From our soon-to-be man-about-town, Dave Seago:

Kim,
We went with my daughter to see the Pride parade in Seattle, and who should walk into the viewfinder of my camera but Pierce County's First Couple, John and Connie Ladenburg. Their constituents will be glad to know they behaved themselves. In fact, I think they were in the running for the Squarest Participants trophy.

Judging from the crowd reaction when Gregoire went by – big cheers – and when the Obama contingent went by – even bigger cheers – I will go out on a limb and predict that the governor and Obama will carry Seattle in November. We detected no cheers when the Ladenburgs passed by, but just having a D after the Ladenburg name on the ballot will be sufficient to carry Seattle.

Remaining in political correspondent mode here, I should note that King County Exec Ron Sims was walking the route and hugging everybody in sight. Seattle City Council members paraded on Segways. Oh, and Congressman-for-Life Jim McDermott also marched, looking really old. Isn't it about time he packed it in?

Apparently the Dino Rossi float broke down on the way to Seattle and couldn't make it. Back to you, Kim.

Welcome Tall Ships! Their second visit promises to go more smoothly than the first, and we hope it will firmly establish their appearance as a regular event.

Two-thirds of Americans can name at least one of the judges on “American Idol.” But fewer than one in 10 can name the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Sandra Day O’Connor wants to change that – and good for her.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

The Supreme Court last week affirmed that the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms. For gun advocates, so far so good.

But a sharp-eyed Wall Street Journal reporter picked up on a clause in Antonin Scalia's opinion – in a footnote, no less – that could mean the ruling is far less sweeping than it appears.

The crucial words: "... incorporation, a question not presented by this case ..."

=> Read more!

Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg responded to my blog post yesterday about the attorney general's race.

Based on an earlier item from the TNT's Political Buzz blog, I had noted that House Majority Leader Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, had said she wouldn't endorse Ladenburg for AG – because Ladenburg had opposed her bill requiring local governments to record their executive sessions.

Ladenburg says that it it was all a misunderstanding.

Dave, I did not oppose the Kessler bill. In fact, I never took a position on the bill. The article in the Vancouver paper was wrong.

I was explaining to the reporter the opposition to the bill from local government elected I serve with on the Association of Counties legislative committee. Since that article came out, Kessler and I have spoken and cleared up the issue. I promised to work with her on the issue and find a compromise that could work for locals. She was very receptive to this because of my good relationship with county and city officials.

Kessler will support me and next year I will work with local government to find a solution to the problems they found in her bill. She pointed out that she cannot and will not support McKenna because he is against government accountability by promoting more government immunity.

UPDATE 6/30: A few commenters have challenged Ladenburg's assertion that Kessler is now supporting him, so I called her this afternoon to check. She said she and Ladenburg had a cordial conversation, but that she will not be endorsing – or supporting – anyone for state attorney general. She said she rarely endorses candidates, although she recently made an exception for her colleague Jim McIntire who is running for state treasurer. – KB

Pierce County Councilman Terry Lee, R-Gig Harbor, dropped by Friday to say how glad he is that I'm leaving the TNT.

He really didn't say that. But amid an exchange of good wishes, I extracted quite a bit of news:

Lee is optimistic that the county's proposed purchase of the Tacoma Narrows Airport will soon be greenlighted by the council. The county is currently conducting due diligence on the deal, as is the new Peninsula Metropolitan Park District.

The county would put up $3 million, the park district $2 million to buy 644 acres that includes the City of Tacoma-owned airport, the Madrona Links golf course to the north, and all the property in between. Lee hopes the county can develop passive recreation use, such as trails and open space, in the buffer zone around the airport. The park district would buy and operate the golf course; unlike many others, Madrona Links is making money and could make more, Lee said.

A key detail: The county wouldn't use general fund money for the purchase. The county's share would come from the sale of surplus county property near Elk Plain. Using general fund money would be a deal-killer, Lee said

Lee also noted that groundbreaking for PenMet's new 97-acre Sehmel Homestead Park is set for 6:30 p.m. Monday. That's a big deal for Peninsula folks, who approved a $6 million bond issue in 2003 to help pay for it.

Lee also says a county project extending the popular Cushman Trail along Highway 16 to Borgen Boulevard is going to bid, with construction to start this summer. Lee says the plan is to widen and improve the road should all the way to the new park.

(Thanks to reader John Earl for correcting the wayward D that initially and wrongly denoted Terry Lee's party affiliation.)

Saturday:

The Puyallup City Council is right to ban dogs from city recreational fields. Too many dog owners have been negligent about cleaning up after their pets. Besides, the city has an off-leash park to serve dogs and their owners.

Sunday:

United Way of Pierce County has a good shot at landing a multiyear Gates Foundation grant to mount a sustained and coordinated early-learning initiative. The goal, to keep disadvantaged children from falling behind before they even get to kindergarten, couldn’t be more important.

The City of Tacoma’s plans to develop a Water Ditch recreational trail on abandoned railroad right of way from the UWT campus to South Tacoma is a great idea. But city officials need to make sure ownership and title questions are resolved before they consummate a deal with Burlington Northern Santa Fe that involves closing a railroad crossing at A Street near the head of the Foss Waterway.

Monday:

Now that the full record of the GAO review has been released, it looks like the Air Force all but threw the contest for a lucrative tanker contract to Boeing’s rival, a team including the parent company of Airbus. The Air Force and the Pentagon have much to answer for.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

The Axis of Evil used to consist of Iraq, North Korea and Iran. Iraq's out. Now North Korea's out. Only Iran is left.

Does that mean we're down to a Hubcap of Evil?

While we're on the subject of the Second Amendment ruling, here's a sober look at its likely real-world effects, by the reporter who covers the Supreme Court for the Associated Press. The NRA is breaking out the champagne, but it may be in for a bit of a hangover.

By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court embraced a personal right under the Constitution to have guns for self-defense. But in its historic examination of the Second Amendment, the justices left unanswered whether gun rights extend beyond the home or how far.

The court split ideologically in its decision Thursday striking down the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns. Each side, however, agreed it will take many lawsuits to spell out fully the right to keep and bear arms.

=> Read more!

We have no reason to doubt the sincerity of Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna's strong support for a federal reporter shield law. He's been a champion of open government for a long time.

But it doesn't hurt to be standing up for the press during an election season when he's facing a strong opponent and a few friendly newspaper endorsements would certainly help.

Consider this headline on a news release today from McKenna's office:

McKenna leads national movement for reporter shield law

Gladdens a jounalist's heart, doesn't it? The release announced that McKenna and his counterpart from Maryland persuaded 39 other state attorneys general to sign a letter urging Senate leaders to support the Free Flow of Information Act.

The act, similar to laws adopted in 49 states and the District of Columbia, recognizes a "qualified" reporter's privilege to withhold the identity of sources. The bill has passed the House and awaits action in the Senate. McKenna declared:

“Many of our country’s biggest investigative stories have been based in part on information from confidential sources. Responsible journalism demands responsible use of such sources. Failing to protect anonymous sources strangles the free flow of information that is life’s breath of democracy.”

Gosh, that sends tingles down my spine.

Because I'm retiring, I won't be around when our editorial board decides its endorsement in the race between Republican McKenna and Democrat John Ladenburg, the Pierce County executive.

That's going to be a tough choice for the board, I think. Ladenburg has an impressive record as county executive and he's a hometown guy. But we also like the way McKenna has backed the cause of open government since he took office. Among other things, he created a post for an open-government ombudsman.

Ladenburg didn't score any points with us by opposing a bill last session that would have required local government bodies to record executive sessions. The idea was to create a record that could be examined by a judge if officials were accused of illegally making decisions behind closed doors.

Decisions, decisions!

Second Amendment defenders have lately taken to talking up the right to bear arms as a "civil rights" issue. It sounds odd: Equating possession of a deadly weapon to the right to vote, go to the church of your choice, etc.

Some of the logic amounts to innocence by association. The Second Amendment is in the Bill of Rights, alongside the First, the Fourth and the others. The right to firearms is surrounded by civil rights, so it must be one, too.

But a little known chapter of U.S. history connects the dots a little better. In his opinion today affirming the right to bear arms, Antonin Scalia mentions the disarming of freed slaves in the South after the Civil War. He quotes an 1866 congressional report:

... in some parts of [South Carolina], armed parties are, without proper authority, engaged in seizing all firearms found in the hands of the freemen. Such conduct is in clear and direct violation of their personal rights as guaranteed by the Constitution ... The freedmen of South Carolina have shown by their peaceful and orderly conduct that they can safely be trusted with firearms, and they need them to kill game for subsistence, and to protect their crops from destruction by birds and animals.

