Brenner
From Paben
Whatcom County Council member Barbara Brenner has cancelled her meeting with the Western Washington University vice president for university relations, after information fair organizers last week asked her to stop campaigning for re-election. She is running against Alan Black, a Blaine City Council member.
Brenner, in an email to Steve Swan, vice president for university relations, said she isn’t partisan and doesn’t have an off-shoot organization at WWU, so there’s no way she could have know she was supposed to register beforehand for the event.
She was scheduled to meet with him to discuss ways to bring the campus and community together. Click here to see my previous post on that.
Click here to see my previous article on this topic.
Here are the emails:
From: BBGUN1010@aol.com [mailto:BBGUN1010@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:29 AM
To: Steve Swan
Cc: Lorie McNeill; As.Student@wwu.edu; Meyerjs@students.wwu.edu
Subject: Brenner at Red SquareSteve,
I think it would be best to cancel our meeting. I am very disappointed in what happened last Tuesday at Red Square and after just reading the misrepresentations made by university about what happened, which were very blatantly not correct, I think it would be better for me to focus my attention on more realistic issues.
I had planned on going up to Red Square for the informational fair and mentioned it to you at the York Neighborhood meeting when I asked for your card the week before the fair. I also mentioned it to Kendall and Joe, both involved in student affairs, at the same meeting. They seemed very pleased I was coming. They didn’t say anything about having to register for the information fair. I had a delightful time on Monday. I was there for hours. Then I was told to leave on Tuesday almost immediately upon my arrival. I did leave after the fourth or fifth time of being told, not because I thought I did anything wrong, but because I felt the young people telling me had gotten pretty uncomfortable with me being there and my purpose in going was to communicate, not to fight with them. I still don’t know what rules I violated. I offered to register when one of them told me I wasn’t registered. The person said I couldn’t, that it was too late. I spoke to Kendall before I left. He said he didn’t know what rules I violated. It seemed there were many less people and booths on Tuesday than Monday when I was there for hours, so there was space for me even though I was just walking around with my dog giving out flyers to anyone who wanted them. Contrary to the comments from the university there were a number of people walking around giving out information. Another young person approached me shortly after and said I had to leave because I wasn’t allowed to do political campaigning. I said many of the people there were doing political campaigning so I couldn’t understand that either. It was hard to answer when another person from the same group came up and said I had to leave because there had been a complaint. I asked what was the complaint and he wouldn’t tell me. I decided to leave because I could tell I was making the young people who were telling me to leave so uncomfortable. Some people at a couple of booths were listening and said I could leave flyers with them. I did but as I was leaving another one from the group who told me to leave said I had to take my literature. So I went and got it. Also, what was not reported was the people at the political science association booth said I could be their guest. But then I was told I couldn’t do that. I had gone to the information fair (or whatever it was called) at Red Square in the past and no one ever told me I couldn’t be there or that I had to register. I still don’t understand why anyone would think I would know there were some restrictions regarding being in a legitimate public space where people congregate. I was informing students at an informational fair of my candidacy. I was encouraged to come by some students weeks ago. So I went.
I left. I think I was there less than a half hour.
Monday I thought the people seemed really glad I was there. I am a county resident who had no idea I was supposed to register to provide information at an information fair and was willing to do it and pay. I told them that.
I doubt very many people outside of the university or political organizations that have offshoot student groups would know this was a restricted information fair or that registration was required beforehand or at all. As a non-partisan, I thought it was simply a public opportunity to share my information as I had done in the past. I don’t believe at this time a county resident who does not belong to any political organization, and therefor would not have an offshoot student group that would know about your rules, would do very well.
I do appreciate you were willing to meet with me. It is just that if the university didn’t think there was a problem with what happened, I don’t think there is anything more I could say.
Barbara Brenner
From: Steve.Swan@wwu.edu
To: BBGUN1010@aol.com
CC: Lorie.McNeill@wwu.edu, As.Student@wwu.edu, Meyerjs@students.wwu.edu
Sent: 9/22/2011 11:26:36 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: RE: Brenner at Red SquareHi Barbara,
Thank you for the message. I feel bad about the situation that occurred at the AS Information Fair, and I while I am disappointed, I understand your desire to cancel our meeting. Iris, Joe and I looked forward to hearing your thoughts on building and extending relationships in the community and county. Perhaps sometime in the future you will re-consider and we can hear your good thoughts.
Thank you for your good work on behalf of the people of Whatcom County and best wishes in your campaign.
Steve
Steve Swan
Vice-President for University Relations
Western Washington University
Considering all the talk about the merits of transparency in government and considering how few officials are willing to be transparent (note the current Super-committee fiasco) I applaud Barbara Brenner’s complete honesty in outlining exactly what happened at the University. I don’t always agree with Barbara but I have always admired her willingness to respond to my questions in detail and to turn over every stone in public for the voter’s scrutiny. I have never found anyone else in our County government who is willing to do that and I admire her courage in all situations.
