Here's another tidbit from our meeting yesterday with Skip Priest and Mark Miloscia. The Federal Way lawmakers hail from different parties, but they were unanimous in their assessment of Gov. Chris Gregoire. Both think she hasn't lived up to her potential, and both traced her abdication of the bully pulpit to the Alaskan Way viaduct.

Priest suggested – and Miloscia nodded in agreement – that Gregoire hasn't shown true leadership since 2005, her first year in office when ironically she was at a disadvantage after getting a late start following a contested election. She pushed through a gas tax that year, but then unable or unwilling to wield the power of her office to break ground on one of the biggest projects in the package, the viaduct.

Negotiations, "visioning" and much dithering have ensued. Another deadline for deciding how to replace the crumbling elevated highway came and went today.

Neither Priest nor Miloscia are much impressed by the proposed budget Gregoire rolled out this month, which Priest said attempts to spread the pain of a $5.7 billion budget shortfall too indiscriminately. They both are watching closely to see if the governor's plans to reform state government, which she has yet to announce, are more hard-nosed in setting priorities and tying spending on a program's ability to deliver.

The hubbub over "Barack the Magic Negro" needs some context. And then the context needs some context.

The song is a parody – a distinctly offensive one – that GOP chair-apparent Chip Saltsman passed out for Christmas.

But the song's title, the most offensive thing about it, is also the title and theme of an essay published in the Los Angeles Times last March by a part-black writer. It's a case of "The sensitive liberal guy said it, so I get to say it, too."

Here are some on-target observations from sensitive liberal guy Tim Rutton.

An excerpt:

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I will not keep checking my Facebook for updates. I will not keep checking my Facebook for updates.

If you have never heard of Facebook count yourself as lucky and slowly step away from the computer. This is Internet crack and you want no part of it.

For the rest of you who have Facebook you understand the addiction. Keep in mind denial is the first sign of someone who is saying no.

I tell myself I am new to Facebook, that soon the novelty will wear off and I’ll forget it’s even there. That’s what I tell myself.

So far I have 50 friends on Facebook, a paltry and rather embarrassing sum in comparison to most, but I like all my Facebook friends and that’s what matters. Included in my little group are my best friend from second grade, my high school geometry teacher and a presidential press secretary, all people I have known and worked with in both recent and long ago chapters.

I liken Facebook to having all your favorite literary characters in one room:

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One of the favorite clichés used by editorial cartoonists this time of year shows the old year – portrayed by a wizened, tired codger – handing off to the young pup who symbolizes the new year.

One such cartoon appears in today's print edition, and former News Tribune cartoonist Chris Britt has worked up a special version for Northwest sports fans that will appear on Jan. 1. It will accompany a roundup of humorous (we hope) "Headlines we'd like to see in 2009."

Here's another one in the genre by Jeff Stahler of the Columbus Dispatch.

This editorial will be published in tomorrow's print edition.

A simple question suffices to figure out who's to blame for the fighting that's broken out between Israel and Hamas:

Which side would stop attacking if the other side stopped attacking it?

The question has been answered. Hamas has been firing rockets at Israel – in increasing numbers – for years. It unleashed a barrage on Israel after it unilaterally junked a cease-fire on Dec. 18.

Yes, Israel had been cutting off shipments of goods to Gaza. But that's precisely because Hamas has been relentlessly smuggling in weaponry from Iran and turning Gaza into a vast staging area for attacks on Israel.

No government on earth can be expected to stand idly by as its citizens are bombarded by a neighboring nation.

Fatah, which has the same grievances as Hamas, doesn't feel compelled to fire artillery at Israeli towns. Heaven knows Gaza's civilians – whom Hamas routinely uses as human shields – have suffered enough from this conflict. But there's no question as to who's been perpetuating it.

This editorial will appear in Wednesday's print edition.

Transit the big winner
on the 2008 agenda
A tough economy slowed progress in other important areas.

On Sunday, The News Tribune editorial board will publish its annual civic agenda for 2009. But as 2008 draws to a close, it’s time to look back at the progress – or lack of it – made on this year’s agenda.

Invest in transportation infrastructure
This was our top agenda item – and the one that met with the greatest success in 2008, thanks to voters in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties.

Even though gas prices were still high and the economy spiraling down, voters recognized the importance of expanding mass transit in the Puget Sound region. On Nov. 3 they voted – resoundingly – to increase the sales tax to pay for a $17.9 billion Sound Transit ballot measure.

That investment, which will pay off in more bus, train and light rail service in the South Sound, is crucial to the region’s economic development and quality of life. Voters were wise to acknowledge that.

Repair urban centers
Given the state of the economy – it turns out that the nation was in recession the entire year – it’s not surprising that only incremental progress was made in this area.

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You cannot accuse state Rep. Mark Miloscia of ignoring the big picture.

The Federal Way Democrat and his Republican seatmate Skip Priest were in this morning to talk about the looming threat of another legislative session. We wanted to find out what dogs the Federal Way area might have in the looming battle royal over the busted state budget.

Miloscia spent the better part of a half hour giving us a stemwinder that covered: health care costs, the wage gap between rich and poor, the "disappearing" middle class, the decline of the two-parent family, poverty as a root cause, the root causes of poverty, affordable housing and growth management, homelessness, the dishonesty of society, the need for a higher minimum wage, outsourcing and the lamentable transition to a service economy, the need for measurable outcomes in government and ...

And other issues I couldn't write fast enough to catch.

Somehow I don't think even a 105-day session will be able to handle all that. Whatever Miloscia's faults as a lawmaker may be, lack of passion isn't among them.

As something of a spin practitioner myself, I can only admire the chutzpah of whichever Boston Globe editorialist wrote the response below to the blowup in Gaza.

Arguments over who started the fighting "seem beside the point"?

Does that gem of denial also apply to, say, the mysterious entity that started bombing Poland in 1939, or who might have attacked whom in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964, or the inconsequential question of who invaded Iraq in 2003?

THE GAZA CALAMITIES
The Boston Globe

AS ISRAELI bombing raids over Gaza kill and maim civilians along with Hamas militants, arguments about which side caused the collapse of a cease-fire that prevailed since last June seem beside the point.

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Recently a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” surfaced in the news, something that is in such bad taste my fingers can barely type it. It’s one of those stories commentators hesitate to touch because it doesn’t deserve any attention, but when I learned this morning that Tennessee RNC chairman Chip Saltsman’s chances of becoming the head of Republican National Committee increased because he distributed it, I got a little sick.

Outgoing RNC chair Robert M. Duncan denounced the CD that first surfaced in 2007 but obviously not loud enough because it showed up in the hands of Chip Saltsman in the form of Christmas presents. Apparently the man never heard of candy.

“Lighten up!” is the cry on conservative radio. "It was a joke.”

As if jokes were simple things.

Humor has been studied by almost every major academic discipline and it is far from simple.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

WaMu wasn’t merely neglecting to check borrowers’ qualifications. It was telling them they didn’t need qualifications.

Reckless American home buyers and lax federal regulation deserve a healthy share of the responsibility for the international credit crisis. But there’s no calculating the blame that belongs to reckless mortgage lenders.

The New York Times this week detailed the loan-mongering frenzy that brought down Seattle-based Washington Mutual in the biggest bank failure in history. It’s an appalling portrait of a once-responsible corporate culture gone rogue.

Under the leadership of CEO Kerry Killinger, WaMu morphed from a well-run company into a giant medicine show touting high-risk loans.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

Answering a former employee’s charges publicly can only aid the social service agency’s efforts to repair its reputation.

Silence was anything but golden for Centro Latino’s leaders.

The organization’s board members clammed up last month at the worst possible time: after being hit with a lawsuit from a former executive director who alleged she was fired for exposing improprieties.