White Southerners undoubtedly feared getting attacked by former slaves who didn't view them kindly. But disarming freedmen also ensured that they'd be helpless if attacked or oppressed by whites, which is exactly what happened.

This country has an uncommonly violent history. Like it or lump it, the Second Amendment is as much a part of our heritage as the rest of the Bill of Rights.

More than one reader has asked why we “reverse publish” anonymous online comments from the TNT website on our letters page, yet refuse to publish unsigned letters to the editor.

Here’s an exchange I had with a reader today on this issue. Feel free to join in.

I have had two letters to the editor of the TNT published in the past year or so. I signed my name to both of them since, as the instructions stated, "No anonymous letters or 'pen names' can be used." I received comments from my coworkers, neighbors, friends and the parents at my children's school as a result of signing my name.

In one case, a complete stranger called my husband's office to leave a comment after reading my letter in the paper. I probably would have submitted other letters to the editor if I could have done so anonymously, since it does take a certain amount of courage to sign your name to a controversial opinion and have it published for the entire city to see.

Fortunately for "JEVDP" (whose online comment was reverse-published on the letters page), he does not have to worry that his neighbors will know that he thinks it is a "wimpy, feminized position that waterboarding is torture". I doubt he (or she) introduces himself as "JEVDP".

"MORF" also doesn't have to worry that her coworkers (perhaps at a conservative establishment) find out that she believes "our president authorized crimes against humanity." Why? Because the TNT publishes in printed media reader's online comments using web aliases which, I believe, could be called "pen names" once they are put in print.
Christina

Christina,
We recognize the apparent inconsistency. It's something we're working through as we try to adjust to making the newspaper responsive to both our traditional print audience and our increasingly important online audience.

One distinction is that almost any reasonably articulate letter to the editor gets printed, up to 250 words. In exchange for putting the writer's name to it, the writer gets more room to express his or her thoughts and the "prestige" of having a letter published.

As for the online comments, we publish only snippets of those comments and screen out unduly personal or malicious comments. No one who makes an anonymous online comment has any assurance that his or her comment will be used in print.

I understand your annoyance in this case, but that's why we're handling the comments this way.

Thanks,
Dave Seago
Editorial page editor
The News Tribune

Respectfully, I disagree. If you review the letters to which I refer you will see that they are hardly "snippets" but in fact, completely realized thoughts and opinions, similar to any other letter to the editor. In addition, you already screen out unduly personal or malicious comments as part of your policy and of couse, there is never a guarantee that your comments will get into print. This is not a policy that is limited to only online comments.

My concern in writing this letter was that because it was directly critical of the paper it would not get published. While I appreciate the personal reply, perhaps you should print my letter in the paper and see if anyone else agrees with me. We are, after all the people who pay 35 cents to read your paper.

My sister is a "Letter to the editor" writer to the San Jose Mercury News and when I discussed this issue with her she said they do publish letters with the byline "anonymous" at the request of the writer as long as they sign the original submission. I think you need to be fair here. It's either one way or the other or you need to stop printing responses to blog postings.

I recognize your dilemma in the increasingly digital age however you can't really pander to your online audience can you? Perhaps you need to have an editorial board meeting about this issue.
Christina

I asked the Barbara Marshman, editorial page editor at the Mercury News if they print letters without the author’s name:

It is not true! And hasn’t been for 30 years at least. Best, B.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling striking down the D.C. ban on handguns is not the end of the world for those who favor reasonable regulation of guns. Gun-rights absolutists did not get everything they want.

Tacoma School Superintendent Art Jarvis gets high marks from the school board for his people skills, but nothing is more important that his No. 1 obligation and performance objective: Improving student achievement and cutting the dropout rate.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

Secretary of State Sam Reed was in today and we wound up talking about Chris Gregoire's nano-thin, subatomic, infinitesimal – superlatives fail me – victory over Dino Rossi in 2004.

The 133 votes that gave her the governorship, he noted, amounted to 46 ten-thousandths of 1 percent of the ballots cast. Legally, it was a victory for Gregoire. Mathematically, it was a meaningless difference. It would have been just as fair – though not legal – to decide the outcome with a coin toss.

What's the margin of error in a state election? "We're doing well if we get it within a few thousand," Reed said.

That might sound like an admission of negligence from the state's chief elections office, but it's a simple reality.

Errors creep into the count from several directions. First, from the voters themselves, some of whom do everything but follow the directions. When they're supposed to connect the arrows, he said, "They will put an 'X,' a check or they'll write something." Their intent then must be interpreted by bewildered elections officials.

And sometimes poll workers blow it – by giving voters the wrong ballots, for example.

Things also go wrong when the ballots reach their destination, most notoriously in 2004, when King County election workers misplaced large batches of them.

Reed is not given to conspiracy theories. "They're doing their best, but they're inundated with ballots."

"We do it as fair a way as possible," he said, "and the final count is the final count."

So with Gregoire and Rossi facing a rematch this year, and possibly running very close, what's to prevent another minuscule victory that falls within the margin of error – and leaves hundreds of thousands of voters angry and suspicious?

Nothing but the odds against it.

"You're probably not going to get an election that close," Reed said.

So we hope. So we hope.

I've been trading phone calls and e-mails with Kelly Steele, the state Dems spokesman, about our editorial that criticized the governor for taking campaign donations from the tribes.

The party wasn't happy with the Seattle P-I story that sparked the editorial.

Their story clearly implied the money was passed through the state party to Gregoire -- indeed you and others have used the word "funneled" -- which is neither possible nor legal. The tribal donations to the party were in the form of exempt, so-called soft money, the use of which is strictly limited and circumscribed by law. See here for details: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=390-17-060

Also, the hard money contributions to the Gregoire campaign (raised in individual checks with strict limits, and the only ones legal under the law) are not a secret or particularly noteworthy. We will continue to support the Gregoire campaign to the extent possible in 2008, just as was done in 2004. But we did not give the money to Gregoire that the tribes gave to us as the P-I story implies, period.

Technically, yes. But soft money donations do have an offsetting effect, freeing up hard money to be given to candidates (as the same P-I reporter later pointed out here).

This is not the last time special interest groups that benefited from Gregoire's election will spend big to get her re-elected. Such is politics.

Dino Rossi is also getting a special interest assist. But he has a political advantage Gregoire does not: He can claim that the cash won't buy favors. For an incumbent, connections between campaign contributions and past official actions are more easily drawn.

Name the six former Tacoma mayors who will be pouring wine for a parks fundraiser this weekend in the Rose Garden at Point Defiance Park. Take a minute and write down the names.

Yes, this is a trick question. Because I thought for a minute today that controversial former mayor Mike Parker, long missing from the limelight, was about to resurface in Tacoma.

False alarm. Drew Ebersole, director of the GreaterMetroParks Foundation, had to admit a mistake on the invitation he emailed out for a “Wine and Roses” fundraiser at the Taste of Tacoma event Friday through Sunday.

The invite says current Mayor Bill Baarsma and “six former mayors’ will do the pouring from Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. I tapped my memory bank. Let’s see . . . Harold Moss, Mike Crowley, Brian Ebersole, Doug Sutherland, Karen Vialle . . . Good Lord, I thought, they can’t have found Mike Parker!

Parker, who was mayor in the 1970s, was known for outsize yard signs, odd enthusiasms and some ethical entanglements. He tried to get the city to give a place of honor to a totem pole made by a chainsaw carver. He ran for Congress in 1976 but lost to some fellow named Dicks. Then he disappeared.

But Drew Ebersole, nephew of the former hizzoner, regretfully told me Parker isn’t on the program. Just five former mayors and Baarsma.

The former Metro Parks Foundation is now called the GreaterMetroParks Foundation, says the younger Ebersole, who became its director in January. Fifteen bucks will get you a taste of five wines and a souvenir glass. The proceeds, of course, benefit the city’s park system.

I met over breakfast this morning with Rick Allen, the president of United Way of Pierce County. The subject: early childhood education.

Specifically, the early learning initiative United Way and various partners are poised to launch in the high-poverty areas of the Tacoma, Bethel, Franklin-Pierce and Clover Park school districts. The goal is to do what it takes – parent education, day care improvements, etc. – to help kids be ready for school by the time they reach kindergarten.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other benefactors are funding the effort, but communities are expected to make some commitment of their own in order to get the benefit of the outside funds.

In Lakewood, the local contribution would be $50,000 – almost budget dust in light of the $98,000,000 the city government will spend this year. But Allen said he ran into some real pushback when he spoke to the Lakewood council about it last night.