This woman really comes off as self-obsessed and arrogant.
By the fourth or fifth time being told of the requirement(s) she decides to abide by their request??
Really??
Not knowing about rules and registration requirements doesn’t mean you don’t have to abide by them. She is blindly insistent that she should be above such nonsense.
I pity any Bellingham Police Officer that would ever dare to pull her over for any infraction.
Vote for Alan Black.
She got lots of free publicty. If Alan Black got equal time maybe this contrived free speach issue would not be so darn stupid. The Weekly summed it up “Huckster without a license”
By claiming to not know some basic campaign laws- no campaigning on local, state or federally owned facilities, i.e. her County Council Office, or WWU- Councilwoman Brenner demonstrates her ignorance to read the fine print.
The rules for campaigning at WWU are simple- you must be invited by a student group or organization to be able to appear on campus. This rule not only applies to political campaigns, it is also true for religious organizations.
As previous posts have demonstrated, both Republican and Democratic candidates were aware of such a rule and proceeded to be invited by student groups.
I am quite concerned that in her lastest email to Steve Swan, Councilwoman Brenner has admitted to campaign on state grounds prior to Monday’s event, which is in clear violation of state campaign laws.
Thanks to Councilwoman Brenner for her candor in dealing with this mountainous molehill.
A smart person doesn’t feed the frenzy when only sharks are around to take your bait.
WWU needs no special bridges to the Council,
every one of the university students is a resident of this county and is privy to all the information available to any regular uneducated citizen.
I look forward to another term for our dependable At-Large councillor.
Rubie, you have to admit though that she pumped this for what it was worth.
Hue, does the inability of Black to self promote indicate anything about his success as a politician? High ground is a lame fall back if it means an inability to compete in the arena he has chosen.
Yorker, how can you claim it’s OK to campaign there if invited, then a sentence later claim it’s not allowed at all? I think you’re confused.
I agree the University may ask anyone to leave campus, given adequate cause. However, I seriously doubt the University has any general prohibition against local elective candidates campaigning at public events in public places. I have reviewed University policies available online and found nothing to suggest this is the case. I have also found no RCW prohibiting local elective candidates from campaigning at public events in public places.
If Yorker21 or others can provide these citations, I would be most interested in receiving them. Otherwise, I consider it hooey and find the prospect democratically chilling. I asked Steve Swan several of these questions at his invitation a few days ago, but have heard nothing back as yet.
IMHO WWU should be making every effort to promote candidates running for office the opportunity to have dialogue with the students there.
Even if that means going out of their “WAY”!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
Barbara Brenner is an independent. Her opponent is a Democrat. Both Democrats and Republicans have representation on campus. Independents have no such connection.
The arrogance and close minded attitude of the students who complained show that WWU is not instilling much intellectual curiosity or open mindedness in the students. The university should be ashamed.
All Barbara Brenner was doing was walking around handing out fliers.
George,
The media is a stream into which you cannot swim on your own,
and one from which there’s no escape possible until they eddy out their attention on the next issue.
A normal person could have experienced every one of the adventures and reactions the Councilwoman did,
and not earn a peep from any newspaper.
Barbara Brenner has not been bought by the left or the right, she thinks for herself and researches issues like no other elected official I know of. None of her words appear arrogant or self-obsessed. I support Brenner!
Oh, please. There are rules in place regarding how to be a part of this event – rules which at least one other candidate followed – and Barbara ignored them. Her campaign didn’t bother to do the work necessary to get her there legitimately. The whining is hurting my ears.
Rubie Begonia, allow me to help you, BB is NOT your “dependable At-Large councilor.” She is your unpredictable councilor from District 3, Billy Knutzen is your slow witted councilor at large who had never voted in a local election.
And poor mislead guided John Galt, BB is a self proclaimed independent, at least at every Lincoln Dinner and Republican gathering she attends. Her opponent was endorsed by the Whatcom County Democrats true enough, but I do not believe Alan Black is a dues paying member of that organization.
Gardengirl, you obviously have never been to a County Council meeting and seen poor BB totally lost as to what page of their agenda the governing body is on at any given moment. She reminds me of the slow readers in grade school, somebody please point out to her what page we’re on.
What bothers me is the cancelling of the meeting with WWU; sort of a “I’m taking my ball and going home” attitude. Wouldn’t this situation be the perfect catalyst to begin meeting and working together? Instead, BB seems more willing to pout. That doesn’t inspire confidence in this voter.
As far as I’m concerned,
Brenner’s an At-Large councilwoman.
She isn’t a representative of my district but she represents an opinion and a buffer to that body that matches my interests and helps guide the council as a a whole in a way that represents my concerns.