyway. Most documents are produced digitally in the first place, so this should be the easiest way to share the information.
Thumb drives are inexpensive and easy to use
Bring a personal thumb drive, backup drive (if you are downloading 1Terabyte of data or more – we recommend this approach), or similar storage device to download the documents. Make sure these have no extra personal documents (i.e. your tax returns or your child’s homework). Thumb drives can be purchased at any Wal-Mart and are relatively inexpensive.
Remember that your personal (not government issued) phone can be an excellent recording device for photos or audio files if that is part of your evidence chain.
Original paper copies are fine. Over the last few years, these have tended to be only documents that either existed as the only evidence of otherwise destroyed or purged files, or they are documents with hand-written notes that are relevant to the case.

What do we do with the information?

Our objective is to shine the light on problems, corruption, incompetence, fraud, waste, and abuse. We believe that sunlight is the best disinfectant for government staff infections, and that public exposure is the strongest tactic to force needed improvements, changes, and solutions in state and local governments.

The information you provide to us will be exposed to the public for maximum impact towards positive change. We believe reducing future fraud, corruption, incompetence, and waste is a good thing. Some of the people you expose may disagree. The method and strategy of exposing it will vary and is impacted by many factors including the following:

How easy and quickly we are able to verify the information we have received. Sometimes we are provided misinformation, and we need to be able to verify the facts and the truth of the information provided. The more complex and the larger the volume – the longer it takes to vet. We work with many dedicated volunteers around Washington State, and while they may not know your identity they will be able to verify the data you provide.

How many other media outlets are interested in this specific type of story. We have worked with a variety of journalists in the past. If we can provide the information to them clearly, with evidence of vetting, and it happens to be a story they want to cover – this can be effective. Sometimes they may mention us. Sometimes they may not. It is important to remember that most traditional media like newspapers and broadcast news have far less resources to dedicate to research than they did in the past. If you have been ignored by the local media, sometimes this is because they just don’t have the time or resources to vet your story. Unfortunately, sometimes they are also impacted by political considerations.

If we believe there are criminal activities that can be prosecuted, those types of situations could involve some form of coordination with law enforcement. Sometimes this delays the publicity, but only temporarily.

If the information clearly reveals a legislative solution to the problems uncovered, we may also work with elected officials (after public exposure) to fix the problems so they are less likely to occur in the future. Politicians and senior bureaucrats both demonstrate improved motivation to address problems when those problems get public attention.

If you know about money that is wasted — If you work in government at any level – you probably do…

Information vetting and prioritization process

It has been our experience that every fraud,scandal, and bad behaviour has many hours of background story behind it. Few people in the media or the public can absorb all the details. We want to understand these details (and we need the details to vet the source), but we will need to be able to communicate the story concisely. This is rarely as easy as it sounds.

The easier it is to explain, the easier it is to expose the situation, publicize it, and find solutions. This is not an easy or simple process.

As a whistleblower, you are often so close to the situation, scandal or problem that you may not objectively appreciate these challenges. You have years of experience and detailed inside knowledge that the average journalist or citizen does not have. However, we have worked with many whistleblowers before, and we can work with you as well.

The vetting process is also important. This ensures the data and documents are valid. We strive to have multiple sources to verify any claim. Sometimes, this can consist of other employees or workers providing corroborating information. We also may independently file records requests to verify documents.

As much as we appreciate your willingness to come forward and tell us about something, your word alone is rarely enough for us to go public. Please be prepared to bring evidence or proof. You would want the same if you were in our place.

There are techniques and processes that we may be unwilling to discuss because this knowledge could assist bad actors in government find ways to avoid oversight, exposure, or damage the ability of others to expose the truth.

We do not want the following type of information:

When downloading large file and document caches, we particularly request that you do not provide us personal information that could be used for illegal activity like identity theft. Typically this would include personal medical records and social security numbers. If you have documents that contain this type of information, we request that you redact it in advance. Otherwise, we have to redact or destroy it ourselves.