=> Read more!

Our editorial today about Lakewood City Councilman Walter Neary's gaffe --doing live blogging while citizens were speaking at a council meeting -- prompted an observation from the woman who sits across from me at the breakfast table.

A good rule for cell phone users, texters and laptop-carrying elected officials regarding when use of the device is inappropriate: If others present would be offended if you started working on a crossword puzzle, then don't use your device.

It's a deliberate show of inattention. Come to think of it, that's a good rule for cellphone use while driving, too.

For the record, Neary has promised not to do it again. And here's the link to his blog, "Neary Sighted." Neary has further observations on the episode.

News coverage of the Iowa flooding hit home for Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson, a transplanted Iowan who held the same job in Des Moines for nearly 10 years before arriving here. I asked Anderson for his thoughts on the disaster:

David,
I have been very distressed by the Iowa flooding. It is worse than ’93. I still have family that live between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Thankfully, they are OK.

My heart goes out to those who have had to struggle for days on end to prevent the flooding and now have to turn around and work just as hard for days on end to clean up.

Bad flooding is, in some ways, the cruelest of Mother Nature’s catastrophes. The buildup to the crest of the flood is usually counted in days of grueling work and false hopes of holding back the tide; then, it breaches the levees, as it almost always does in major floods. Then arrive bitter or hopeless feelings of failure and the unavoidable need to put your shoulder to the wheel for more days, weeks and months of hard labor to clean up. And in some cases, the effort to return to “life before the flood” does not succeed.

In spite of all the hardship, these circumstances also bring out the best in people, as they struggle together in new ways to battle the elements and then meet the challenge of rebuilding.

Des Moines was better prepared than in ’93. For example, the water system was better protected and did not get knocked out by the flooding. Lots of money had been spent on higher and stronger levees and new and more powerful pump stations. However, there were levee breaches and areas of the city were badly hit: North High School was inundated and the whole Birdland area suffered.

The hardest hit was Cedar Rapids. They lost about 100 city blocks to the floodwater, including all of downtown. I have heard staggering estimates of population reductions, i.e. people not returning to their homes and businesses. It may be that this year’s flooding in Cedar Rapids will have impacts there that are every bit as devastating as Katrina’s in New Orleans. I hope not.

My heart goes out to all those who were affected and my prayers for them follow fast upon my heart. At the same time, I am proud to know many of the people who worked so hard to protect others and who are now still working hard to help them recover.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express myself about this disaster.

Eric

Cedar Rapids is about 100 miles east of Des Moines, Iowa's largest city. The Cedar River crested at a record 19 feet in 1993. The crest last week was 33 feet.

Republican – sorry, I mean GOP – gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi has created a dandy wedge issue to use against Democrat Chris Gregoire: dumping the WASL.

In a letter to members of the state's largest business group, the Association of Washington Business, Rossi says:

We have a plan to make several meaningful education reorms, including replacing the WASL with Aamerica's best standardized test and require (sic) students to meet fair and rigorous standards to graduate. The incumbent still supports the failed WASL test with no math and science requirement.

According to WASL proponents, it's the first time Rossi has called outright for abolishing the so-called high-stakes test, although he has previously been critical of it.

Rossi's stance was noted with some concern by people associated with the Washington Roundtable, another influential business group that represents the state's largest companies, including Boeing. The Roundtable played a key role in persuading the Legislature in 1993 to launch the education reform process that resulted in the Washington Asssessment of Student Learning.

Both Rossi and Gregoire were asked by the AWB to submit statements to be relayed to AWB members. The governor's only reference to WASL was this:

Record investments have been made in K-12 education, preparing students for the global economy. These investments have paid off, as more than 90 percent of high school seniors recently passed the WASL.

For Rossi, the WASL is a neat wedge issue because the Washington Education Association, the state's largest teacher union and a reliable supporter of Democrats, detests the WASL. The WEA is out to defeat the re-election bid of state schools chief Terry Bergeson, the prime architect of the test.

The WEA isn't backing off its support for Gregoire, however. The group invited her to speak to its recent annual meeting in Spokane. Bergeson wasn't invited.

For the record, Rossi is correct that the current WASL does not include math or science components, which lawmakers delayed for a few years. The 90 percent pass rate Gregoire cited would certainly have been lower had that not been the case.

One of the clichés of editorial cartooning is the "pearly gates" tribute to the deceased celebrity. We've already received two such cartoons about the late George Carlin from our syndicated cartoonists, and I'm sure we'll get more.

One, by former News Tribune cartoonist Chris Britt, runs Tuesday. The one printed here (a slight variation on the pearly gates theme) is by Jerry Holbert of the Boston Herald.

What's really funny is that Carlin was pretty upfront about being an atheist, and many of his routines skewered religion. I'm guessing he'd get a laugh out of the heavenly themed cartoons paying tribute to him.

My old TNT buddy Britt often e-mails me his cartoons a day before they go out in syndication so I can have more timely use of them. When I mentioned that Carlin's atheism might be a little at odds with the pearly gates theme, he responded: "Details, details."

The lesson: Never let the facts get in the way of a good cartoon.

One Tacoman singing the praises of bus transit these days is my friend Dick Coulter, who retired earlier this year from a job in Seattle.

Over lunch the other day, Dick raved about how great taking the bus to Seattle for medical appointments turned out to be. His bus adventure cost him $1.75 round-trip, compared to the $25 he estimates it would have cost had he used his car.

Now, Dick did have the advantage of a senior citizen discount card. But here’s his accounting for a trip to a couple of University of Washington clinics:

An Alternative to Driving a Car to Seattle

Sound Transit bus 586 Express (nonstop) from Tacoma Dome Transit Center to NE 45th and Roosevelt in Seattle
Fare: $1.50 with Regional Reduced Fare Permit
Walked to UW Medical Center for an additional appointment.
Return Trip: Metro Transit bus 43 to Second and Pine. Fare 25 cents (off peak rate) with Regional Reduced Fare Permit.
Sound Transit bus 594 to Tacoma Dome Transit Center.
Fare: Zero, using a transfer from earlier ride on Metro.

Cost of 72-mile round trip: $1.75. for a 72-mile round-trip.

Automotive alternative: Three gallons of gas, $13.50.
Parking at two locations: $11.50.
Total: $25, a savings of 93 percent
(Not to mention the cost to the environment and the added congestion of having an additional car on I-5. It was also much easier to take the bus than to drive my car.
Without a Regional Reduced Fare Permit the cost would have been a total of $4.50, a savings of over 80 percent.

What about the cost in time, I asked Dick? Working folks usually can’t all day for a trip to Seattle.

I had a 9:00 appointment and my bus left Tacoma at 7:30 a.m. If I could not use the car pool lane during the morning commute, I would probably have left even earlier to make sure I was not late.

After walking from the Roosevelt Clinic I think I finished getting my monitor at the UWMC about 12:15. The # 43 bus came along infront of the Medical Center at 12:30 getting me down to the corner of 2nd and Pine by 1:05. I did have to wait until 1:30 for the Express bus # 594, which arrived back in Tacoma at 2:27. I could have taken time for lunch at the UWMC and taken the 1:42 p.m. #586 Express nonstop arriving in Tacoma at 2:32 p.m. - 5 minutes later than I actually arrived and feeling hungry.

I might have saved 60-90 minutes driving my car, however I believe we need to look at the bigger picture and consequences associated with driving alone when it is not necessary.

In my retirement I have discovered time well spent is more valuable than time saved. Before I start sounding too self rightous I must acknowledge that I am not consistently as altruistic as I might sound. Never-the-less I do believe I and the rest of our society need to make more of our daily decisions with an awareness not only of what is convenient (time saving, physical effort, etc.) but of their impact on the environment.

I am also concerned that some one is counting my car trips and using the congestion I help create on to justify another lane of pavement on I-5 . . .

Chip Vincent, a top Pierce County planner and a key player in county growth-management issues, is leaving this month to head the City of Renton's planning department.

Escaping the political turmoil and financial woes buffeting PALS – Planning and Land Services – is a good move for Vincent, but it's a big loss for the county.

Vincent, a Stadium High grad who has worked for the planning department nearly 20 years, is currently principal planner, reporting to department head Chuck Kleeberg. He oversees the process of creating and amending the county's land-use policies.

Vincent has long been a valuable source of information and perspective on county land-use issues for the editorial board. His understanding of the state's Growth Management Act is second to none, and he has been a strong advocate for responsible planning.

As I saw it, Vincent could suggest what the legal, smart and right thing to do was on any given land use issue. But you could never tell how the County Council politics, often pitting environmentalists against developers, would play out.

