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Commentary: The goal was to foster awareness and bring people closer together. Did we succeed?
It was in the spring of this year that the board of South Fork Valley Community Association (SFVCA) decided that a voter awareness project fell within its mission to support the growth of social capital by providing opportunity for wide-ranging, warm and friendly face-to-face events.
The import of the presidential race is plain to see. But not so clear to any Whatcom County resident is what is at stake in the Charter Review Commission (CRC) race which occurs on a 10-year cycle. The federal and state legislative races provided additional need and substance for giving candidates and citizens an opportunity to learn from each other at a community gathering.
With the concurrence and support of the Whatcom Community Foundation, SFVCA planned a detailed project focused on introducing the dozens upon dozens of CRC candidates to the electorate in our home Whatcom County District 3. The district extends from Sumas to Everson, through Squalicum Lake, Deming, Acme, Glen Haven, Silver Beach, Sudden Valley and Chuckanut Drive. As I drove the 200 roundabout miles putting up the magnificent, informative, patriotic but nonpartisan posters crafted by colleague and fellow board member Maggie Metcalfe, all I could think of was the audacity and perhaps futility of finding coherence midst this dispersed population.
The project, seemingly simple, was to stage a pre-primary forum on July 24 at the Mount Baker Performing Arts Center, a post-primary meet-and-greet with the victors at the Josh VanderYacht Memorial Park in Van Zandt on Aug. 17 during the SFVCA’s annual Summerfest, and a pre-election candidate forum at the Van Zandt Community Hall on Oct. 19. To make the program juicier, we secured keynote speakers County Auditor Stacey Henthorn and Executive Satpal Sidhu who gave insight into ballot security and CRC history at both the August and October candidate forums.
Operationalizing this trifecta was much easier said than done. Connecting and getting commitments from candidates to appear in our remote east and southern Whatcom bastion required continuous courteous messaging and patience for me and Maggie. After the ex-president’s assassination attempt, a couple of candidates just for kicks insisted on police protection; we covered that base.
Did it work?
Budgeting can be a major organizational issue but the big questions revolve about what did we learn, did the public benefit and did we accomplish what we set out to do? Did we foster awareness and bring people closer together.
Out here in the county we’re old hands at making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Something may seem a bit dubious but, then again, it’s a marvel! For sure, we caught wind of the local attitude towards politics. Like the nation as a whole, the masses are apathetic, polarized, complacent in their respective bubbles, and they are worried and disenchanted.
Regulars on the campaign trail were impressed with what SFVCA delivered: a comparatively substantial audience, an organized program, copious amounts of food and a goodly amount of give and take. We had hoped for greater attendance given the effort and expense to publicize each of these events. Media is so balkanized and specialized that the polity mirrors the splintered landscape.
Such is pure alchemy when it comes to deciphering and charting our county’s political destiny.
Sure, all the CRC candidates are swell folks but what we know of their vision for our county’s constitution is hardly crystal clear. Thankfully it’s possible to distill from the give and take what is likely to be newly considered in the commission’s deliberations: ranked choice voting, ethics guidelines and procedures, representation, climate awareness, social development and taxation.
Anyone can write to the commission through the council or the executive.
Democracy should be two-way street. If government doesn’t hear from its constituents, how is it supposed to govern fairly?
In conclusion, the SFVCA voter awareness project was immensely rewarding. We learned from each other about each other. We gleaned a more specific idea of possible amendments to the Whatcom County Charter. We fulfilled our mission.
In retrospect, it was in the snack and chow times that the face-to-face, down-to-earth conversations, rather than brash and hostile public exchanges, took place. Sharing food is a neat way to stumble upon common ground. We also learned that eastern Whatcom and District 3 remains an imperceptible archipelago of communities with hardly its own voice.
To know more about the SFVCA, visit southforkvalley.org. For pure enjoyment, tune into KAVZ.org or when driving in the East County dial in 102.5 FM.
— By Jeff Margolis
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