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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This editorial will appear in Friday's print edition.
Get Lakewood out
of the gambling business
The fact that many city employees would be laid off if a ban passes shows how dependent Lakewood has become on casino money.
Lakewood voters have a tough decision to make Nov. 4, no doubt about it.
If they pass Proposition 1 and ban casino gambling, the city’s budget would take an almost immediate 7 percent hit from closure of four “enhanced card rooms.” City Manager Andrew Neiditz has said that losing a projected $2.85 million in gambling tax revenue in 2009 means 11 police positions would be among the many cuts that would have to be made in the operating budget.
This editorial will appear Friday in our print edition.
Our picks in the 29th, 30th and 31st districts
If the August primary was any indication, the incumbent legislators in the state’s 29th, 30th and 31st districts have little to worry about. All won by healthy margins.
They deserved to. And voters should again support them in the Nov. 4 general election.
29TH DISTRICT (includes parts of Tacoma, Lakewood and University Place): Give Republicans Terry Harder and Steven Cook their props. It’s been too long since any candidate threw his hat in the ring against Tacoma Reps. Steve Conway or Steve Kirby.
Democracy depends on voters having choices, and on that basis, we cheer their candidacies.
Unfortunately, we can’t also recommend them to voters.
An interesting news release came in from the American Political Science Association. It reports that six of nine presidential election forecasts predict that Barack Obama will be elected Nov. 4. Two say the race is too close to call, and one gives John McCain a narrow victory.
Here's the article:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 — Most of nine forecast models developed by political scientists predict a victory for Senator Barack Obama over Senator John McCain in the two-party contest for the popular vote in the 2008 presidential election. Obama is predicted to win an average of 52% of the vote with an 80% probability that he will gain more than half the total two-party popular vote.
Six out of the nine presidential election forecasts predict an Obama victory with popular vote totals ranging from 50.1% to 58.2%, while two predict a race too close to call and one predicts a narrow McCain victory. All of the predictions appear in an election-themed symposium in the October issue of PS: Political Science and Politics, a journal of the American Political Science Association (APSA).
We ran out of room in the editorial column today, so we're posting this endorsement here. We'll run it in the printed edition sometime soon.
Give Republicans Terry Harder and Steven Cook their props. It's been too long since any candidate threw his hat in the ring against Tacoma Reps. Steve Conway or Steve Kirby.
Democracy depends on voters having choices, and on that basis, we cheer their candidacies.
Unfortunately, we can't also recommend them to voters. Cook, a pastor and former George City Councilman, and Harder, an account manager for Office Depot and co-founder of Operation Support Our Troops, are credible candidates who might make fine lawmakers in time.
But it takes more than promise to overcome Kirby's and Conway's considerable advantage given their years in the Legislature. Their committee chairmanships give them pull that benefits the district.
They remain the best picks for 29th voters.