The agency’s leaders say they didn’t want to try the case in the media. Their motives may have been pure, but the effect was to leave some serious charges hanging out there, unanswered.

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As an editor, I'm going to mourn our dropping of the New York Times lineup for non-ideological reasons: It pains me to take anything away from readers.

That said, I – like anyone else – haven't been as fond of some columnists as others.

The ones I'll miss the most are Thomas Friedman and David Brooks. And I haven't stopped missing William Safire.

Friedman is a phenomenon; I don't think any journalist alive has a better grasp of what's going on beyond the borders of the United States. Brooks is a genial conservative whose good nature comes across in everything he writes. Both of them are consistently interesting.

I am unfond of Paul Krugman. When he's on the subject of economics – a specialty in which he has won the Nobel prize – he's got a lot to say.

But when he decides to be a general-purpose pontificator, he tends to be a grating johnny-one-note, blaming every ill of humanity on Bush and conservatives. Krugman didn't like Obama, early on, because he wasn't nasty enough.

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In the words of an old country song, or so I'm told, "How can I miss you if you won't go away?"

Few things in the media approach the ubiquity of Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, David Brooks, Nicholas Kristof and others in the New York Times' stable of columnists. Like Chickenman, "they're everywhere." Read them online (for free after the Times famously unsuccessful attempt to put them behind a subscription-only firewall). Watch them chat with each other on television. Or pick up one of the papers in the discard pile at your favorite coffeehouse. You can't shuffle down the street without tripping over a NYT column.

Their absence from The News Tribune's op-ed page has, I think, been too thoroughly mourned here and here and here. Sure, they're excellent writers, well-connected, and highly informed. But are they the only ones worth reading? I subscribe to three daily newspapers and read several others online. Too often, that means I get access to the same Krugman/Friedman/Dowd column at least twice.

We hear a lot about shrinking newspapers meaning fewer views reach readers hungry for news and comment. And then, when we open the paper, we get the same stuff we could get anywhere. I'm looking forward to reading some fresh, new regional and national writers.

We’ve now got a harrowing inside picture of the corporate culture of reckless mortgage-mongering that led to WaMu’s collapse. Anyone wondering how the financial sector could have come to the brink of total collapse in 2008 need only look at this bank’s practices.

Centro Latino leaders may have had good reasons to fire their executive director, who claims she was a whistleblower. A court will decide. In the meantime, the organization's defense of the termination could help it win back some lost support.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

There are two kinds of people in this world: There are the folks who look back fondly at the good old days and there are those who think civilization, however slowly, is evolving into more cooperative and open societies. Even in spite of the world’s problems, of which there are many, on any given day, I would categorize myself into the latter camp. Call it naiveté, but I like to think things are getting better.

Yesterday changed all that.

Learning that the News Tribune lost the NY Times columnists I am now officially in the former column. On the very same day Israel launches rockets into Gaza killing 300 people, the largest single attack in decades, we are told that we have been cut off from Thomas Friedman, the defining voice in the great American discussion on Middle East policies.

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If you read Pat O'Callahan's earlier posting on The News Tribune's discontinuation of the New York Times wire (and its editorial columnists), you'll notice that he mentioned some of the writers whose work we will rely on more to fill the vacuum.

One of those writers is Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein, who takes a humorous look at culture and politics – and where the two intersect. We've run him off and on and think readers might enjoy reading him more often.

Here's a column that moved late last week. It offers a good taste of his style.

By Joel Stein
I don’t love America. That’s what conservatives are always telling liberals like me. Their love, they insist, is truer, deeper and more complete. Then liberals, like all people who are accused of not loving something, stammer, get defensive and try to have sex with America even though America will then accuse us of wanting it for its body and not its soul.

When America gets like that, there’s no winning.
But I’ve come to believe conservatives are right. They do love America more.

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This editorial will appear Monday in the print edition.

Collective bargaining, meet economic reality
The deal struck with state employee unions in 2002 has an out clause – and the governor and Legislature should use it.

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s plan to plug a $5.7 billion budget gap with across-the-board pain has been called responsible, realistic and even courageous.

State workers now contend it’s also illegal. The state’s largest employee union is suing Gregoire, challenging her decision to skip pay raises for state employees. Other unions are expected to follow suit.

Gregoire had to see it coming. The Federation of State Employees is doing what unions do – fighting hard for its dues-paying members.

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This is the most painful thing I've had to tell readers since I became editor of the opinion section. Because The News Tribune is dropping the New York Times news service, our pages are losing the New York Times editorial columnists.

You might say we're collateral damage. Like virtually all newspapers in this country, The News Tribune is having to cut its expenses dramatically. That meant the NYT news service had to go.

Executive Editor Karen Peterson did her best to keep the columnists while dropping the news. But the NYT people aren't dumb – they know a lot of their customers get their service in large part to get their columnists. They refused to unbundle.

Here's what Karen had to say about it in her column today:

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If some is good more is better. That’s a Proverb right? Well, if it isn’t it should be according to Casey Treat and his flock at Christian Faith Center in Federal Way.

Apparently the eight thousand congregants aren’t enough for the husband and wife dynamic duo Casey and Wendy Treat. They have two thousand more folks folding in to hear them preach every Sunday 40 miles up the road in Everett.

If the Treats get their wish for a helistop they can fly via helicopter to and from both campuses with ease.

I bet folks down south in Tacoma and beyond wouldn’t mind hearing from them as well. No doubt many have read the numerous books the Treats have published and seen their daily television show.

Many are asking, ok I am asking, what’s to stop them from preaching at just two churches?

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

Spend lots of money. Spend it fast. Grease the approval process.

We’ve seen things like Barack Obama’s proposed stimulus package, and not that long ago.

There was the $700 billion economic recovery package, which was supposed to relieve the world’s shellshocked financial markets by buying up toxic assets. Mission creep has set in, and much of that money is being pumped into banks and is headed for a bailout of Detroit.

Some banks won’t say what they’re doing with the money, and they don’t seem to be lending a lot of it. There’s no telling if the taxpayers will see a penny of the money lent to General Motors and Chrysler.

Further back were the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina victims and the rush job to rebuild Iraq, which both saw staggering waste.

Most economists seem to agree that something like Obama’s stimulus package – which could eventually push $1 trillion – is necessary to jump-start the U.S. economy. But for heaven’s sake, let’s do it right this time, both on the federal and state levels.

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Sometimes Seattle is just too easy a target.

This time, it's the city's refusal to salt its streets – despite deadly ice and hardpack snow – for fear of doing harm to Puget Sound. Scientists have been asked about the policy. It appears that few think any harm would come of applying salt to the streets a few times a winter.

Someone should inform the powers-that-be in Seattle that Puget Sound is a body of saltwater. This is a case of environmental correctness gnawing its own tail. The sand being spread on Seattle's streets is actually more damaging than salt to salmon habitat.

Tacoma's streets were a mess after last January's heavy snowfall, but it done far better this time around. It's using salt, in the form of brine.

The amazing thing is that Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, at a press conference Wednesday, gave his administration a "B" for its response to the recent snowstorms.

Seattle police have had to walk up hills to calls because their patrol cars can't make it. Metro buses have had to restrict service at the very time sidelined drivers need it most. Even on major arterials, vehicles have had a hard time moving.

Nickels must have been grading on the curve.

Sitting here at the computer having my lunch, I notice that America is going to the dogs.

“Marley and Me”, a movie about a man and his dog was the number one movie Christmas Day. The promo for the film reads “Family learns important life lessons from adorable but naughty dog.”

Hmm. Important life lessons? From the dog?

The only lesson I ever learned from my dog, and it took me a couple times to cinch it, was not to turn my back on my turkey sandwich.

