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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"Fair and balanced"? Baloney.
Any pretense that Fox News maintains at being genuinely journalistic was thoroughly trashed last weekend when Fox's Sean Hannity trotted out Andy Martin as a supposedly credible source on Barack Obama's radicalism.
What's fair and balanced about relying on a certified nutcase to air atrociously unfounded innuendo suggesting Obama's goal is overthrow of the U.S. government? How low can you go? Not as low as Fox.
Opinion is one thing. Knowingly presenting B.S. as factual documentary is purely dishonest.
Here's a good example of state Rep. Dennis Flannigan's formidable networking skills. The Tacoma Democrat has the best email list in town -- and he often uses it to make good things happen that have nothing to do with politics.
I'm happy to pass this one on. (Sorry, I'm too tech-impaired make the PDF file work here)
Dear people not picked at random,
Two months ago I met Tacoma's Linda Danforth. I knew she provided studio space for artists and crafts people. I didn't know she did it for less than a buck a week per member. For 48 bucks a year, anyone can work on their projects five days a week at Tacoma Art Place on South 11th Street. So far there's quilters, painters, crafters, photographers, potters, jewelry designers, fabric artists, film makers, and fabric artists on board.
This editorial will appear in Tuesday's print edition.
The wrong way to get rid of Tacoma term limits
Proposition 1 is a self-serving, expensive way to end City Council
term limits. Voters should reject it.
The problem with Tacoma Proposition 1 – which would remove term limits for the City Council – isn’t necessarily what it’s about, but how it came to be on the Nov. 4 ballot.
The ballot measure would make a significant change to the City Charter, but it didn’t go through the regular charter review process conducted by citizens every 10 years or so.
It was put forward by Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg, who stands to be term limited out next year along with three other council members. No public hearings were held, and public comment was allowed only immediately before council members voted to put the measure on the ballot.
This editorial will appear in Tuesday's paper.
Mike Murphy’s decision not to run for a fourth term as state treasurer has provoked an identity crisis of sorts for his office.
The open seat has attracted two comers with different takes on the job. Deciding between them requires voters to consider what they want from their state treasurer – a banker’s banker or a financial guru.
Murphy, a Democrat, has been a careful steward of public funds content to largely work behind the scenes. His advice, rarely dispensed, carries great weight.
His assistant treasurer, Republican Allan Martin, would continue that approach. The former Chelan County treasurer argues that the office should be a strongbox, not a soapbox.
This editorial will appear in Tuesday's print edition.
It is a testament to Paul Pastor’s record that no one in law enforcement is opposing his bid to be the first Pierce County sheriff elected since 1975.
Pastor, the county’s appointed sheriff since 2001, has a solid reputation for integrity, accessibility and fairness.
Pulitzer, schmulitzer.
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, whose work regularly appears on The News Tribune's editorial pages, just won the big one: the Nobel Prize in economics.
Krugman, who is unabashedly liberal, is a columnist our conservative readers love to hate. But he has been consistent over the last few years in criticizing subprime mortgage loans and predicting a housing bust.
Krugman didn't win for his column but for his “analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity.” Usually the prize is given to two or three individuals, but this year it – and $1.4 million – went to Krugman alone.
Here's an AP story on the award:
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Paul Krugman, the Princeton University scholar, New York Times columnist and unabashed liberal, won the Nobel prize in economics Monday for his analysis of how economies of scale can affect international trade patterns.
Tired of all those ads urging you to vote? Los Angeles Times humor columnist Joel Stein takes a perversely opposite position.
"Casting a ballot tricks you into believing you have as equal a stake in the power structure as the rich and connected," he writes.
Here's the rest of his column.
Still Undecided? Then Just Don’t Vote
By Joel Stein
The Los Angeles Times
Don’t vote. People will try to guilt you into it, but stay strong and resist. I’m talking to all of you who don’t feel strongly about either presidential candidate, not just those 80 undecided idiots seated at Tuesday’s town hall-style debate. Those people just crave attention and are way too proud of skimming enough Google News headlines to formulate a question. Give each a hug and a Debate Attendee diploma and I bet they’ll pick a candidate real fast.
