Why This Corruption Cannot Stand: A Statement of Purpose

The Inversion of Public Service

Planning departments were established to serve the public interest. Somewhere along the way, that mission inverted. Today, too many planning bureaucracies exist not to help property owners navigate legitimate regulations, but to restrict, delay, embarrass, and demonstrate power over the citizens they allegedly serve.

This is not hyperbole. This is documented reality.

The Accountability Vacuum

These departments operate in a unique space of unelected, unaccountable power:

No Meaningful Metrics. How is a planner's job performance measured? Not by timely service. Not by customer satisfaction. Not by fairness or consistency. A permit can languish for years with no consequences for the bureaucrat who causes the delay. Yet as our investigation reveals, when that same delaying, obfuscating planner has his own projects, the timeline miraculously shrinks to 21 days.

No Empathy for Those They Serve. Two years for a permit is not "busy." It is not a "thorough review." It is a choice—a choice to make citizens beg for help, to force them to be grateful when only half their desired outcome is grudgingly granted, to remind them who holds power.

No Electoral Accountability. These planners wield enormous power over property rights, housing costs, and economic opportunity. Yet no voter put them there. No voter can remove them. They answer to no one but themselves and the bureaucratic machinery that protects its own.

The Weaponization of Environmental Regulation

Wetlands regulation began with noble intent—protecting genuinely critical ecological systems. But like any tool in the hands of someone seeking power rather than serving principle, wetlands have become the hammer that makes everything look like a nail.

In Washington State, wetlands serve as the go-to mechanism for denial and obstruction. Question a planner's judgment? Your project gets sidelined. Challenge their arbitrary determinations? Suddenly, new "concerns" emerge. Dare to uncover actual corruption? The full weight of the system descends—not on the corrupt official, but on you.

The Racket: From Planner to Profiteer

But the weaponization of wetlands has evolved into something far more sinister than mere bureaucratic obstruction. It has become a protection racket that would make organized crime blush.

Here's how the shakedown works:

Step 1: The Discovery. A planner who controls what you can do with your property sidelines your project indefinitely. Suddenly, they "find" wetlands where none existed in previous reports. The property you thought was buildable becomes worthless—at least according to the government official holding your permit hostage.

Step 2: The Recommendation. You're pushed toward a "recommended" wetland consulting company. Perhaps with the suggestion that this particular firm "knows how to work with the county" or "has experience with these situations." You're desperate. Your project is stalled. Your investment is at risk. So you hire them.

Step 3: The Confirmation. Surprise! The recommended consultant finds wetlands. Exactly as the planner suggested. The "independent" verification confirms what the bureaucrat who referred you already determined. How convenient.

Step 4: The Shakedown. Now you face a "choice": Buy mitigation credits. From whom? From the very same planner who restricted your property in the first place—the one who has conveniently set up a private wetland mitigation company while working for the county.

The price? Try $400,000 per acre for their "mitigation credits."

Step 5: The Ultimatum. Pay, or you're done. Your property remains worthless. Your project stays dead. Your investment is lost. Like the gangsters of old New York demanding protection money, the message is clear: You pay the vig, or you go out of business.

This isn't an exaggeration. This isn't a conspiracy theory. This is a documented, systematic extraction of wealth from property owners by the very officials sworn to serve them.

The Timeline Tells the Story

Want to see how deliberate this scheme is? Look at what happened in our investigation:

2015: Developers purchase property for a residential development. Legitimate investment. Standard due diligence. Ready to build housing that the community needs.

2018-2019: Developers start the permitting process. This should take months. Maybe a year if the county is genuinely busy.

But they hit a snag. The planner rejects the developer's wetlands report because he believes that there should be some wetlands. So he rejects the report provided by a licensed wetlands company out of Skagit county.

2019 (coincidentally): Matt Mahaffie, the county planner who is in charge of reviewing the permits for this development, "randomly" decides to purchase property just one mile down the street from this development. Cost? $10,000 for 7+ acres of mostly "wet" property.

2018-Present: The developers' project gets buried in endless wetland reports. More studies are needed. New concerns discovered. Delays upon delays upon delays. Meanwhile, Mahaffie's own property right down the road? Fast-tracked through the same system in 21 days for a wetlands delineation.

Oh, and his girlfriend's 7+acres right next to his was also approved...in 21 days.

It's not hard to connect the dots. The delays weren't about legitimate environmental review.

They were about keeping a competing development in limbo while Mahaffie set up his own wetland mitigation scheme. Keep the nearby project tied up long enough to establish your mitigation bank, position yourself as the "solution provider," and then—when you're ready—either force them to buy credits from you or keep them frozen until they give up entirely.

The planner bought property a mile away and then used his regulatory authority to suppress competition while establishing his own profit center. This isn't just corruption. This

is strategic market manipulation using government power.

Think about what this means: Mahaffie could control when and whether competing developments proceeded. He could ensure his mitigation bank was established before allowing other projects to move forward—projects that would then need to buy from him.

He could extract maximum profit by timing the market he himself controlled.

A legitimate developer waits years, bleeds money on holding costs, pays for endless consultant reports, all while the planner who's blocking them sets up shop to profit from the very regulations he's enforcing.