My own dog, Ella, sleeps on the couch all day. What could I possible learn from her?
All I know is that if I were to write a bestselling book that would later be turned into major motion picture it would be called “I Used to Hate This Dog.”

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Christmas so completely takes over this time of year that it's easy to forget that other holiday celebrations are going on now, including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, which begins today.

Here's an article from the opinion wire that explains why "Kwanzaa is more relevant than ever in recession."

By Starita Smith

The seven-day Afrocentric holiday from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1 is a period of rededication to basic principles we can all embrace. Some are especially relevant for surviving a deep recession.

Kwanzaa has arrived in another sense: It has become accepted.

Even though the holiday was controversial in its beginnings because it was viewed as a challenge to Christmas, it has taken on a life of its own. Nowadays it is considered a secular holiday celebrated by people of all religious faiths or no faith at all.

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This editorial will appear in Friday's print edition.

Inauguration should be about inclusiveness
Rev. Rick Warren’s beliefs may differ from many of Obama’s supporters, but that shouldn’t exclude him from the inauguration.

Evangelical preacher Rick Warren says he took “enormous heat” three years ago when he invited Barack Obama to speak at his church.

President-elect Obama now knows what that feels like, catching a lot of heat of his own for inviting Warren to say a prayer at his Jan. 20 inauguration. And the criticism of Obama is just as unwarranted as that earlier directed at Warren.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

It’s an understatement to say the United States is a democracy. This nation elects more of its officials – right on down to sewer, water and park commissioners – than any other country in the world.

The theory is that the public owns the government, so the public should be in the loop in choosing its leaders.

Even when the impossibility of an election makes an appointment necessary, the public shouldn’t be excluded. That, unfortunately, is what the Pierce County Council is doing as it replaces county Auditor Pat McCarthy.

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This is the cartoon on our editorial page today. But black and white doesn't do it justice, so I'm posting it here.

It's by former News Tribune cartoonist Chris Britt, who is now with the State Journal Register in Springfield, Ill.

UPDATE: Chris writes this about the cartoon:

The visual is me and my father. It is how I remember our walks at Christmas time through the woods at the family cabin.

This editorial will appear in the Christmas Day print edition.

Washingtonians are likely to remember this year’s Christmas for the often farcical furor over an obnoxious anti-religious placard in the state Capitol.

Petty arguments and animosity over the holiday’s trappings seem to have become yet another custom of this richest of all American celebrations.

But don’t fret over the health of Christmas. It’s stared down far tougher enemies than a handful of Grinches in arrested adolescence. Like the Puritans – as relentless a band of cultural warriors as the English-speaking world has ever seen.

Many see Christmas as a generic Christian holiday. The Puritans saw it otherwise – as the unholy spawn of paganism and Catholicism, neither of which they were fond of. When they overthrew the British monarchy in the 1640s, they outlawed all Christmas services, sermons, revels, plays and festivities. Even mince pies.

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Followers of this blog will have noticed two new contributors, Richard S. Davis and Karen Irwin.

They differ from the usual suspects – me, Cheryl Tucker and Kim Bradford – in that they are not members of The News Tribune's editorial board. For that matter, they aren't members of The News Tribune's staff.

We're expanding Inside the Editorial Page a little. Dick and Karen have been writing commentary on our printed pages for years, and we've admired their work. We think their posts will enrich this blog.

Dick approaches tax and budget questions from a conservative bent. Check out his profile to the right. He's an exceptionally astute analyst of state issues, especially the Legislature's fiscal practices.

Karen tends toward the liberal end of the spectrum. She's an elegant writer who's already served as one of our guest columnists. We've invariably enjoyed her thoughtful, sometimes comic observations.

We'll be adding more thinkers to this forum as time goes on. We think we've made a good start with Karen and Dick.

For Thursday: Petty arguments and animosity over the holiday's trappings seem to have become yet another custom of this richest of all American celebrations. But don't fret for the health of Christmas. It's stared down far tougher enemies than a handful of Grinches in arrested adolescence.

For Friday: Even when the impossibility of an election makes an appointment necessary, the public shouldn't be excluded. That, unfortunately, is what the Pierce County Council is doing as it replaces county Auditor Pat McCarthy.

Those criticizing Barack Obama’s invitation to Pastor Rick Warren to pray at the inauguration should be more concerned about the actions President Obama takes in the days and months AFTER the inauguration than what one pastor says during the event.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

This is from Dave Seago, our editor emeritus:

The News Tribune's readers probably boggled at the staggeringly long, self-written obituary for Harold R. Snodgrass in Sunday's edition. Filling three-quarters of a page with microscopic type, the piece was titled "My Last Byline."

I'd say that Harold, who served as the Tacoma School District's "publications director" from 1959 to 1981, greatly overestimated public interest in a detailed account of his 82 years on the planet. But his loving widow, Carol Ann, honored his wishes by publishing, at no small expense, Harold's final article.

Despite his obituarial excess, Snodgrass deserves a kind word here. He was exceedingly kind to me when TNT editors assigned me, a green-as-grass reporter just a couple years out of college, to the school beat. One reason he may have been so helpful was that we were
both Lincoln High School graduates and former editors of the school newspaper, only decades apart.

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This editorial will appear in Wednesday's print edition.

If a Goodwill worker’s death ends up eroding support for disabled and disadvantaged workers, it would be a double tragedy.

By all accounts, Nick Miller loved working at Tacoma Goodwill Industries. He reveled in the routine, the chance to make friends and the independence.

Miller’s on-the-job death last year was a tragedy. To the extent that it was preventable, regulators are right to hold Goodwill accountable. Other workers’ lives may depend on it.

But if Miller’s death ends up discouraging employers from hiring disabled workers and possibly even the community from supporting Goodwill, that too would be a shame.

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Last week, the governor released a budget that, among other things, didn't fund her negotiated contract with state employees. Today, the union sued for the money. The News Tribune's Joe Turner has complete information, including great links, at the paper's Political Buzz site.

Here's the background.

As the economy slid further into recession, the governor's office negotiated a new contract with state unions. Deals were struck before October 1, providing 2 percent pay hikes and continuing generous health care benefits. (There's more. Details here, but the details don't matter all that much right now.)

In November, the state forecast council slashed estimated revenues for the coming biennium by $1.9 billion. That changed things. Here's what her budget director, Victor Moore, wrote Gregoire.

Given the projected deficit of $5.7 billion, funding the increases for compensation and fringe benefits provisions contained in the collective bargaining agreements and arbitration awards at the expense of other vital governmental services is not feasible financially for the state.

Which means that the state can't afford the negotiated increases without unacceptable cuts to more important things. If the deal isn't "financially feasible," the governor's not bound by it.

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Nick Miller's on-the-job death last year was a tragedy. To the extent that it was preventable, regulators are right to hold Tacoma Goodwill accountable. But if his fatal accident ends up discouraging employers from hiring disabled workers and possibly even the community from supporting Goodwill, that too would be a shame.

We're also adding our "ditto" to an editorial from the Olympian suggesting that the Port of Tacoma give conservationist more time to put together a deal to buy the Maytown property in southern Thurston County.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

Today Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald F. Seid writes, “The U.S. financial system is seen as having failed.” He writes China’s “managed mercantilism” will be more of a model to developing countries than ours and that America’s place as the iconic shining city on a hill has been usurped.

Words for reflection indeed.

For the past few years I have written on a political blog called “ Right meets Left,” where discussions often centered on dangers (real or perceived- depending upon perspective) that threaten the American way of life. Marriage, traditional forms of parenting, common courtesy and decency, even Christmas all seemed to be eroding fast by "an anything goes liberal left wing agenda," or so it was told by those on the Right.

As the appointed Left side of the blog, I often found myself fending off this cataclysmic thinking

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The cartoon is by John Sherffius of the Boulder (Colo.) Camera.