The direction of PALS will be a key issue in this fall's county executive race. One candidate, County Councilman Calvin Goings, D-Puyallup, tried to force Kleeberg's firing in March, but the effort went nowhere. The downturn in housing has cut sharply into the department's fee-based revenues and forced a reduction in planning staff.

Planned Parenthood isn't about to give up on its effort to require pharmacists to dispense "morning after" pills despite their moral qualms.

A state rule requiring them to do so was suspended in November by U.S. District Court Judge Ron Leighton. He concluded that the pharmacists challenging the mandate would likely succeed in asserting a First Amendment right not to violate their conscience in filling prescriptions.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case on July 8. Planned Parenthood has just released a poll that suggests broad support for the state policy. Key findings:

•74 percent of people polled say that a patient's rights to health care should have greater priority than the health care providers' personal, moral or religious beliefs.

•70 percent of survey participants oppose allowing a pharmacist to refuse to fill prescriptions to which they are personally, morally or religiously opposed.

•76 percent of those polled agree that birth control and contraceptives, including emergency contraception, are basic health care for women and a pharmacist should not be denying access to appropriate medications based on personal, moral or religious beliefs.

•74 percent of survey participants support WA Board of Pharmacy rules ensuring that patients have their prescriptions filled without discrimination or delay.

Impressive numbers. Most people would certainly agree that women should have easy access to emergency contraception, especially when the alternative may be abortion.

One problem, though: The court will be deciding this question on constitutional grounds. Federal judges tend to make a point of ignoring polls when First Amendment issues are at stake.

Pete Callaghan has a story about the Washington Lottery pulling scratch tickets that look remarkably like candy wrappers.

We'd rather have kids buying the real thing, not scratch tickets – right?

If you haven't seen the tickets, here they are:

Get a load of this, from our sister McClatchy paper, the Raleigh, N.C., News & Observer. Blackwater has to be one of the most unscrupled corporations ever invented:

RALEIGH, N.C. — To defend itself against a lawsuit by the widows of three American soldiers who died on one of its planes, the private military company Blackwater has asked a federal court to decide the case by Sharia, the Islamic law of Afghanistan.

If the judge agrees, it would essentially bring an end to the lawsuit over a botched flight supporting the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Sharia does not hold a company responsible for the actions of employees performed in the course of their work.

Blackwater founder and owner Erik Prince discussed the Moyock, N.C.-basedcompany’s position in a meeting Wednesday with editors and reporters at The News & Observer. Prince was asked to justify having the case involving an American company working for the U.S. government decided by Afghan law.

Here's the full story.

As my colleague Pat O'Callahan notes, Blackwater wasn't clamoring to have its contractors who killed Iraqis tried by Sharia.

Saturday:

We’re guessing the third-base coach is next, then the catcher. What the heck, why not fire everybody except Ichiro? And Ichiro, off his game this year, better watch out, too. The wave of firings that cost Mariners manager John McLaren his job this week seems to be just about the only thing the club can think of doing in its current state of abysmal misery.

Sunday:
It will take years for the U.S. to regain the moral standing it lost when the administration embraced inhumane and abusive treatment of terror suspects that violated international – and the U.S. military’s – norms against torture. The Washington Post’s compelling reporting on the issue gives the lie to the administration’s claim that it did not condone torture.

State utility regulators will have to take great care to see that ratepayers are adequately protected before it approves a proposed acquisition of Puget Sound Energy by a foreign investment group.

Monday:
Americans gnashing their teeth as they fill up their tanks should take at least a little comfort in this: Skyrocketing costs at the pump are fueling a frantic race by automakers to develop vehicles that don't depend on gasoline so much – or at all. In the short term, that means plug-in hybrids, but in the long term vehicles could be fueled with hydrogen.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

We've established that Sumner is the Rhubarb Pie Capital of the World. See today's editorial.

While you're at it, take a look at this thoroughly sourced Wikipedia article, done by someone with way too much time on his hands.

It's amazing what towns will call themselves.

Some revel in absurdity, like Beaver, Okla., the Cow Chip Throwing Capital, Eau Claire, Mich., the Cherry Pit Spitting Capital, and Cawker City, Kan., Home of the World's Largest Ball of Twine.

With others, you aren't quite sure if you should be laughing at them or with them, like Meeteetse, Wyo., the Ferret Capital, and Mount Ida, Ark., the world's Quartz Crystal Capital.

Some earnestly promote their major industry, like Seaford, Del., the Nylon Capital, Dalton, Ga., the Carpet Capital of the World, and Fort Payne, Ala., the Sock Capital of the World.

A few make very humble claims. E.g., Kirkland, the Gateway to Seattle, and Winnemucca, Nev., the City of Paved Streets.

=> Read more!

Thinking of sitting out the Aug. 19 primary and waiting for the Nov. 4 general election?

You could miss out on having a say in some of the state’s hottest races. That’s because the primary could very well decide races for state Supreme Court, superintendent of public instruction, Superior Court and state Court of Appeals.

If any candidate in those races gets more than half the votes, he or she wins outright. If no one gets more than half, then the top two vote-getters advance to the Nov. 4 general election.

One Supreme Court seat definitely will be decided Aug. 19. Incumbent Justice Mary Fairhurst only has one challenger (Michael J. Bond), so it’s a sure bet one will receive more than 50 percent.

Another high court seat could very well be decided in the primary. Incumbent Justice Charles W. Johnson faces two relatively unknown challengers, C.F. Vulliet and James M. Beecher. If I had to bet, I’d say Johnson will get the 50 percent plus one. This is the guy, after all, who unseated a sitting chief justice back in 1991.

The only incumbent Pierce County Superior Court judge facing a challenge is Sergio Armijo. The primary will determine whether he or attorney Michael Hecht will win the position.

The race that probably won’t be decided in the primary is for SPI, because there are so many candidates to split up the vote. Incumbent Terry Bergeson faces five challengers, including former Eatonville High School Principal Randy Dorn.

Today is Dump the Pump Day, the only national non-holiday dedicated to encouraging people to bike, bus, walk, hop, skateboard – anything but burn $4.30-a-gallon gasoline.

Lynne Griffith, CEO of Pierce Transit, came by Tuesday to promote the event. We wound up chatting about alternative fuels, including the compressed natural gas that fuels the system's buses for the equivalent of 70 cents a gallon.

One alternative she mentioned is methane from local landfills, which could be extracted and instead of being torched off for the benefit of the seagulls.

So ... Dump the Pump. And while we're at it, Pump the Dump.

Whether Puget Sound Energy's customers in Western Washington will be better served if the company is acquired by a foreign investment firm is still an open question.

But there's no doubt PSE's top executives would benefit handsomely if state regulators approve the deal.

CEO Steve Reynolds could clear more than $20 million if he exercises all his options after the sale, whether he retains his job or not, according to documents filed in the case pending before the state Utilities and Transportation Commission.

Other top executives would walk away with packages worth $3.5 million to $5.9 million if they lose their jobs. The estimates, filed by opponents of the deal, are based on stock prices as of Dec. 31.

I found these figures prowling around the documents filed by the Attorney General's Office of Public Counsel, which acts as an advocate for consumers in cases before the UTC. (Go here and enter docket number 072375 to find all documents in the case.)

The office, headed by the improbably named Simon ffitch, came out against the sale today. Ffitch said the $7.4 billion deal would burden PSE with too much debt – as much as $4.2 billion. It would do little to improve service and leave ratepayers holding the bag if the projected cash flows fail to materialize.

One ojection in particular resonates with me: Ffitch noted that taking PSE private would mean that detailed quarterly and annual financial reports would no longer be available through SEC filings.

The prospective buyer is Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, an Australia-based group of Australian and Canadian investors.

PSE management and shareholders back the deal on grounds that PSE needs to raise massive amounts of capital to fund new power generation projects and other improvements.

The UTC will begin hearings July 28 and is expected to rule by September.

Because I'm the sort of guy who wants to be outdoors on weekends, I'm not a regular watcher of "Meet the Press." But the outpouring of tributes for the late Tim Russert, the show host who died suddenly of a heart attack last week, has shown what an impact he had on American politics.

This tribute to Russert by Michelle Jaconi, one of Russert's longtime journalistic colleagues on the show, showed up in my email inbox today. Hardcore Russert fans will savor her intensely personal recollection of Russert.

My Tim

I thank you so much for your condolences and your thoughts. It is
hard
to explain the agony of the past three days but since I have yet to
find
the peace necessary for sleep, I thought I should clear my head and my
heart.

