A brochure, "Make Your Voice Heard", distributed by the Keystone Forum states:
"In early 1993, residents and business owners recognized leadership vacuums in Whatcom County and Bellingham governments. ...Therefore, more than 120 local residents met in April to chart a new course. Sponsored by the non-profit, educational Whatcom Chamber Foundation, the conference provided in-depth leadership training in issue identification, research methodology, and practical solutions for public policy. Interested conference members met again in May to begin working toward better local government. Their efforts resulted in the founding of the Whatcom Keystone Forum."
On Keystone's registration as a PAC, the following people are listed as the committee's 1993 officers:
William Geyer - Chairman
Marsha Barnhill - Director
Lesa Starkenburg - Secretary
Steve Westburg - Treasurer
Debbie Everitt - Deputy Treasurer
Robert Wiesen - Board Member
Arthur Castle - Board Member
Anna Williams - Board Member
Willard Edison - Board Member
John Corliss - Board Member
Bruce Ayers - Board Member
Joseph Burton - Board Member
This group recruited candidates and ran an independent expenditure campaign that, in conjunction with CLUE's Coalition for Common Sense and Bellingham's Committee On Fiscal Fiduciary and Economic Responsibility (COFFER), won nine out of ten ballot propositions in 1993. At the end of the 1993 campaign season, Keystone reported $15,634.00 in contributions and $13,233.88 in expenditures. Operating as a PAC that concentrated on independent expenditure campaigns, Keystone effectively became a third party that dominated the non-partisan elections in Whatcom County.
Note: The total number of Wise Use organizations in Whatcom County is seven: Washington Women in Timber, Washington Contract Loggers Association, Whatcom Coalition for Land Use Education, Citizens for Common Sense, Keystone Forum PAC, Independence County, and Pioneer County.
Return to Wise Use in Northern Puget Sound Table of Contents