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

The Democratic Party’s list includes two solid candidates for outgoing auditor Pat McCarthy’s job.

Local Democrats just shot two big holes in the theory that a partisan nomination process necessarily favors party hacks.

Pierce County’s Democratic Central Committee met Saturday to select its nominees for the soon-to-be vacant Pierce County auditor job. The party’s top two choices should put to rest any concerns Pierce County Council members have about using a party list to fill what will soon become a nonpartisan position.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition:

There’s a spate of new sexual harassment lawsuits at Western State Hospital, and state officials – to their credit – are openly acknowledging that harassment is a problem there.

Have we stepped into a time warp? Here’s what we wrote about the very same issue at the Lakewood psychiatric hospital more than 5½ years ago:

A man or woman with no sense of boundaries is not unusual. What is unusual, at least in the last couple decades, is a state agency – run by people who supposedly know better – that seems utterly incapable of stopping a serial harasser.

That was a response to the infamous Barrette Green harassment case. Here’s a quick summary of the case, which is all too relevant to the new lawsuits:

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We are pleasantly surprised by county Democrats' nominees for replacing Pat McCarthy, who is leaving the county auditor's job to become county executive.

Apparently so was their top pick, Katie Blinn, who is the state's assistant director of elections. Blinn told me today that in the days leading up to Saturday's selection process, she kept hearing from local Dems that she was such a great candidate – if only she had stronger ties to the party.

Blinn considers herself a Democrat but she is prohibited from participating in party politics to avoid tainting her job as an elections official. She faced similar restrictions in her previous position as nonpartisan counsel to the state House of Representatives.

Her runner-up is Julie Anderson, who is perhaps a better known Democrat but also no mere party pick. Anderson has been an effective and hard-working member of the Tacoma City Council; her name seems to pop up anytime there is talk of a vacant position (or an incumbent past his or her prime).

The Democrats played this one wisely. Had their front runners been more partisan than professional, they would have given the County Council the perfect excuse to ignore them.

Here's another community corrections officer (I can't share her name) who has deep concerns about the "low risk" and "nonviolent" offenders who would go unsupervised under Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget plan:

I am a community corrections officer with the Department of Corrections. I have over seven years experience supervising a caseload of sex offenders, with the main body of my case load made up of Level 3 sex offenders.

The governor's proposal of not supervising low- and moderate-risk offenders does not encompass the type of offender the public would assume it does. The tool the Department of Corrections has begun to use was only normed in this state, and is not used nationally to rate offenders.

There are many flaws in the tool. As we go through our caseload and assess the offenders with the new tool, we are coming to find that many offenders who in the past have been supervised at a high level are coming out low or moderate.

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Look for Pierce County's new executive, Pat McCarthy, to push for a new election on ranked-choice voting after she takes office. The idea is to repeal it.

Here's an oped we'll be running Wednesday:

Dec. 22, 2008
By Pat McCarthy

Now that our first experience with ranked-choice voting is behind us, it may be useful to get a point of view from the trenches.

Let me start with the survey the auditor’s office mailed with the general election absentee ballots. Voters were asked how they felt about their ranked-choice voting experience. The results couldn’t be clearer. Sixty-six percent disapproved. With 90,000 voters responding, I believe that’s an accurate representation of how Pierce County as a whole feels about RCV.

I must confess I agree. Ranked-choice voting is expensive, complex and time-consuming. However, after receiving the mandate in November 2006 to implement it, the auditor’s office began making good on the promise I made before the Charter Review Commission and Pierce County Council back in 2005.

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A new proliferation of lawsuits suggests that Western State Hospital still hasn’t rid its culture of sexual harassment.

Democrats have taken away the one excuse the Pierce County Council might have had in running its own nomination process for filling Pat McCarthy's soon-to-be vacant auditor's post.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

T'was the week before Christmas and all through the house visions of palm trees danced in our heads…. but that’s all they were: visions. All the dreaming we did of sunny California was for naught because today at Sea-Tac Airport they told us, and approx. fifteen thousand other travelers, those three little words no traveler who spent the entire night packing and schlepping four kids to the airport wants to hear: All flights canceled.

Canceled? But I’ve got a pair of flip-flops in my purse. My parents who live in our city of destination just bought a ham the size of one of those Smart Cars. It will take them all year to eat that ham. The ticket lady glanced over her shoulder. The snow was blowing horizontal. “C’mon kids, let’s get our luggage and go home.”

The ticket lady took a deep breath, and jotted down a 1-800 number, “Your luggage is still on the plane, call this number to retrieve it later.”

We returned home without our luggage, keeping our fingers crossed we get it soon because Santa needs that luggage. But we aren’t feeling too sorry for ourselves. We saw lots and lots of weary travelers at the airport; worried moms running out of formula, families with no where to go, but I have to say the worst was a soldier in his BDUs wiping away some tears. He’d made it this far and his ache for home was palpable. Wherever you are soldier man our hearts go out to you.

It’s going to take days to clear up the gridlock of all those canceled flights. We were told by our airline that the next available flight was January 1st.

It looks like we will be having a white Christmas here at home after all. My parents are just going to have to make enough room in the freezer to park that ham.

This editorial will appear in Monday's edition.

Sweeping changes to credit card regulations are poorly timed and won’t provide timely help to those who need it most.

Americans drowning in debt compounded by predatory credit card practices could finally get some relief – provided they can hang on for another 18 months.

Last week, federal regulators adopted the first set of wholesale changes to credit card rules since 1981.

The new rules will force basic consumer protections on a credit card industry that’s been allowed to operate unfettered for too long. One of the rules would prohibit banks from charging interest on a balance that’s already been paid. Another would require that they give customers sufficient time to make their payments.

But apparently fairness can wait. The new rules won’t take effect until July 2010 – a concession to banks that unabashedly admit their business models rely on deceptive schemes.

=> Read more!

When the state squeezes its criminal justice budget, Pierce County tends to get strangled.

Decades-long practices of the state Department of Corrections have saddled the county with far more than its share of released criminals. When the state does less to hold them accountable, Pierce County gets more than its share of the consequences.

That’s the context for one of the most troubling provisions in Gov. Chris Gregoire’s newly released hard-times spending plan. She proposes that the 2009 Legislature carve $125 million out of the Department of Corrections’ operations over the next biennium, much of it by cutting the supervision of offenders who’ve left prison. Details:

=> Read more!

Pierce County Prosecutor Gerry Horne is surprisingly OK with Gov. Chris Gregoire's plan to curtail community supervision of ex-cons.

Short take: The state doesn't do criminal supervision well in the first place, and cutting it back is far preferable to letting offenders out of prison early. (We're editorializing on the subject Sunday; watch this space for the Saturday afternoon preview.)

Horne's email analysis:

I agree with the governor's conclusion that very little supervision was taking place under existing Department of Corrections policies with regards to the bulk of offenders who are released from prison and categorized as low risk, property offenders.

Ironically, that category includes some drug offenders, and our DOC friends tell us that the highest rate of recidivism upon release from prison rests with felony drug offenders who commit so many other crimes to support their life styles, i.e. car prowls, burglaries, identity thefts, felony eludings, vehicular homicides, etc.

=> Read more!

As the first and second impressions roll in, it seems most folks agree with Gov. Gregoire. The governor - who two years ago boasted "I love my budget" - this year says, "I hate it." So far, the only legislators who seem to disagree with her are Republicans Gary Alexander and Joe Zarelli. Majority Democrats have sounded skeptical, at best.

Closing a $5 billion budget gap without raising taxes means cuts, and not just the so-called "Olympia cuts" that shave increases while still boosting spending. The governor's budget hits everyone: social and health care services are curtailed, education funding reduced, pay increases for teachers and state employees suspended, and so on. And that's just for starters. State revenues may continue to plunge. So writing this budget could not have been fun.