We will notify you if we are forced to destroy these records, but if a whistleblower persists in sending us files that contain this type of information, we are going to refuse to receive them. We are striving to solve problems, not create more.

Why the public records act is not enough.

We strongly support Washington State’s Public Records Act. We believe it is a powerful tool for activists, journalists, and citizens to hold government at all levels accountable and more honest. We encourage other states to adopt similar transparency laws, and we support the Washington Coalition for Open Government in their efforts to protect and maintain these laws.

However, over the last few years we have witnessed an increasing sophistication and ability by some senior bureaucrats, agencies, vendors, and others to avoid scrutiny and exposure by the public. It has also been our experience that people who work for these local and state government agencies know the inside problems and challenges best and can save a tremendous amount of effort and time if we would just listen to them.

We are here to help you expose the truth.

How to provide us information:

By mail – package or envelope:

We the Governed

1001 Cooper Pt. Rd SW, Suite#140-222

Olympia, WA 98502

Please package thumb drives, portable hard drives, and other media in appropriate media mailers and with proper packaging. Please provide a note or letter detailing what type of files and information is provided. Identify the agency, and explain the problem the original documents are exposing.

By email:

glen@wethegoverned.com

By phone or text:

contact us via email first.

In person:

We will meet any whistleblower only after a conversation on the phone, and we are happy to make an appointment to meet with you.

Other whistleblower resources:

National Whistleblowers Center (if you want to go public and litigate)

Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund (good reference for fraud by private companies defrauding the Federal government)

Washington Coalition for Open Government

Previous Articles written by Glen Morgan, back in his Freedom Foundation days about Whistleblowers and Open Government:

Attention State Workers: You Can Also Be a Whistleblower (June 11, 2013)

The Unions Won’t Protect Whistleblowers (June 12, 2014)

To Catch a Thief (Oct 1, 2013)

Washington Police Chiefs Director clueless about electronic home monitoring failures (Feb 25, 2014)

Why We the Governed?

By

Glen Morgan

-

January 10, 2016

0

We the Governed exists to support activists and citizens who are concerned that government is too big, intrusive, abusive, corrupt, and incompetent. We the Governed believes government needs to be substantially and significantly reformed in order to restore many of the founding principles and freedoms on which our nation was founded. A big part of this reform will be true openness, improved access to public records, and exposing the truth – regardless of how embarrassing the truth may be for the politicians and bureaucrats involved.

We the Governed actively recruits whistleblowers and source contacts in government agencies – particularly in state and local governments. While recent polls have shown a growing percentage of Americans believe government is corrupt, incompetent, and certainly wasteful, we also know that many people who work in government can help expose the truth. While the upper management of these agencies may be politicized and corrupt, usually the front line workers are just trying to do their jobs. We work to protect whistleblower identity when anonymity is requested (and anonymity is recommended if you want to keep your job).

We the Governed is focused mainly on local and state government in the Pacific Northwest. The founder and Executive Director of We the Governed, Glen Morgan, lives near Washington State’s Capital in the City of Olympia.

We the Governed seek to solve the problems found in politics and government bureaucracy. Corruption and incompetence is monopolized by no political party. The problems we expose, the stories we tell, and the suggestions we propose improve our community and our future for everyone.

Until We the People can regain control over the instruments of government which we have created, we will continue to live as We the Governed…

We the Governed

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Resources for Whistleblowers

How you can remain anonymous

Here is the type of information we look for:

How to provide us with information

What do we do with the information?

Information vetting and prioritization process

We do not want the following type of information:

Why the public records act is not enough.

How to provide us information:

By mail – package or envelope:

By email:

By phone or text:

In person:

Other whistleblower resources:

Attention State Workers: You Can Also Be a Whistleblower (June 11, 2013)

The Unions Won’t Protect Whistleblowers (June 12, 2014)

To Catch a Thief (Oct 1, 2013)

Washington Police Chiefs Director clueless about electronic home monitoring failures (Feb 25, 2014)

Why We the Governed?

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