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 faithful readers of this blog, here's advance notice of two soon-to-arrive election endorsements.
In the printed edition Sunday, we will endorse Gov. Chris Gregoire's re-election. We'll post the editorial here tomorrow around 4 p.m.
On Monday, we'll endorse Terry Lee, Barbara Gelman and Jan Shabro – in that order – for Pierce County assessor-treasurer.
The preview of that editorial will be posted here on Sunday, also around 4 p.m.
Political campaigns deluge us with so many requests to run their long pieces on our pages that we've been turning them all down this close to the election – with the exceptions of those we pair with opposing viewpoints. We've got a policy of balance, especially this close to the vote, and space on our printed pages is scarce.
Usually writers can make the same points just as effectively in letters to the editor.
We've got plenty of real estate in this blog, though. So I'm running this piece by Lakewood City Councilman Pad Finnegan, who challenges our dim view of casino gambling.
By Pad Finnegan
If you wanted to eat fewer candy bars, you wouldn’t just “hide” them from yourself in a different drawer.
If you wanted to lower you gas bill, you wouldn’t drive to Oregon for lower pump prices.
The point is that if you want to create a change, you have to take action that will accomplish your goal. There has to be a cause-effect relationship between the action you take and the result you want to achieve. It’s pretty simple.
Yet it’s a point the Save Lakewood group doesn’t seem to understand. The so-called “solution” to the negative effects of gambling that they propose in their gambling initiative – they want to ban casinos in Lakewood in order to eliminate problems habitual Lakewood gamblers get themselves into – won’t stop Lakewood gamblers from betting and losing money.