=> Read more!

Here's the reaction of a community corrections officer (nameless by necessity) to Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposal to curtail supervision of "low risk" criminals.

I removed some explicit details. FYI, this officer's job wouldn't be threatened by the cutback.

As those close to the system know, "low risk" is an official category that doesn't always mean low risk.

I work with a caseload of ‘low risk’ offenders. They are convicted of drug crimes, assaults, sex offenses that have been pled down, domestic assaults, robberies, and many other crimes that are not victimless. ... The governor is proposing legislation that will not supervise these offenders at all. Period. I don’t know if it will really happen, but we barely supervise them now. No supervision means more offenders not be held accountable by anyone for their behavior.

I have right now on my case load a man with two serious assaults including a multiple stabbing, and a [sex offender who preyed on a girl] who pled down to domestic violence-assault ... This happened with the new tool that we use to determine risk level, and hence, supervision level.

Apparently the tool kicks down people of a certain age with violent offenses and the sex offenses were actually not convicted of sex offenses. The old tool, as flawed as it was, was able to kick those offenders up to a higher level of supervision.

=> Read more!

I've got nothing against Republicans, but this Christmas message from the chairwoman of the King County GOP seems a little self-congratulatory, don't you think?

As they say, don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.

We hear over and over that Republicans are the most generous people in the United States. Not only are we the most bighearted, but we are also the most satisfied with our lives. Why is that so? Could it be the positive benefit that comes from the value of personal responsibility and individual freedom?

Republicans know that service to their community epitomizes personal responsibility. Whether taking a shift in a Kindergarten reading hour or a stint on a community planning commission, you will find Republicans putting to action the belief that through our service we affect our world, not waiting for the world to effect us. As active, productive citizens we take control of the world that we live in and what we will leave for future generations.

=> Read more!

Gov. Gregoire balances her budget by eliminating community supervision of so-called "low-risk" felony offenders. Are the cuts simply a better reflection of the limited resources the state assigns to the task, or a heightened threat to community safety? Probably some of both.

Customers who've been hit by unfair credit card practices could finally see some relief – in 2010. But meanwhile, the reforms do little to help either families collapsing under the weight of their debt or the Americans who have used credit sparingly.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

Something about the approach of the new year always makes me want to purge all the crap that I've shoved into closets and drawers for the last 12 months.

It seems to have a similar effect on other editorial writers, judging by what's been the hot topic of conversation on their listserv this week: Words and phrases they would ban from the English language.

Here are some of their candidates:

My nomination: Infrastructure. Sure, it's a handy catch-all for public works, but that's the problem – it can be slapped on about anything. Just ask Congress.

This editorial will appear in Friday's print edition.

Gov. Chris Gregoire proves state lawmakers can close the $5.7 billion budget gap without raising taxes, painful as it might be.

For a glimpse at how painful mending a $5.7 billion hole in the state budget will be, read on.

College students would see their tuition spike while class sizes grow and offerings shrink.

The working poor would either be dropped from the state-subsidized health plan or receive rationed care.

Disabled people and addicts who can’t work would be cut off from state assistance and treatment.

Lucky state workers would get no pay raises; 2,600 unfortunate ones get pink slips.

Thirteen state parks would close, never to reopen.

Yeow.

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in Friday's print edition.

Lakewood right to fund Early Learning Consortium
It’s unfortunate that the city couldn’t fund all the programs that sought money, but kids and basic needs are good priorities.

Some noses are out of joint in Lakewood because the City Council didn’t go along with the funding recommendations of its human services citizen advisory board. But the key word in that sentence is “advisory.”

The elected council members are under no obligation to go along with any recommendation made by the citizens appointed to the board. Even so, the council did agree to most of the board’s preferences down to the penny. But where it deviated, it did so in a big way, and that’s generated no little criticism.

=> Read more!

I thought it would be a long, long time before I saw another election as statistically close as the Chris Gregoire-Dino Rossi cliffhanger in 2004. I was wrong.

Gregoire beat Rossi four years ago by 133 votes out of a total of 2.8 million. Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman has now seen his microscopic lead over Democratic challenger Al Franken shrink to two votes (see below) out of 2.9 million cast.

So the current gap between Coleman and Franken is less than a millionth of the total. Franken looks likely to win, given the trends in the recount.

Gregoire says that, to this day, people in faraway lands ask her about that 133-vote victory. What do you bet Minnesota's next senator is going to be nicknamed "Landslide Al"?

=> Read more!

Brace yourself for the onslaught of a new wonkword: "shovel ready."

With the incoming Barack Obama administration preparing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure projects, states – including Washington – are jostling for a place in line. Obama says any potential project must be "shovel ready" – in other words, ready to employ people almost immediately.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, who's counting on quite a bit of largess from the Obama administration, told us today that shovel-worthy means a project must be launchable within 90 to 120 days, with "all permits, everything, done."

This sudden opportunity is catching Washington with its pants down on its two biggest megaprojects: the multi-billion-dollar replacements for the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle and the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge over Lake Washington.

=> Read more!

The state House Republican Caucus just released a list of its "leading Republicans (ranking)" on the House standing committees for the 2009-2010 sessions.

Among the locals on the list are Skip Priest (Education and Education Appropriations), Jim McCune (General Government Appropriations), newcomer Bruce Dammeier (Human Services), newcomer Jan Angel (Local Government & Housing) and Dan Roach (Transportation).

I noticed one notable name missing: Rep. Tom Campbell of Roy. After all, he's the chairman of the Environmental Health Committee. Doesn't that make him its "leading" Republican?

Instead, the list names Rep. Matt Shea, a spanking-new legislator from Spokane Valley as the leading Republican.

Curious about that, I asked Lisa Fenton, the caucus' communications director, why being chairman doesn't qualify Campbell as being the "leading" Republican on the committee.

Here's her reply:

Rep. Campbell was appointed to serve as the chairman of the committee by Speaker Chopp. Rep. Shea has been appointed to serve as the lead for the Republican caucus by our leadership. While it is true that Rep. Campbell is technically a Republican, he serves more as an independent member of the Legislature. He doesn’t caucus with either the Democrats or Republicans.

This photo and note just came in from editor emeritus Dave Seago:

The bus became stuck about 2 p.m. on North 34th Street just west of Stevens on its way to Point Defiance. Neighbors have been coming out to offer the bus driver coffee. He's fine, he says.

It's a nice day to be retired.
Dave

Gov. Chris Gregoire proves state lawmakers can close the $5.7 billion budget gap without raising taxes, painful as it might be.

Some noses are out of joint in Lakewood because the City Council significantly deviated from the funding recommendations of its human services citizen advisory board. But the key word in that sentence is "advisory."

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

In today's editorial, Patrick O'Callahan parodies the famous 1897 editorial, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," substituting GM CEO Richard Wagoner for 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon.

According to the Newseum Web site:

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

Here's the original editorial:

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in Thursday's edition.

The Northwest needs expanded power transmission capacity to bring electrical distribution into the 21st century.

Congressman Jay Inslee didn’t get the nod for interior secretary this week, but that’s OK. The Northwest sure could use him in Congress when it comes time to craft a federal infrastructure package.

The lawmaker from Bainbridge Island is one of the chief champions of expanding the Northwest power transmission system. His advocacy of clean, renewable energy could help the Northwest nab stimulus dollars to fund the modern-day equivalent of the New Deal-era hydroelectric dams.

=> Read more!

Gov. Chris Gregoire is unveiling her state budget tomorrow morning. You can catch her press conference live on tvw.org at 9:30 a.m.

Then come back here at 11:30 a.m. to see our editorial board interview Gregoire about her spending plan.

