This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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For me, the single most curious result of Tuesday's primary was the elimination of ChangMook Sohn as a candidate for state treasurer.
It wasn't so much the loss, but the magnitude of the loss. He got 15 percent of the vote; his opponents, Allan Martin and Jim McIntire, got 45 and 40 percent respectively.
Martin and McIntire are both good candidates – but hardly three times better than Sohn. He's an exceptionally astute economist; for many years, he's projected trends in state revenue with uncanny accuracy.
I'm forced to the conclusion that most voters just didn't know much about him and shied away from his unusual name.
The Washington Policy Center, a conservative Seattle-based think tank, advocates a reduction in the number of elected state executives.
We do have quite a slew of them in Washington: governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, state auditor, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, commissioner of public lands and insurance commissioner.
The WPC's argument: Elections aren't really working for these state offices, because there are too many for the voters keep track of. It proposes to elect the governor and lieutenant governor on a single ticket, and make all the rest appointees except for the attorney general, treasurer and auditor.
Accountability for policy decisions would then be concentrated in the governor's office.
It's worth thinking about. Are voters really paying attention to all nine of these executive races? Sohn's fate on Tuesday is evidence to the contrary.
Events in from Iraq have been trending positive for months now. Finally the news we’ve been waiting for: The Iraqi government and Bush administration are looking at U.S. combat withdrawals in the near future.
If four members of the Puyallup City Council took open government seriously, they wouldn’t delay televising their meetings.
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.
Former ace AP reporter David Ammons, now turned media master for Secretary of State Sam Reed, offers the following observations about Tuesday's top two primary:
• Eight out of 124 legislative races on the ballot will feature a November run-off between two Republicans or two Democrats. In a few cases, that's because no one filed from the other party. For the most part, partisan choice survived the primary.
• Some candidates claiming affiliation with no parties, nonstandard parties or pseudoparties did break through to the general election.
• In the 3rd District state Senate race, Majority Leader Lisa Brown faces a no-party challenger. In the 37th, Democratic Rep. Eric Pettigrew faces a Libertarian.
• In the 38th, Democratic Rep. John McCoy faces a no-party guy. In the 40th, Democratic Speaker Pro Tem Jeff Morris faces a Green. In the 49th, Democratic Rep. Jim Moeller faces an "Independent."
(I'm not sure what the difference is between "independent" and "prefers no party.")
Also:
Most candidates claiming such oddball affiliations as the Salmon Yoga Party, America's Third Party and the Party of the Commons didn't make it the primary. (Don't weep for them.) But the Cut Taxes GOP Party and the Progressive Democratic Party now have candidates in the final.
Those of us who thought the minor parties would be absolutely shut out of the final under top two will have to admit that the world didn't quite come to an end.
Still, the strongest third party out there is the Libertarian, and it looks as if it will have only a single legislative candidate on the November ballot. That grossly underrepresents Libertarian strength in the state.
I was driving up the hill on South 25th Street in Tacoma and spotted three fellows working on an enormous bronze sculpture at Bronze Works, 2506 Fawcett Ave.
I recognized it immediately as the future public art for the Lakewood Sound Transit station. I'd blogged earlier about the controversy over the original sculpture by Seattle artist Mark Calderon and the fact that Lakewood asked him to redo it so it wasn't quite so "provocative."
Click here to see what the sculpture should look like in front of the station. You'll also be able to see what the original sculpture looked like.
One of the fabricators working on the piece noted that it involves 15 separate cast bronze pieces. He said he thinks it's supposed to be installed in November.