I am embarrassed at how long this letter has turned out to be, but I
share it with you as I know that reading is soothing to a grieving
heart. And that television gives you a piece of emotion without the
closure of action.

So many of you have asked what it has been like and how I have been
coping. So, here is my best attempt at an explanation.

Imagine for a moment your beloved boss giving you an assignment and by
the time you got to your office to complete it, he was dead.

=> Read more!

Wow. And what a huge black eye for the Air Force.

That's our immediate reaction to the GAO decision today upholding Boeing's protest of the Air Force's controversial decision to award a lucrative aerial tanker contract to Airbus-Northrup Grumman.

The Air Force made errors so egregious that the GAO recommend the Air Force pay Boeing for the costs of its protest. Wow.

If the Secretary of the Air Force hadn't already been fired, this would have been grounds for termination. Here's the text of the GAO statement.

It's also a huge vindication for Washington's U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, who has been relentless in criticizing the award, and for U.S Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, who has been almost as critical.

Oddly enough, U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, and U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island, were first out of the box today with celebratory press releases. No crowing from Murray – yet. Murray's office sent one out this morning saying "Congress must demand answers from Pentagon."

That went out BEFORE the GAO announcement. But it works just as well after the fact, too. Just in: Murray's statement appears below.

Perhaps I should eat a little crow. I thought Murray was overdoing the usual backing-the-home-team thing on Boeing's behalf. Turns out Murray is right:
She has insisted all along that the Air Force decision stinks. That's exactly what the GAO concluded, too.

=> Read more!

Despite White House claims that abuse of detainees has never been a policy of the U.S. government, it is clear from newly released documents that the administration tacitly condoned and encouraged tactics that constituted inhumane treatment of prisoners. It may take generations to undo the damage this has done to America’s standing in the world.

There is no assurance that any of the big ideas for redeveloping the area around Cheney Stadium will come to fruition, but there is no harm in exploring them in the public forums that begin Thursday. Public reaction will be one factor, but an even bigger factor is whether substantial private investment will be involved. And that, to repeat a cliché, remains to be seen.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

We received this complaint today about a June 15 letter to the editor knocking Pierce County Executive candidate Pat McCarthy. Our responses below show how we judge such letters. First, the original letter:

Builders' endorsement a negative for McCarthy

I am frankly surprised that McCarthy would accept the MBA's endorsement. The MBA is renowned for fighting every piece of progressive environmental policy introduced in Pierce County.

I have been volunteering on behalf of Pierce County for decades (Canyon Road Extension, Graham Community Planning Board), and from these positions I have seen the MBA lobbyists fight vigorously against farmland preservation, community growth plans, anti-sprawl ordinances and environmental protection policies. It's clear that the MBA is focused on ensuring that the next Pierce County executive will be a strong supporter of its issues.

I believe McCarthy is a great auditor, but I am very concerned that as executive she will be too closely tied to the MBA and its pro-growth agenda.

The complaint:

Dear TNT,
Please be more diligent on how you pick your letters. Diane Harris is a huge supporter of (County Councilman and executive candidate Calvin) Goings. If Goings got the MBA endorsement he would have had a press release sent out saying how great it was. It takes 2 seconds to check on someone’s website and Goings has it in alphabetical order. Harris is entitled to her opinion but you are educated and good enough to see through a politician's games.
Thank you,
DK

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, who selects and edits the letters, responded:

We knew she was a supporter/donor; I saw her name on that list. That doesn’t disqualify a person from having a letter published. If she were running his campaign, however, we’d note that if we were aware of it.

I asked Harris if she would have criticized Goings if he gotten the MBA endorsement (he sought it), and she said she would have rethought her support for him.

We’ve run letters in the past in which the person points out that a previous letter was from a known supporter of the candidate. You’re welcome to submit such a letter.

Another very similar letter came in Monday, from a Goings supporter who apparently missed the irony on chiding McCarthy for getting an endorsement that rival candidate Goings also sought.

Remember now: Democrats Goings and McCarthy, Republican County Councilman Shawn Bunney and Tacoma City Councilman Mike Lonergan of the “Executive Excellence Party” go head to head in the county’s first ranked-choice voting election in November. No primary for this one.

You heard it from Dave Seago, below. He's headed next month for what promises to be a very active retirement. He's an avid cyclist, hiker, world traveler, civic leader and student of public issues. His friendship has been one of the greatest privileges I've enjoyed since coming to Tacoma.

Journalism has been Dave's passion for 40-plus years, and we've all learned an immense amount from him. I'm trying to twist his arm to write an account of his extraordinary career in South Sound news.

We will miss Dave, and we aren't happy about losing a staff position. But journalism is undergoing a second Gutenberg revolution as it migrates to the Internet. It's traumatic; traditional newspapers are getting leaner to adapt to new realities. But journalism will thrive as never before when it finds its footing in the new media world.

We're planning on thriving, too. You'll see changes in our "hard copy" opinion pages and more changes in what we do on the Web. Meanwhile, we fully intend to keep Dave as connected to this operation as his retirement permits.

Pat McGregor, the South Tacoma resident who led a successful community fight to fight chronic public drunkenness and other blights in his neighborhood, has won a City Club of Tacoma leadership award.

He's a deserving winner. We met McGregor early in his campaign when he sought editorial board support. We were happy to oblige. TNT columnist Kathleen Merryman has also chronicled his efforts.

McGregor, a teacher at Chief Leschi School in Puyallup rallied his neighbors and won City Council support to establish the South End Alcohol Impact Area. The designation forces neighborhood stores to stop selling the cheap, high-octane booze that chronic inebriates favor. Here's a recent article describing the campaign.

On Wednesday, McGregor will receive City Club's annual Dennis Seinfeld Leadership Award, named for a club founder and longtime Tacoma Community College trustee who died in 2006.

Yes, it's true that I'm retiring as of July 11. And no, I wasn't pushed out the door.

Being paid to have opinions is a great job, but all good things must eventually come to an end. This is a good time for me to go. I will write a swan song before I leave, but I can truly say that it has been an honor and a privilege to do this work. I don't intend to disappear from community life, and I hope to retain emeritus-status blogging privileges here to keep in touch.

Our chief editorial writer, Patrick O'Callahan, will be taking over my responsibilities. Pat has a sharp mind and will do a fine job. He will face the challenge, however, of doing the work with one less editorial writer – a consequence of the tough times and job cutbacks you've heard about it in our industry.

That means that there will be some changes in the way the editorial pages are presented, but there will be no change in The News Tribune's dedication to serving the best interests of the community and providing an open forum for community debate.

Trivia test: I began my career in 1967 as a Lincoln High School senior filling paste pots and making mail runs as a TNT office boy. A free TNT coffee mug to the first person (TNT employees excluded) to tell me what kind of vehicle – and the colors – of the company car I drove. I still miss it.

The federal government’s insistence on keeping agencies like Pierce Transit from offering free shuttle service to pulbic events like Tall Ships may make pure capitalists happy, but it’s dumb, dumb, dumb.

It comes as little surprise that the sales tax deduction is in play once again. The problem with the deduction is its popularity: Too little to force through the broader tax reform that might cement its legal status, yet great enough to make lawmakers want to revive it year after year to help grease the skids for other proposals.

--

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

The Government Accountability Office's review of the controversial Air Force tanker contract award is due Thursday, but it might not settle anything.

U.S. Rep Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, was quoted thusly in today's Wall Street Journal:

No matter what happens with the GAO . . . I think Congress has to step in and do what the Air Force didn't do, and that is to have a real independent look at this thing

.

Washington's U.S. Sen. Patty Murray has expressed similar sentiments; she has even threatened to block funding for the tankers if the Air Force award to an Airbus-Northrup Grumman team stands.

But they may lose some of their zeal if Boeing chairman and CEO Jim McNerney decides against pressing an all-out political campaign to undo the award.

A lot depends on how conclusive the GAO findings are. If the review doesn't strongly favor one side or the other, the players on all sides are going to have to make gut checks.

Some of us figured the Air Force knew what it was doing in February when it passed up Boeing to buy $35 billion worth of refueling tankers from Airbus.

Sen. Patty Murray and other Boeing champions were saying the Airbus jet would be more expensive, less secure for its crews and capable of landing at fewer air bases. The last claim was indisputable. But why would the Air Force want to pay more for a tanker that exposed flight crews to greater risks and wasn't as suited for its mission?

We've just learned that the Air Force got the cost part wrong. See today's editorial. Other doubts are blossoming. Here's the full text of a cutting analysis (May 28) we cited by Loren Thompson, a defense expert at the Lexington Institute:

It is now three months since the Air Force shocked the world by awarding the contract for its next-generation aerial-refueling tanker to Northrop Grumman and the European parent of Airbus.

