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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Gov. Chris Gregoire has been on the defensive for months about the deal she cut with state Indian tribes that will allow them to expand their casino operations considerably.
Regardless of the merits of the deal itself, the governor has to play defense because the tribes have dumped a whole lot of money in her campaign chest.
I mention this because the Los Angeles Times has this story about California legislators dashing to protect tribal casinos from – gasp – competition from non-Indian bingo parlors.
The horror – bingo operators have come up a version of bingo that's played on a device much like a slot machine, without actually being one.
The lovely irony of this is that the slots that tribes in both Washington and California operate are technically not slot machines, which are illegal in both states. The devices are legally considered lotteries because of the way the machines operate when the customer plays the machine.
Some difference. But the courts have thus decreed. Unlike Washington, the state of California gets a share of the tribal gambling take. Which is why California lawmakers don't want bingo parlors cutting in on the action.
From the Times:
Here's the entire Anchorage Daily News editorial on the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate. We excerpted it today as a companion piece to our own editorial.
Palin picked
A great day for Alaska; but for the country . . . ?Alaskans were stunned and delighted that John McCain chose Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Delighted because one of our own has burst into the national spotlight. You go, girl!
Stunned because a woman from such ordinary circumstances – a self-professed hockey mom from a small Alaska town – is running for vice-president.
Alaskans are delighted because the eyes of the world will be on Alaska as Sarah Palin campaigns for the vice-presidency.
And it's stunning that someone with so little national and international experience might be heartbeat away from the presidency.