This is the protection racket at its purest.

A Protection Racket in Government Clothing

Let's call this what it is: a protection racket operating under the color of law.

The planner creates the problem (finding wetlands). The planner controls the solution (permit approval). The planner profits from the resolution (selling mitigation credits). And if you refuse to play along? The planner has the power to destroy your investment entirely.

In the private sector, this would be called extortion. In organized crime, it's racketeering.

But when government employees do it while wearing the mantle of "environmental protection," somehow it becomes acceptable bureaucracy.

It's not acceptable. It's corruption.

The scheme works because of information asymmetry and power imbalance:

• The planner knows which properties have genuine wetland issues and which don't. You don't.

• The planner controls whether your permit gets approved or languishes forever. You don't.

• The planner determines what mitigation is "sufficient" to satisfy county requirements. You don't.

• The planner owns the mitigation company that conveniently provides exactly what the planner demands. You're just the mark being shaken down.

When the same person creates the obstacle, controls the approval process, and profits from the "solution," that's not public service. That's a criminal enterprise operating within government.

The Scale of the Theft

At $400,000 per acre for mitigation credits, this isn't petty corruption. This is systematic wealth extraction on a massive scale.

And here's the most galling part: In our investigation, we documented a planner who bought a lot for $10,000, then turned around and sold mitigation credits at $400,000 per acre. Let that sink in. A $10,000 investment becomes a mechanism to extract hundreds of thousands from desperate property owners who need what only the planner can provide: approval.

The return on investment? 4,000% or more. Not from building something. Not from improving anything. From leveraging government authority to create artificial scarcity, then selling the "solution" at extortionate prices.

This is wealth extraction in its purest form—using the power of government to turn a $10,000 lot into a money printing machine that generates hundreds of thousands per transaction.

Consider what this means for housing affordability: Every acre that gets the wetland designation adds hundreds of thousands in costs. Those costs get passed to homebuyers—if the project survives at all. More often, the shakedown simply kills development, reducing housing supply and driving up prices for everyone.

The planners profit. The connected consultants profit. The mitigation credit sellers profit.

And ordinary people—those trying to build a home, start a business, or simply use property they legally own—get crushed in between.

This is why housing costs in Washington State have skyrocketed. Not because of legitimate environmental protection, but because a corrupt system has turned environmental regulation into a profit center for insiders.

This Isn't Stopping—It's Expanding

Make no mistake: What we've uncovered is not an isolated incident. This is not "one bad apple." This is a proven business model that works, generates enormous returns, and faces virtually no consequences.

The scheme is happening right now. Somewhere today, a planner is discovering "new" wetlands on a property. A "recommended" consultant is being suggested. A property owner is being set up for the shakedown.

The scheme is being replicated. Other planners are watching. They see colleagues making $400,000 per acre selling mitigation credits. They see no prosecutions. No firings. No consequences. Just profit. What do you think they're learning?

The scheme is getting more expensive. As more planners enter the mitigation credit business, as more properties get designated as wetlands, as the system becomes normalized, the prices will only increase. $400,000 per acre today. $500,000 tomorrow. Why not? Who's going to stop them?

The scheme is spreading to other jurisdictions. Whatcom County won't be unique for long. Every planning department in Washington—and beyond—operates under similar regulatory frameworks. The same opportunities exist everywhere. The same lack of accountability exists everywhere. This playbook will spread unless it's stopped here, now, with consequences severe enough to make the next planner think twice.

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The City of Bellingham is getting ready to open up its own "wetlands bank." They are going to do it with Economic and Development Investment levy money...set aside to help businesses and boost economic investment...instead, Bellingham will help itself.

According to the Whatcom County website, "the Economic Development Investment (EDI) Program was developed by Whatcom County to stimulate economic growth throughout the county".

So the City of Bellingham, which owns over ONE BILLION DOLLARS of property, is going to take EDI tax money to buy MORE LAND, and then SELL IT BACK TO DEVELOPERS at $400K an acre.

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This is the future unless we act: Planning departments fully captured by self-dealing bureaucrats who view their positions not as public service but as business opportunities.

Environmental regulations transformed from ecological protection into extortion mechanisms. Property rights that exist only after paying tribute to government racketeers.

That future is being built right now, one $400,000-per-acre shakedown at a time.

When Corruption Becomes Institutional

Our investigation has exposed something worse than individual malfeasance. We've documented a Whatcom County planner who allegedly profited approximately $450,000 by manipulating the very regulations he enforced—fast-tracking his own permits, coordinating with county contacts, and using his position for personal enrichment.

But the corruption runs deeper. While Mahaffie was buying property a mile from a development he would regulate, while he was setting up his mitigation credit scheme, while he was keeping legitimate developers in permit hell for years, he was doing all of this as a county employee with the county's knowledge and protection.

The corruption isn't just in the original conduct. It's in the response.

When presented with evidence of this scheme, county officials didn't investigate rigorously—they whitewashed. They didn't interview key witnesses. They misrepresented employment records. They threatened complainants with legal action for daring to speak up. They protected a planner who was strategically suppressing competing developments while setting up his own profit center.

