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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Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi won a key endorsement from the Seattle Times in today's online edition. It will run in print Sunday. Read it here.
For those who like to track such things, The News Tribune, the Seattle P-I, the Daily Olympian and the Vancouver Columbian have all endorsed incumbent Democrat Chris Gregoire. The TNT and the Columbian endorsed Rossi four years ago.
The Gregoire camp has been anticipating a Rossi endorsement from the Times. A press release earlier this week suggested that Times publisher Frank Blethen's obsession with repealing the state estate tax would work in Rossi's favor.
The Yakima Herald endorsed Rossi earlier this week (note from Kim: as did my last paper, the Tri-City Herald, which endorsed Gregoire four years ago). As near as I can tell, the Spokesman-Review of Spokane has yet to publish its endorsement. The paper's Web site requires registration.
The fivethirtyeight.com poll tracking website now projects Gregoire winning by half a percent, and Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert beating challenger Darcy Burner by two-tenths of a percent. In other words, both of those races are clearly tossups.
This editorial will appear in tomorrow in the print edition.
John Ladenburg is moving on – possibly to the state attorney general’s office – and somebody will have to replace him as Pierce County executive.
Of the four candidates seeking the office, we think Republican Shawn Bunney and Democrat Pat McCarthy – in that order – come closest to filling Ladenburg’s big shoes.
This is an unusually diverse field.
All four candidates are serious contenders with impressive credentials. The other two are Calvin Goings and Mike Lonergan. Goings, a Democrat, has extensive experience in public office, including the Legislature. Lonergan, who is running under his own “Executive Excellence” banner, has served as a Tacoma city councilman and as the executive of two nonprofits, the Salvation Army and Tacoma Rescue mission.
We like Bunney’s calm thoughtfulness, analytical ability and inclination to work behind the scenes solving the knottiest problems.
For my money, former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan is the most thoughtful and graceful conservative columnist in America today.
I can't finish breakfast on Saturday mornings without checking the Wall Street Journal's oped page for her weekly column.
And today Noonan joined the growing list of conservative columnists and writers who say that Sarah Palin is a dud. Palin was "a dope and unqualified from the start," Noonan writes. Excerpts:
There has never been a second's debate among liberals, to use an old-fashioned word that may yet return to vogue, over Mrs. Palin: She was a dope and unqualified from the start.
Conservatives and Republicans, on the other hand, continue to battle it out: Was her choice a success or a disaster? And if one holds negative views, should one say so? For conservatives in general, but certainly for writers, the answer is a variation on Edmund Burke: You owe your readers not your industry only but your judgment, and you betray instead of serve them if you sacrifice it to what may or may not be their opinion . . .
But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office.
These cartoons are a little on the risque side for the printed edition, but I know our online readers can handle them.
And any offended plumbers out there, don't blame me; blame Michael Ramirez and Chris Britt. They just couldn't pass up the chance to take the low road.
Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy is our fourth and final candidate for Pierce County executive. She's "all about this nonsexy stuff about how do we deliver services."
Check back here later today for our Pierce County executive endorsement. In the spirit of ranked-choice voting, we will be offering our top two picks.
McCarthy on "that vision thing"