UPDATE: The governor is sticking to the Capitol today given the weather. We're doing a conference call with her at 11 a.m. instead. Unfortunately, we don't have capability to stream the audio.

Got a question for the governor about the budget? Post it in the comments or send it directly to me at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

Win-win: That’s the kind of solution we need more of. It’s the kind of solution Tacoma Public Utilities and the Skokomish Indian Tribe appear headed for in their dispute over the Cushman dams.
Both sides deserve to win.

It’s easy to sympathize with the Indians’ legal claims against the two dams and TPU. When the dams were completed in 1926 and 1930, they devastated the North Fork of the Skokomish River on the eastern edge of the Olympic National Park. As its name suggests, the river runs through the tribe’s reservation.

Back then, Indian treaties were often honored in the breach, and migrating salmon hardly weighed against the economic benefits of a dam. The Cushman Hydroelectric Project dried up the North Fork and put an end to its salmon runs.

The tribe filed its first lawsuit in 1930, and it’s been fighting for compensation ever since. In 1998, it filed a claim for $5.8 billion in damages. It appeared quite willing to see the two dams shut down for good.

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in Wednesday's print edition.

County’s a better place for Ladenburg’s service
The executive, who is stepping down after eight years, has made significant progress on many of Pierce County’s worst problems.

John Ladenburg has sound advice for his successor as Pierce County executive: “Your reach should always exceed your grasp.”

He seems to have been taking his own advice over the last eight years, and it has served him well – making him as strong and effective an executive as Pierce County has ever had. He hasn’t achieved everything he reached for, but it was not for lack of vision or trying.

=> Read more!

The outgoing Pierce County executive, John Ladenburg, was that rare politician who didn't hesitate to spend his political capital – nearly all of it, the attorney general's race suggests.

Tacoma Power's pending deal with the Skokomish Indian Tribe would end a very long and potentially disastrous dispute over two important dams.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

Dear editor: I am 55 years old.

Some of my Capitol Hill lobbyists say there is no Henry Paulson. My union friend Ronald Gettelfinger says, "If you read it in the newspaper, it's so."

Please tell me the truth; is there a Henry Paulson?

RICHARD WAGONER
General Motors, Detroit"

Dear Rick,

Your Capitol Hill lobbyists are wrong. They have been affected by the parsimonious attitude of a financially distressed era. They have been discouraged by Federal Reserve officials with a cramped notion of the purpose of federal bailout funds.

Your lobbyists do not believe except they see the money. They think that no bailout can happen except they wring $14 billion in taxpayer loans from the killjoy Republicans in the Senate.

In this great political universe of ours, your lobbyists are mere children in their strategies, as compared to the White House guardians of Big Business and the Democratic guardians of Big Labor.

Yes, Rick, there is a Treasury secretary, and he will be descending your chimney on a magical night very soon. Henry Paulson exists as certainly as campaign contributions and voting drives exist, and you know that they abound and give to your company wondrous influence in the nation's capital.

=> Read more!

In today's editorial, we support the City of Tacoma's movement away from paying employees for their longevity rather than performance (in theory at least; we also don't think this is the right year to make the move, which requires a sizable downpayment).

The city's nonunion employees feel they are due a pay increase this year after several years of accepting 1 percent adjustments with the promise that the city would be reviewing the entire pay structure.

But I got to wondering, was 1 percent really 1 percent in a system that grants automatic "step" increases above and beyond cost-of-living adjustments? Turns out, the majority of city nonunion workers don't get step increases. The city's salary steps top out after only just three-and-half years – which in and of itself is an argument for reforming the salary schedule.

UPDATE: Longevity pay, however, has helped boost the pay of more senior workers. A city employee gets an additional 1 percent annual bump after five years, 2 percent after 10 years, 3 percent after 15 years and 4 percent after 20 years.

The bottom line is that for the vast majority of nonunion city workers, 1 percent was never not always 1 percent. Nor was 3 percent really 3 percent in better years. (Edited to reflect that longevity pay was suspended one of the two years that city workers received 1 percent COLAs.)

Here's what the city's public affairs chief, Rob McNair-Huff, told me about steps:

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

And you thought the presidential election was held Nov. 4.

Legally, constitutionally and officially, the real election didn’t happen until Monday, when the Electoral College – that disputed artifact of the 18th century – sealed the deal.

Washington’s electors cast their 11 votes for Barack Obama. Across the country, a total of 365 did likewise, giving Obama a very comfortable cushion over the 270 needed to secure a four-year lease on the White House.

There’s a move afoot in the nation’s larger states to do away with the Electoral College, because it leaves them at a slight disadvantage relative to middling and small-population states. Chances are the move won’t get far. Another quaint notion of the founders was that amendments to the Constitution need the ratification of three-quarters of the states.

That may be about as many states as get some relative advantage out of the Electoral College. Don’t hold your breath, New York.

This editorial will appear in Tuesday's print edition.

The city has failed to make a case it needs to boost public employees’ salaries now to hang onto city workers.

Any other year, the City of Tacoma could make a good case for overhauling its salary schedule and moving toward a system that pays for performance rather than endurance.

But this isn’t any other year.

The region’s economy is cratering, Pierce County is tops in the state for home foreclosures, and the future of Tacoma’s top-tier employer and downtown anchor Russell Investments is uncertain.

Now’s not the time to be doling out $4.6 million to boost city salaries unless the city can prove urgent circumstances.

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

National Weather Service forecast for Western Washington: Bitter cold, followed by snow storms and frozen eyelashes, with numbing polar temperatures continuing until who knows when.

Highs between freezing and frigidity. Lows between unbearable and unbelievable. Wind chill factor between arctic and absolute zero.

Strong likelihood of violent shivers and chattering teeth in Puget Sound lowlands. Chapped lip advisory in effect.

=> Read more!

Does this initiative by a coalition devoted to "basic civil and human rights" have any connection with Barack Obama's election?

I mean, have civil rights issues become so scarce since Nov. 4 that "at risk" now refers to television reception?

December 15, 2008

Two Months before Digital TV Transition, Groups Will Open Assistance Centers LCCREF and Local Partners Announce DTV Community Info Centers in Seven Cities to Help Navigate the Transition ...

Families on fixed incomes, seniors, people with disabilities, people of color, and those who speak languages other than English are most likely to be affected by the transition, and LCCREF is working closely with local organizations to make sure that these vulnerable communities are aware of the DTV Transition and ready for it.

=> Read more!

Readers who remember Chris Britt, a former News Tribune cartoonist, may be interested in an Advent calendar he collaborated on to mark Barack Obama's election.

Instead of little chocolates behind the calendar's windows there are Britt caricatures of key players in the 2008 presidential campaign, including Oprah Winfrey as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Rev. Jeremiah Wright as the Grinch.

Chris, who now works for the State Journal Register in Springfield, Ill., says the calendar is sure to be a collector's item. To read a Chicago Sun-Times article about it, click here.

To order a calendar, which costs $18, click here.

This just in from editor emeritus, Dave Seago:

Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson, who was handily re-elected last year to a second term on the City Council, says she intends to run for the Pierce County Auditor's seat this fall even if she does not win the appointment.

County Democratic leaders will meet Saturday to select a list of three candidates to submit to the County Council, which is expected to make the appointment Jan. 13.

That's the conventional procedure, anyway. But in November voters approved a charter amendment making the offices of auditor, assessor and sheriff non-partisan. And the Republicans who hold the County Council majority have not ruled out appointing a Republican to the auditor post – perhaps County Councilman Shawn Bunney.

That would set off a court battle, Democratic leaders warned last week. Bunney hasn't announced whether he'll seek the appointment.

One of Anderson's main rivals for the appointment would be Katie Blinn, a former Pierce County deputy prosecutor who has been the deputy secretary of state the past four years. Given the secretary of state's responsibility fo overseeing elections in Washington, Blinn would appear to be well-qualified for the auditor's role, which includes running local elections. But Anderson may have an advantage in name recognition, at least among Tacoma voters..