Throughout that time, service officials have insisted that the process by which the winner was chosen was transparent and fair. But the service has failed to answer even the most basic questions about how the decision was made to deny the contract to Boeing, the widely favored incumbent.

=> Read more!

Word is getting around editorial page staffs to be on the watch for a new mutation of astroturf (propaganda masquerading as grassroots support).

The McCain campaign has asked supporters to take to the blogosphere with predigested talking points. Clearly, Republicans are feeling the need to connect with younger voters. But the McCain camp has underestimated blog users' savvy. As Wired reported this week, it took all of four minutes for someone named "Jerry A" to be called out as a troll on the liberal DailyKos blog.

We don't print astroturf letters to the editor, but we haven't discussed what we do if astroturf comments showed up in our blog. My vote is for leaving them alone; the blogosphere has a wonderful way of policing itself.

Fortunately (or unfortunately for you McCain fans out there), our humble Inside the Editorial Page blog isn't one of the 94 that will earn "blog-raiders" points, redeemable for who knows what in the McCain Action Center.

Columnist David Broder moved this tribute to NBC newsman Tim Russert late Friday afternoon – too late to do anything with it on our weekend pages.

WASHINGTON — When Tim Russert took over “Meet the Press” in 1991, he was already well-known to political reporters as the shrewd, inventive and very funny flack for Pat Moynihan and Mario Cuomo — a spokesman almost as quotable as those two marvelously gifted speakers.

We didn’t know what kind of a journalist Tim would be — or even if he were serious about being one. It didn’t take long to figure out that he would be one of the best — and most fearless — in the business.

When “Meet the Press” went to Texas in 1992 to interview Ross Perot, the wealthy businessman-turned-independent presidential candidate took strong offense to Russert’s aggressive questions, and threatened to walk out halfway through. Tim stared him down, and the interview ran its full course.

Sitting next to him many Sunday mornings on the NBC set, I had a close-up view of his mind at work — testing, probing, moving on. His questioning was completely efficient, but never officious. Both the viewers and the guests could tell he really liked the newsmakers he was interviewing.

I am generally a skeptic when it comes to people — and there are many of them — who jump from the political world into television or punditry. I almost always suspect some of them are just waiting to move back. But Tim was clearly smitten with his new world. He loved his NBC buddies and he bragged on them. And he loved talking to that big audience, sharing and showing off his political smarts.

He never would have left journalism. Nothing else gave him that kind of charge. But as soon as the camera lights went off at 10 a.m. on Sunday, he relaxed. Ali, the NBC butler, brought out the platters of shrimp and glasses of juice, and the reporters who had been on the roundtable (and sometimes the last interviewee) would join Tim and executive producer Betsy Fischer for a lengthy exchange of political gossip. When a birthday or anniversary was imminent, there would be cake — and at Christmas, a brass ensemble would play carols.

What the television audience did not know was how generous Tim was in his personal relationships. Family came first, but he took the time for friendships, and he nourished them. That is why his death on Friday leaves such a large void in this community.

We routinely search the Web when we receive letters to the editor that we suspect may be part of an organized campaign. It fries our grits to publish a letter and later find out it's an exact copy of one being sent out by multiple people to papers all over the country. (It doesn't happen very often; we've gotten pretty good at spotting the "astroturf.")

In checking out a letter criticizing Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels for an executive order banning guns in city parks, I stumbled onto an interesting Web site, www.opencarry.org. A blog posting on its forum was aimed at gun-rights folks who want to write letters "to people who have authority."

The posting offers this advice:

PLEASE, if we're sending letters to people who have authority, use CORRECT SPELLING AND GRAMMAR. It makes us look like rednecks/hillbillies when we DON'T use it correctly, and it sets us apart from the "unwashed masses" when we DO use it correctly.

Actually, what inspired me to check the letter in the first place was that it was error-free. That’s usually a dead giveaway that it’s “astroturf.” Real letters from real people – and I certainly wouldn’t use the term “unwashed masses” – usually include a misspelling or misplaced punctuation of some kind. If they didn’t, who would need editors anyway?

The posting offered grammar tips that would apply to any letter writer. Here they are:

=> Read more!

1. Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg’s proposed open space tax is a great idea, but the question that stands between it and the ballot is whether his timing is right.

2. For the third time, the Supreme Court has upheld the habeas corpus rights of Guantanamo detainees. The argument should be over.

About our editorials:

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

In today's editorial, we advocate for prison inmates retaining some ability to access public documents under the Public Records Act.

The issue arises because Attorney General Rob McKenna says in a court filing that the law as passed in 1972 doesn't extend to incarcerated felons. It's apparently the first time his office has been asked to take a position on such a question in the law's 35-year history.

As much as we would like to see the Public Records Act construed as broadly as possible, there is a case to be made for trying to limit some of the clear abuses. The attorney general's office offered these examples of records requests that have more to do with burdening the system than with holding government to account:

* “User name, log-in ID, and/or equivalent of each and every DOC employee, contractor, agent, medical staff, education staff, correctional officer, sergeants, lieutenants, captains, executives, superintendents, and/or other natural person employed by the Washington State Department of Corrections, from the dates of January 1, 1950 through the present date.”
* “Staff photographs from WSP, CBCC, SCCC, MICC, AHCC, MCC, OCC, DOC HQ, DOC – King Co., and WCC – staff rosters, e-mail, telephone, fax, cell phone, pager lists, policies, Vehicle Assignment documents, radio frequency information, and fire escape master floor plans for listed prison locations.”
* “All records critical of any Washington Corrections Center staff over the past 12 months.”
* “All records between Secretary Clarke and governor Gregoire; all records sent by or received by Secretary Clarke.”
* “All Washington Corrections Center audio and video recordings, past and present”
* “Any and all records regarding chemicals used by DOC facilities to kill grass.”
* “Any and all records regarding waste disposal, particularly how food is disposed of at all DOC facilities.”

1. Limiting inmate access to public records is warranted given abuses by prisoners intent on harassing law enforcement, but Attorney General Rob McKenna’s argument that inmates have no right of access goes too far.

2. The tomato salmonella scare has revealed still-unsolved gaps in the federal government’s food safety regulations.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

I'm one of those people who gets really mad when I'm stuck behind drivers talking on their cell phone – especially when they don't notice the red light has changed and they just sit there yakking away. Then they notice – but only in time for them to make the light, not everyone who was behind them. Arrgghh!

So I welcome the new restrictions on cell phone use while driving that go into effect July 1. My editorial is here.

But something I saw last week has me wondering how effective the restrictions will be – especially since talking on a cell phone while driving will only be a secondary offense, not a primary one. (Police can't pull drivers over for a secondary offense; they have to be doing something else wrong, like weaving or driving aggressively.)

As I was driving north on I-5, right around Milton I spotted a driver text messaging as she zipped by me – and I was going exactly the speed limit, officer.

It's been a primary offense to text message while driving since Jan. 1. Yet here was this young woman merrily texting away at the 12 position on her steering wheel – clearly visible to anyone in the next lane and risking a $124 ticket.

Sigh.

Consumer fireworks: You love them or you hate them.

In July, you're either outside enjoying them or inside trying to comfort your whimpering dog. There's plenty of fuel for this fire, thanks to Washington's sovereign tribal fireworks stands.

From the Associated Press, here's good news for the pyrotechnophiles, bad news for the phobes:

For backyard patriots, the rockets available this Fourth of July are flashier, more creative and louder than ever before.

Thanks to an increase in the legal limit of the amount of pyrotechnic material allowed in consumer fireworks — the kind purchased in roadside trucks and shot off private lawns — a whole new class of recreational explosive has become available to amateur enthusiasts, said Harry Chang of Black Cat Fireworks Inc.

At the same time, the use of backyard fireworks has more than doubled since 2000, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association. That has caused concern among some public safety groups that the rise in both popularity and firepower could prove a combustible mix.

“It’s like how Giorgio Armani might develop a pair of jeans that the average person could never have, but eventually lesser designers come out with their own versions,” Chang said. “Over the years, smaller, safer versions of professional fireworks have trickled down to consumers.”

=> Read more!

1. A windfall profits tax for oil companies may be a crowd-pleaser with gas topping $4 a gallon, but it could ultimately backfire on consumers. Congressional Democrats should tread cautiously here, not blunder into a bad policy for the sake of election-year politics.

2.It took seven years, but Washington is finally going to get tough on people who talk on their cell phones while driving. Well, not exactly tough. More like stern. But it's a start, and drivers should start getting the message that restricting cell phone use behind the wheel is a growing trend nationally and abroad.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

Dwight Pelz just called. He sounds steamed.