The county prosecutor chose to protect the system rather than protect homeowners. Chose to sacrifice the lives and assets of citizens rather than hold corrupt officials accountable. Chose to send threatening letters to those who exposed wrongdoing rather than investigate the wrongdoing itself.

Think about what the county chose to defend: A planner who bought property in 2018 and kept a nearby development (that started permitting the same year) trapped in endless delays while his own projects sailed through in 21 days. The county looked at that timeline, looked at the $10,000 lot that became a $400,000-per-acre extortion mechanism, looked at the years-long suppression of competing development, and decided to threaten the whistleblowers instead.

This is what institutional corruption looks like: The system protecting itself at all costs, with citizens treated as the problem for noticing. Not just protecting the corrupt official, but protecting the entire scheme—the strategic market manipulation, the coordinated suppression of competition, the use of government authority to rig the development market for insider profit.

The Stakes: More Than One Case

This isn't just about one corrupt planner or one compromised county. This is about a fundamental perversion of government power.

Planning departments control what gets built, where, by whom, in what numbers, and ultimately at what price. In markets like Washington State, where restrictive land-use regulations create massive "regulatory surcharges estimated between 40-200 percent" on housing costs, this power creates scarcity that locks out middle-class buyers and creates enormous opportunities for insider manipulation.

When planners can delay honest applicants for years while fast-tracking their own projects, they're not just being unfair—they're rigging a market worth billions of dollars. They're determining who gets to own homes and who doesn't. They're deciding which communities grow and which stagnate.

This power, exercised without accountability, becomes indistinguishable from tyranny.

A Reminder of First Principles

It's time the public reminds these planners and officials who they serve and why they exist:

You are there TO SERVE THE PUBLIC. Not to pass judgment. Not to make up rules demonstrating how much power you wield. Not to create a system in which citizens must kneel before Planning, like subjects before kings and queens of old.

You are accountable. To the citizens who pay your salaries. To the property owners whose rights you impact. To the communities whose futures you shape. To the law you swore to uphold.

You can be replaced. Positions are not entitlements. Protection from accountability is not a right. When the system proves itself incapable of self-correction, the public has both the power and the responsibility to demand reform.

Why I Won't Let This Go

Because corruption thrives in silence.

Because what we've uncovered isn't just bureaucratic incompetence—it's a systematic racketeering operation run by public employees.

Because property owners are being shaken down for hundreds of thousands of dollars by the very officials who are supposed to serve them, and the system calls it "environmental compliance."

Because systems that protect their own at citizens' expense will never reform themselves.

Because every day this continues, honest people are denied their rights, manipulated by those they trusted, told their property is worthless by the same people selling them the "solution" at $400,000 per acre.

Because housing unaffordability isn't just an abstract policy problem—it's the direct result of regulatory systems that have transformed from serving the public interest into serving as profit centers for corrupt insiders.

Because if we accept that planners can create problems, control solutions, and profit from both—all while using government authority to force compliance—then we've accepted that property rights exist only at the discretion of government racketeers.

Because somewhere, right now, another property owner is being told they have wetlands they didn't know existed, being referred to a "recommended" consultant, and being set up for a shakedown that will cost them everything or force them to pay tribute to the system.

I won't accept that.

The Path Forward

This investigation will continue. The racketeering scheme will be detailed. The money trail will be followed. The "recommended" consultants will be identified. The properties where wetlands were mysteriously "discovered" will be documented. The mitigation credit sales will be traced. The $10,000 lot that became a $400,000-per-acre extortion machine will be shown for exactly what it is.

More evidence will be presented. More cases will be documented. More officials will be forced to choose between defending the indefensible and doing their jobs.

The public deserves to know how planning departments actually operate behind their facade of "public service." Property owners deserve to understand why their permits take years while insiders get 21 days—and why they're being shaken down for hundreds of thousands of dollars by the same people blocking their projects.

Homebuyers deserve to know how this racketeering scheme drives up costs and limits supply. Citizens deserve to understand that "environmental protection" has been weaponized into a profit-making enterprise where planners turn $10,000 investments into mechanisms to extract millions from the public.

We must act now because this scheme is spreading. Every day without consequences is another day for more planners to enter the mitigation credit business. Every covered-up case is an instruction manual for the next corrupt official. Every property owner forced to pay is proof that the shakedown works.

And corrupt officials—along with the systems that protect them—deserve to face consequences. Real consequences. Criminal consequences, if the evidence supports it.

Severe consequences that make the planner in the next county think twice before setting up their own mitigation credit company.

This isn't about vengeance. It's about accountability. It's about exposing a protection racket that operates under government authority. It's about ending a system where public employees create problems they profit from solving. It's about stopping a proven criminal enterprise before it becomes the standard operating procedure for planning departments across the state and nation.

It's about restoring the proper relationship between citizens and their government—one where officials serve the public, not shake them down for 4,000% returns on investment.

The power belongs to the people. The property belongs to the owners. And the racketeering ends now—before it becomes the norm everywhere.

This statement reflects the findings of an ongoing investigation into corruption in Whatcom County's land use planning system, with broader implications for planning departments throughout Washington State and beyond.