Anderson, a former director of the Tacoma-Pierce County YWCA, currently works as a policy analyst for the state Department of Trade, Economic and Community Development.

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition:

Charity isn’t only about money. Many people who’ve lost income as a result of the recession don’t have the luxury of giving cash.

Whatever form their donations may take, South Sound residents have a new resource for targeting their assistance. “Help Your Neighbor,” on The News Tribune’s Web site, thenewstribune.com, is designed to connect our readers with causes they believe in.

Click on “Help Your Neighbor,” and you will discover abundant opportunities for giving. Examples:

• The Children’s Home Society of Washington, which supports foster families, is appealing for theater tickets and restaurant certificates to help honor foster parents.

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in Sunday's printed edition.

A president’s cabinet picks say a lot about his priorities. Barack Obama’s latest choices say he is determined to combat global warming and to put smart people in charge of the fight.

The president-elect has tapped a “green dream team” that includes a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and a chemical engineer whose career has been distinguished by efforts to curb greenhouse gases.

Together, Steven Chu, Obama’s choice for secretary of energy, and Lisa P. Jackson, his nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, are a one-two punch.

=> Read more!

Olympia probably has the highest percentage of moonbats in the state.

That's OK. Nearly every institution of higher education has a halo of freaks and wannabe revolutionaries; The Evergreen State College is no exception. Its location in a small city makes for a high - and highly visible - freakishness quotient.

The problem arises when some moonbats start getting physical. Check out the rise of ideology-driven vandalism in Olympia.

There's something about political thuggery in the state capital that makes me nervous. And we're not talking caucus whips here.

Here's a sideways view from inside The Tribune Co., which has filed for bankruptcy. (Joel Stein is a Los Angeles Times columnist).

Get What You Pay For
By Joel Stein

This column may not meet the high levels of quality to which I have made you accustomed. That’s because I haven’t been getting paid.

News accounts of Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy filing detailed the $1 billion owed to JPMorgan Chase and $737.5 million to Deutsche Bank, but the vast sums owed to Steinacopia Inc. were left out. These sums are so vast that my editors don’t want me to mention just how much, for fear of making the other columnists jealous. I deeply suspect those other columnists are me.

But the vast amount — let’s just say there are four figures — was payment for my last two columns, for which the Los Angeles Times had not yet sent me a check before entering Chapter 11. Apparently, those weren’t columns; those were blogs.

But Steinacopia, as anyone who reads Companies With One Employee Created Solely for Tax Purposes Quarterly knows, can play rough right back. I called my accountant, Marty Fox, at Bernstein, Fox, Whitman, Goldman & Blaumbatt LLP, to ask how I can get in line ahead of JPMorgan Chase.

=> Read more!

The spin war over ranked choice voting takes another turn: One of RCV's chief supporters is challenging a survey that turned up unhappiness with the system among Pierce County voters.

See David Wickert's post in the Political Buzz blog for the details. The short take is that UPS Prof. Richard Anderson-Connolly argues that the survey – done by Auditor Pat McCarthy – produced "poor quality" data because most voters didn't respond to her questionnaire.

They may have not cared enough, they may have been put off by McCarthy's involvement, they may not have had enough time, whatever. But the response rate was 27 percent, of whom approximately 63 percent opposed RCV.

Anderson-Connelly is right in arguing that it wasn't a scientific survey. He's wrong in saying that the survey doesn't "legitimately deserve analysis and reporting" (an odd claim to pop up in the middle of his own analysis).

Scientific or not, the survey reflected the views of 90,738 voters, a figure – to put it in perspective – about two-thirds the size of the U.S. force in Iraq. That may be an irrelevant comparison, but it suggests that Anderson-Connolly doth protest too much about the small size of the sample.

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

There’s one thing to like – and lots to dislike – about the leading plan to bail out two U.S. automakers.

The positive: The money’s coming from a fund already set aside for the automakers. Its original purpose was to help them retool to build more energy efficient vehicles. The shift makes sense – these companies won’t be doing much retooling if they’ve gone out of business.

Here’s what’s not to like about the bailout:

No one is pretending that the run on public money is going to stop at $14 billion. Some industry analysts believe it would ultimately take $125 billion to keep GM and Chrysler in business.

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

To understand how the cleanup of Hanford depends on a nuclear waste repository in Nevada, work backward.

Without the repository, there will be no permanent disposal of any of the nation's intensely radioactive reactor wastes.

Opponents of the Yucca Mountain project talk vaguely of other possibilities, but there are no other possibilities in the real world. Yucca Mountain is more dry and isolated than any realistic alternative, and it's been studied to death for more than 20 years.

Without permanent burial of reactor wastes, Hanford will be saddled with the radioactivity of 53 million gallons of waste now held in 177 steel tanks on the Eastern Washington reservation.

But that's just the beginning. The likely alternative to a repository – an alternative now favored by President-elect Barack Obama – is "interim" storage of all commercial nuclear power plant waste at secure federal sites.

=> Read more!

Over at the Political Buzz, Joe Turner has blogged about the seemingly secret list of 60 projects that state officials want to fund with federal stimulus money. (To be fair, a state spokesman told Joe that the list is not secret, it's just that there is no one list and won't be until the state knows more about the feds' criteria.)

Anyone who fears that the infrastructure stimulus will be laden with pork has good reason to worry, according to the founder of Reason Foundation. Robert Poole, writing in the Wall Street Journal, offered some specifics:

What vital infrastructure projects would cash-strapped taxpayers get for their $73 billion? Here's a sampling:

-Hercules, Calif., wants $2.5 million in hard-earned taxpayer money for a 'Waterfront Duck Pond Park,' and another $200,000 for a dog park.

-Euless, Texas, wants $15 million for the Midway Park Family Life Center, which, you'll be glad to note, includes both a senior center and aquatic facility.

-Natchez, Miss., 'needs' a new $9.5 million sports complex 'which would allow our city to host major regional and national sports tournaments.'

-Henderson, Nev., is asking for $20 million to help 'develop a 60 acre multi-use sports field complex.'

-Brigham City, Utah, wants $15 million for a sports park.

-Arlington, Texas, needs $4 million to expand its tennis center.

-Miami, Fla., needs $15 million for a 'Moore Park Community Center, Tennis Center and Day Care' facility. The city is also desperate for $3.6 million to build a covered basketball court and a new tennis court at Robert King High Park. Then there's the $94 million Orange Bowl parking garage you are being asked to pay for.

-La Porte, Texas, wants $7.6 million for a 'Life Style Center.' And Oakland, Calif., needs $1 million for Fruitvale Latino Cultural and Performing Arts Center.

And you thought infrastructure investment meant roads, bridges and schools. It is clear that any infrastructure stimulus money given to the country's mayors will lead to thousands of tennis centers to nowhere.

1. There’s not much to like and a lot to dislike about the $14 billion bailout of U.S. automakers.

2. Washington’s prospects of getting Hanford cleaned up now rest on two thin reeds: Educating the Obama administration about the critical need for opening a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, and somehow outmaneuvering Harry Reid.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition:

Taking the partisanship out of the Pierce County auditor’s office isn’t proving easy.

The office has traditionally been held – officially, under the county charter – by a Republican or Democrat. Its current tenant, Pat McCarthy, has held the position since 2003 as a Democrat.

But last year, the county’s voters chose to make the job nonpartisan. The switch made sense. The auditor is the county’s chief elections official, and the counting of ballots, of all things, should be free of partisan taint.