What's torqued the state Democratic chairman is Dino Rossi's self-description on the August ballot: "Prefers G.O.P. Party."

"I think that's incredibly duplicitous. He did it because some people don't know that GOP means Republican. ... Dino Rossi is trying to hide the ball on this one."

I asked Pelz who on earth wouldn't know that the Grand Old Party is the Republican Party. He set me straight. His wife teaches high school, he said, and she's had firsthand experience with young citizens who don't have a clue as to what those mysterious initials stand for.

Now that I think about it, I didn't know what "GOP" stood for until I was older than I'd care to admit. We can't forget that a new crop of idiots is born every year.

It's the job of a state Democratic leader to be perpetually annoyed by nefarious GOP doings, but Pelz is understandably irked that the new ballot lets Republican candidates shed the potentially toxic R behind their names in what promises to be a big Democratic year.

One candidate for insurance commissioner, for example, has listed "no party preference" – despite being the chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party. Make that Spokane County GOP.

Pelz, presumably, isn't annoyed that his Democrats don't feel similarly compelled to disguise their own party preference.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent a resounding message when he dismissed the Air Force's top civilian and military leaders. The lax management of nuclear devices wasn't the only reason, but it was enough.

It makes sense to allow Tacoma City Council members to attend a limited number of committee meetings and study sessions by telephone. That’s preferable to having them be absent altogether.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

The Washington Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns wants candidates for state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals to promise to run clean campaigns and to insist on the same from their allies.

We wrote about the committee in today's editorial. We generally like the premise of a credible, nonpartisan group calling foul if judicial races get ugly.

How well the idea works will be determined by how nitpicky the group decides to be. The pledge it is asking candidates to sign is rather vague, and reasonable people might disagree about what constitutes a violation.

See what you think:

I believe judicial candidates should aspire to the highest ethical standards to promote public trust and confidence in the fairness and impartiality of Washington courts. To that end, I will not take any action during the campaign which will harm the public faith in the integrity of the judicial system in Washington and hereby pledge that, as a candidate:

I will conduct myself in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity, independence, and impartiality of the judiciary and participate in thoughtful discourse in judicial forums and with the media. If requested by the Washington Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns, I will publicly disavow advertisements that impugn the dignity, integrity, or independence of a candidate and will use my best efforts to have such advertising modified or discontinued. I will not engage in activities that erode public trust and confidence in the dignity, integrity, or independence of the judiciary. I will also submit copies of this fully executed pledge to my campaign committee and key supporters.

Jeff in Puyallup, Harley in Tacoma, Michelle in Buckley and Rick in Graham: We got your letters, and none of them are going to appear in The News Tribune.

Why? Because they're all exactly the same.

They're part of the latest letter-writing campaign to clog our e-mail. They oppose the new CBS show, "Swingtown" – billed as a frank depiction of the swinging suburban lifestyle that supposedly took place in the 1970s involving people who were a lot better looking than anyone I knew in that decade. Their outfits, however, are just as tacky.

This is very similar to an earlier campaign criticizing "Dexter." This one was prompted by Donald Wildmon's conservative American Family Association.

By the way, the show airs at 10 p.m.

Here's the letter:

I am offended by the content of the CBS program "Swingtown." The offensive content clearly violates our local community standards and does not reflect your license obligation "to serve the public interest."

I urge you to refuse to air future episodes of "Swingtown."

I also ask you to place a copy of my complaint in your files according to FCC regulations.

Now we know Defense Secretary Robert Gates can kick butt. Is that good news for Boeing?

The Wall Street Journal (note: subscribers only) noted that Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, one of the two top Air Force leaders Gates fired Thursday, has been the main defender of the Pentagon's selection of Boeing rivals Northrop-Grumman and Airbus to build a fleet of aerial refueling tankers.

A Government Accountability Office decision on Boeing’s protest is due June 19.

Uncertainty over what the firings portend for defense contractors apparently drove Boeing’s stock down 5.4 percent Friday. The stock of Lockheed Martin, another major defense contractor, fell 3.6 percent.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080606/defense_contractors_outlook.html?.v=1
The AP quotes a Wall Street analyst as saying the firings put the Air Force in a “disadvantageous (funding) situation in the waning days of a lame duck administration.”

Gates is reportedly peeved that the Air Force command has lobbied hard for 381 more F-22 jet fighters – radar-evading plans that cost $140 million a copy – instead of focusing on producing more unmanned aerial drones that are valuable for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Speaking of appeals, Boeing is also awaiting a decision on re-awarding a $15 billion contract for Air Force search-and-rescue helicopters. Boeing won the original award, but the GAO twice upheld protests by a team of rival bidders, forcing a new competition for the contract.

Live by the protest, die by the protest.

USA Today reports that the soaring cost of oil-based asphalt is forcing many states, counties and cities to cut back road repairs planned this summer.

Checked in with John Gaddis, manager of Tacoma Public Works’ streets and grounds division. He says the city’s cost for asphalt has gone from $28.29 a ton in 2005 to $61.20 last week. Since half the cost of a road project is material, the impact is significant.

Expect fewer pothole repairs. Bad news for city drivers. Good news for wheel-alignment shops.

The flap over a pair of lesbians who were told by a Safeco Field usher to stop smooching in the stands, chronicled in a page one story today, drew the ed board's attention this morning.

We decided to punt on this one. We agreed that hotly passionate kissing might be objectionable to spectators regardless of the sexual orientation of the participants. But the usher claims the pair were groping and all, and they deny it. So we don't know.

It hasn't showed up on YouTube, which is a wonder given all the cellphone cameras around these days.

A modest proposal: Next time there's a complaint like this, the usher should direct the stadium's fan camera to the affectionate couple. Romance on the JumboTron. Gay or straight, betcha the couple stops to wave at the camera and mouth, "Hi, mom!"

Saturday:
Bellarmine Prep track standout Nicole Cochran won an appeal and got her state title in the 3,200-meters restored to her. But the best part of the story is the sportsmanship demonstrated by her competitors, who refused to deprive her of the the medal she rightly won.

Sunday:
Another sharp spike Friday in the price of oil reinforces the stake being driven into the heart of the market for large trucks and SUVs. The day of big-is-better in American car-buying habits appears over as automakers shut down big-vehicle production. Other, more profound changes in American living patterns may be on the way.

Maybe it’s just a business decision, but the way big lenders are bailing out of the college-loan programs for students at two-year colleges is shabby nonetheless. Students at local community colleges have already seen the impact.

Monday:

We hope the efforts of a group promoting a “clean campaign” pledge will keep this year’s races for state Supreme Court and appeals courts from turning nasty, as they did two years ago.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

“They’re lying to you,” the elderly gentleman in the yellow windbreaker groused at me.

We were standing Sunday outside the restaurant at Pierce County’s new Chambers Bay Golf Course, taking in the sweeping view of the Olympics, Puget Sound and the ant-like golfers crawling over the course below.

I was minding my own business, getting ready to bicycle home with my wife after breakfast at the clubhouse. But the fellow made a point of telling me loudly that “they’re losing money on this thing.”

I was pretty sure, I said, that the golf course was paying its way. “They’re lying,” he insisted.

No lie, county spokesman Ron Klein said Monday:

Regarding Chambers Bay, we just made our semi-annual debt payment of $430,000 with revenue from the golf course. Like all courses in the
Pacific Northwest, December - March were lean months. We budgeted for it. Even with experiencing one of the worst winters and springs over the past decade or so, we expect to be in the black come our one-year anniversary on June 24.

When you live in an area with four seasons, golf is a cyclical business. If one were to look at the books for the first quarter of 2008, it appears Chambers Bay is losing money. Put it in context of a full year and the course is making its debt payments and covering all the expenses associated with running a world-class golf course . . .

Many high-end courses struggle the first few years. Instead, Chambers Bay is not only covering its financial obligations, it was named the site of golf's most prestigious championship. And the course hasn't even been open a year! Totally unprecedented.

The championship Klein mentioned is the 2015 U.S. Open. The course continues to draw raves in the national press, including this one in the June issue of The New York Times sports magazine Play.

I don't think the grouser in the yellow jacket will ever be satisfied. But there were plenty of walkers, joggers and couples with strollers enjoying the course's public trail, even on a cool, cloudy Sunday morning. I'd say the course is a hit.

To public officials, gadflies like Charles Kelly Creso are usually a pain in the neck. But they often serve a useful function.

Creso, who unsuccessfully ran for the Tacoma City Council in 2005, is the kind of citizen who pores over city budget documents and agenda packets and fires off emails to newspaper reporters and editors as well as council members.

