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 Wednesday in the print edition.
Obama for president, and for the future
The Illinois senator has the intellect, the temperament and the collaborative skills to be a great president.
The challenges ahead are daunting.
The United States is mired in war on two fronts, its financial markets are in crisis and its standing is diminished around the world, even among many of its traditional allies.
This election is in part a referendum on the last eight years and a Republican administration that misfought four years of the Iraq War, ran up an unbelievable deficit and looked the other way while the economy lurched toward failure. Fairly or unfairly, John McCain – as a Republican – is closely linked to the Bush administration and its policies.
This election is also a referendum on who would be the best person to lead the nation into the future, to improve the lives of average Americans, to increase our energy independence, to make health care more affordable and more accessible, and to heal our relationships with other nations.
We believe that Barack Obama is that person.
When I went to work this morning, the price at the Center Street Arco was $2.79 per gallon.
By lunchtime, it was down to $2.73. What happened in the space of a few hours to drop the price 4 cents a gallon?
I can't wait to see what the price is on my way home. No telling; a whole six hours will have passed!
Check the responses to Saturday's county executive endorsement for what's probably been the longest and liveliest argument we've ever seen over a post on this blog.
We have mostly enjoyed the back-and-forth, but one very troubling question popped up a couple times: Does The News Tribune's editorial board calibrate its endorsements to improve advertising revenue or protect other corporate interests?
See below for our response to a suggestion that we were in bed with Waste Connections of Sacramento.
I can't say emphatically enough how unethical it would be to endorse a candidate for covert, private business purposes. In the nearly 22 years I've been part of this editorial board, that factor has never entered into our deliberations over candidates or ballot measures. I am fortunate to work for McClatchy Newspapers, where journalistic ethics are an overriding priority and those who violate the profession's ethics for gain quickly find themselves out of work.
Stacy Emerson, one of this blog's readers, asked a legitimate question about a corporate conflict of interest she'd heard about. Here are our responses, one from me, the other from our president and publisher, David Zeeck:
We're getting calls and letters about the survey Pierce County Auditor (and county executive candidate) Pat McCarthy included in mail ballots. Apparently, so is the Associated Press. This just moved on the wire:
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press WriterSEATTLE (AP) — The woman in charge of elections in Pierce County, auditor Pat McCarthy, included a note to voters in their ballot envelopes this year, asking for feedback about the county’s new election system.
Her opponents say there’s a problem with that: McCarthy’s on the ballot herself, running for county executive. They say her note comes across almost like a political ad.
McCarthy, a Democrat, says it’s important to get feedback about the new voting system, in which voters rank their top candidates instead of choosing one. She says sending out the survey falls within her job duties as auditor, and the secretary of state’s office agrees.
But two of her opponents in the race, Pierce County Councilmen Calvin Goings and Shawn Bunney, say the mailing is self-promotional. State GOP Chairman Luke Esser calls it unethical.
UPDATE: Here's the survey.
UPDATE 2: AP has clarified that it was Charla Neuman, Bunney's adviser, and not Bunney himself who called the survey self-promotional.
UPDATE 3: This year's survey looks a lot like the survey McCarthy sent out in 2004, when the pick-a-party primary was angering voters. But McCarthy wasn't a candidate in 2004.
The county's elections manager, Lori Augino, reports the surveys are pouring in. Augino says: "Most are not favorable about Ranked Choice Voting. The good news is that most people are indicating that they understood how to mark their ballot!"
Russ Hulet of Lakewood sent us an election-themed limerick. We'll print it here and challenge other aspiring limerists (limerickists?) to contribute theirs.
One rule: Keep it clean. No ladies from Nantucket, etc.
When the polls showed McCain he was trailin',
In a bold move he picked Sarah Palin.
But what once seemed inspired
has kinda backfired
And the GOP ticket is ailin'.