On Monday, I received an email from Creso complaining that the council was poised to eliminate the right of citizens to comment on new employee wage-and-benefits contracts brought to the council for approval.

The rationale, apparently, was that such contracts are a done deal by the time they come up for a vote and there is no point in having a public discussion. Foul, Creso cried:

Collective bargaining agreements contribute by far and away the largest controllable expenses to Tacoma’s budget. Citizens have, in the past, often made many important comments related to these agreements during Public Comment period.
During 2004 and 2005 a record number of public comments were made pointing out inconsistencies, excesses and implementation problems related to these bargaining agreements.
During 2004 and 2005, the largest single factor pushing the City’s budget towards a red-line condition were financial performance requirements embodied in previously approved bargaining agreements.
Nearly every other major contract the city enters into will still be subject to public comment, even though those are also pre-negotiated. Removing these employee contracts from public comment will have the negative affect of allowing the Tacoma City Council to rubber stamp all employee contracts prior to allowing public comment during city council meetings.

I sent Mayor Bill Baarsma an email asking what he knew about this. News to him, Baarsma said, adding he would check on it. He agreed it didn’t sound right. Later Baarsma confirmed the proposal but said he would try to kill it Tuesday.

This morning, Baarsma sent word that this item was removed from the council rule changes the council approved Tuesday.

A small victory for a gadfly, a win for the citizens’ right to speak to their elected officials about public business.

Well, Dick Cheney really put his foot in it Monday when he made a wisecrack alluding to West Virginia and incest. Even the Republicans in West Virginia wanted to string him up.

So does University of Kansas professor Jerry Dobson, who calls "the Appalachian people" "the most scorned minority in America."

I had no idea. But for a full dose of the professor's outrage, click "More" to see the oped he sent around the country today.

=> Read more!

First there was the Puyallup mom who left her smoldering cigarette on the apartment balcony and her 22-month-old son snoozing inside while she went to get a burger.

Then we hear that a Pierce County woman is facing charges for leaving her two kids – ages 1 and 3 – in the bathtub while she stepped out to fetch an Ice House beer.

Now this: The Associated Press is reporting that firefighters responding to an Everett apartment fire found a 2-year-old girl alone with food burning on the stove. The 27-year-old mother had to run her husband to work and apparently didn't want to wake her daughter.

And those are just the ones who got caught. It's scary to think how many tots out there are having to fend for themselves while their parents run errands.

"Believe me, we want to write fireworks citations. The city council has made it very clear that that's what they want."

So says Capt. Mike Miller of the Tacoma PD, who might be having flashbacks of the drubbing he took last year after the city council discovered officers had handed out a measly 10 fireworks tickets during the Fourth of July holiday week.

To be fair, 10 tickets was an improvement over previous years when police didn't make a single fireworks-related arrest. But the council – which had declared war on illegal fireworks, dropping the offense from a misdemeanor to a $257 civil infraction to spur enforcement – had been hoping for hundreds of citations.

Miller says the police department has a better plan this year, and it's one factor behind the agency's call for Fourth of July help that got our plug today.

Police will concentrate on nighttime hours rather than having patrols all day long. They will send single officers out in unmarked cars; some of those cops may be borrowed from other area law enforcement agencies. And unlike last year when there was a single person responding to firework complaints on the Fourth, there will be "multiple" officers patrolling both the north end of the city and the south end.

Miller wouldn't say exactly how many officers. He doesn't want to release a number in case something happens and he comes up short. (But he also said he doesn't expect any gaps because the police department is ready to order officers to work if need be.)

So the most we know is that Tacomans can expect at least four officers – two for the south end and two for the north end – to be on fireworks patrol Fourth of July night. Maybe more. Whatever the number, Tacoma police have to make a bigger impression this year on the amateur pyrotechnicians who make neighborhoods seem like war zones.

When I first saw one of those "Paul saves again" billboards a week or so ago, I thought Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor was mounting an early campaign for his job, which this year will be elective for the first time.

But I pulled over and read the fine print: It's part of the Cascade Regional Blood Services campaign featuring real-life blood donors. Today on my fairly short drive to work over surface streets I noticed two more of the billboards featuring Pastor.

The timing of the billboards – this is filing week for public office – seemed a little suspicious to me. So I fired off an e-mail to Pastor asking him about it.

Here's his reply:

First, I am someone who is fairly low profile. But there are some things I feel strongly about. Giving blood is one of them. I am a multi-gallon donor and have been a blood donor for many years.

When I was approached over a year ago by Cascade Regional Blood Services to be photographed and to be on the billboard, I was happy to do so. This was long before I decided to file for office and I had no control or input over when or where the billboards would appear.

(And by the way, I am not as tall as I appear in the billboard.)

We'd love to see downtown Tacoma's historic Elks Building restored to new life. But never in a jillion years would we have thought of making it Pierce Transit bus transfer center.

Geez, anything involving a bus tunnel has got to be a money pit.

We've got a better idea: Convert the building into a bikini barista mall. Get those nearly naked latte slingers off the streets! Make Bonney Lake and Spanaway safe for mothers and children again! Use entrance tolls to fix the potholes on city streets! Make drivers rejoice!

Who could be against it? And as espresso sales soar, once again we'd deserve the title of "America's #1 Wired City."

Holding public officials accountable for their performance is difficult in the case of Superior Court judges. That's why local bar association’s latest survey evaluating the Pierce County bench is a real service to voters. It’s not hard to tell the top performers from the worst. We hope the results will encourage to more attorneys to run against rarely challenged incumbent judges.

Even ardent civil libertarians should have no objection to the Tacoma Police Department’s request for greater authority to eject troublemakers from the city’s massive Fourth of July celebration in Old Town.

About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

"On June 12, do your part to save the planet. Belch."

So says Grassfire.org, a conservative outfit resisting global-warming "alarmism" by promoting "Carbon Belch Day."

People who think climate-change fears are exaggerated are urged to boost their "carbon footprint" on June 12 by driving extra distances, leaving a few extra lights on, having a barbecue or even smoking a few cigars.

“Carbon Belch Day” demonstrates that hundreds of thousands of Americans are rejecting Climate Alarmism and the carbon tax,” says Grassfire.org President Steve Elliott. “The ‘carbon footprint guilt’ being imposed on Americans for a host of normal activities such as driving our cars or mowing our lawns is nothing more than a set up for this tax scheme. If we feel guilty then we must accept the tax. We see through this manipulation and we reject it.”

Belch Day is in part intended as a provocative response to Earth Hour, the March occasion when citizens around the world were as to "go dark" for an hour as a statement of concern about global warming.

IMHO: Grassfire, which calls itself a "grassroots" organization, is full of emissions, all right. The skeptics won't be convinced until Washington, D.C. is under water. When it happens, they'll blame Al Gore.

Betcha Grassfire.org ain't a true grassroots organization, either. SourceWatch and StealthPacs.org, a couple of groups dedicated to checking out the backgrounds of so-called advocacy groups, have entries on Grassfire here and here.

Hint: Grassfire's public relations firm is the same one that did the infamous Willie Horton ads against Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1998.

At least 134,000 cyclone victims are known to be dead or missing in Myanmar. Another 2.4 million are homeless, as many as half of them facing hunger and lethal diseases.

In the face of this immense cataclysm, with who knows how many thousands dying by the week, the country's military dictatorship has: obstructed foreign assistance, proceeded with a rigged constitutional election, and added a year to the house arrest of critic and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

On Friday, its soldiers were reportedly tearing down private refugee camps and forcing refugees back to their devastated villages to prevent Buddhist monks – critics of the regime – from helping them.

For sheer indifference to human life, there hasn't been anything quite like this since the Cambodian holocaust of the 1970s. Given a choice, Burma's generals apparently like ruling more than they like having people to rule.

Here's a sentence guaranteed to put you to sleep:

The Urban Land Institute recently published a report, "Infrastructure 2008," on highway and transit systems around the world.

Now that your nap's over, let me share a forkful of broccoli from the report.

The think tank's researchers surveyed the country's 23 largest and fastest growing metropolitan areas, comparing how much money these regions needed for roads and rail with how much money they actually had in hand for those improvements.

New York was short about $50 per person per year for transportation. San Francisco was short $100. Denver, Tampa and San Diego were each short about $300.

Coming in dead last on the list – twice as short-handed as the second-worst, Dallas – was the central Puget Sound region. According the Urban land Institute, we'd have to pay more than $700 a year each for the highway and transit expansions we need.

Puget Sound's transportation system the most underfunded in the country? It's such a surprise.