Now that McCarthy has been elected in mid-term to the county executive’s job, a dilemma has arisen. The County Council must appoint a new auditor, and it has two conflicting options:

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I happen to like instant runoff voting (hold your tomatoes). But I had to laugh when I came across this column, in which a New America Foundation deputy director argues that IRV is the answer to getting elections decided sooner.

Don't try to tell Pierce County voters that.

By Blair Bobier
Special to the Los Angeles Times

Now that our country has elected a 21st century president, we should reconsider our 18th century electoral system.

Two examples from the seemingly never-ending 2008 election showcase the system’s flaws. More than a month after Election Day, we still don’t know who won Minnesota’s Senate race. In Georgia’s U.S. Senate contest, it took two elections and tens of millions of dollars to produce a winner. Both races could have been resolved quickly and with less expense using instant runoff voting. Because the Constitution leaves it up to the states to decide how to elect their senators and presidential electors, instant runoff voting could be used at all levels of government.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition:

With a $5 billion projected deficit looming, very hard choices face the Legislature – and the public. One involves crime and punishment.

On average, it takes about $100 a day – roughly $36,000 a year – to confine a felon in Washington’s prison system. With 18,600 prisoners in the system, the early release of some of those prisoners offers potentially immense savings for the state general fund.

This hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2003, in the middle of another budget squeeze, the Legislature gave the Department of Corrections more latitude to grant “good time,” or earned early release, to some classes of nonviolent felons.

The department previously had been able to offer selected inmates a one-third reduction of their terms, on condition of their good behavior. As of 2003, the offer rose to one-half. But that year’s legislation sunsets in mid-2010, so lawmakers will soon have to decide whether to continue the policy.

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This editorial will appear in Wednesday's print edition.

Three years after a pair of Sumner kids vandalized a historical cemetery, the community is still waiting for them to make amends.

Time’s up for two Sumner teenagers who apparently can’t be bothered to pay the consequences of their two-night vandalism spree at the city cemetery.

It’s been more than three years since the pair ransacked the Sumner cemetery. The sheer magnitude of the crime and its target – the final resting place of many East Pierce County pioneers – stunned the community.

Caught pointing and laughing at the damage, the teens later seemed to take a turn toward contrite and apologized to the court and the Sumner City Council.

Now it appears that was all an act. Sentenced to juvenile detention, fines and community service, the teens have yet to make true amends for knocking over or damaging some 300 headstones and grave markers.

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What's the deal with that fat new three-year contract Tacoma's rank-and-file police union just landed?

Next year, it gives Local 6 members a 6.2 percent wage increase; in 2010 and 2011, they get 100 percent of the Consumer Price Index. The arbitrator who mandated the terms decided that Tacoma's police should be paid at the top of the market, which includes Bellevue, Everett, Kent, Spokane and Vancourver.

City Manager Eric Anderson was putting a happy face on the deal today before submitting it to the City Council tonight. (Its approval is a foregone conclusion.)

"We went in at 1 percent," he said of the city's bargaining position on wages. "This is a long way from 1 percent."

But he likes the fact that there's a contract in place before the previous contract runs out – the last time that happened was 20 years ago.

He also likes the switch from 10-hour to 12-hour shifts.

"That has very significant impact on our ability to put people on the streets," he said. "It's a very very big thing. It gives us better coverage, less overtime and the abiity to focus our assignment of personnel."

"It costs more than I'd like, but it's a good contract."

In an era of 1 percent wage increases, 0 percent wage increases, and outright layoffs, Local 6 did very well for itself. I'm tempted to compare it to Detroit's hard-knuckled autoworkers union – but unlike the car industry, there's no shortage of work for Tacoma's police.

1. The Legislature’s think tank, the Institute for Public Policy, has turned up the paradox of lower recidivism when some criminals are release early – good news when the state can’t afford full prison terms.

2. Time's up for two Sumner teenagers who apparently can't be bothered to pay the consequences of their two-night vandalism spree three years ago at the city cemetery.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

Come to find out, the state Legislature and governor do not have to balance the state budget. Who knew?

We may come to rue this disillusionment. Take no comfort from the Gregoire administration's assurances that it's not looking at short-term borrowing. That's what it has to say at this point in the game, given that the state Budget and Accounting Act requires the governor to propose a balanced budget.

With some liberals already criticizing Dems in Olympia for refusing to consider debt, and Dems in D.C. talking up the merits of deficit spending in a recession, the temptation will prove great. Maybe too great.

This editorial will appear in Tuesday's printed edition.

The rumors have been dispelled time and time again – but still the delusional e-mails make their rounds.

It is the Internet rumor that will not die.

It goes something like this: Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he (pick one or more) was not really born in Hawaii, he relinquished his U.S. citizenship as a child in Indonesia, his mother was too young or – for those who allow that he might have been born in Hawaii – he was born before Hawaii became a state.

Wrong, wrong, wrong and so wrong.

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Jim Merritt, an architect who's had a hand in the redevelopment of downtown Tacoma, is looking seriously at a run to succeed Mayor Bill Baarsma next year. He's in serious "exploratory" mode, as he confirms below:

Pat:

What you heard is true. For the last few months I have had serious discussions about running for mayor with a number of community people. I guess you would say that I am still in the exploratory phase.

The key issues for me at this point is what I do with my architectural practice and a couple of other commitments. These issues are manageable, but it just takes time to work out the details. I have to think through what I would do, whether I win or lose the election. These items affect my employees and their families so it is not an easy issue. I was hoping to have all the elements figured out by the end of the year, but it may take a bit longer.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

Maybe we missed them, but we haven't seen any placards in Christmas-season displays that go something like:

"Atheism releases human beings from all traditional moral constraints. Such atheists as Mao Zedong, Josef Stalin and Pol Pot murdered countless millions of people in the 20th century.

"As the founders of this nation said, religion is a necessity for good government and the happiness of mankind. The founders of science included such devout believers as Galileo and Newton, who searched for and found a divine order in the universe."

Merry Christmas."

Incendiary? Sweepingly judgmental? Contemptuous? Guilty on all counts. But that's the precise equivalent of the anti-religious placard Freedom from Religion, an atheist group, has placed in the state Capitol building. It reads, in part, "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

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Aren't you tired of them? I know I am.

Hardly a day goes by that I don't get an e-mail or letter from someone trying to convince me that Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was actually born in Kenya, or that his birth certificate is a forgery, or that he is not a natural-born citizen because his mother was only 18 when she gave birth.

I thought the delusions would taper off after the election, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

The best rebuttals to the rumors can be found at Snopes.com. Just keyword Obama on the site and you'll find an array of rumors about the president-elect. I've heard most of them, but one – that he said he'd visited "57 states" – was a new one on me.

And it turns out to be true! Click here.

This editorial will appear in Monday's printed edition.


Reforming the state’s mental health system begins with breaking down barriers that stymie critical communication.

Tragedy often prompts reform. Twin tragedies make it imperative.

The shooting deaths of six people in Skagit County this year and the fatal stabbing of a young Seattle woman last New Year’s Eve don’t leave state lawmakers any option. They must respond with changes in the way the state deals with the mentally ill.

That’s easier said than done in a year when a $6 billion shortfall will command sacrifices across the board. But spending more money isn’t a prerequisite for improving mental health care and public safety.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition. It is the 12th and final of a monthly series on The News Tribune’s core institutional values, commemorating the newspaper’s 125th anniversary this year.

By the mid-1980s, Tacoma’s Union Station was a sad old relic. A domed-and-vaulted masterpiece of neoclassical design when it opened in 1911, the train depot was decrepit, filthy and probably headed for a date with the wrecking ball.

Then, in 1985, a letter to the editor changed everything. The author, Seymour Johnson, urged U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks to throw his weight behind a plan to renovate the old station into a federal courthouse.

Dicks took note. Eight years later, a gloriously rehabilitated Union Station – its copper dome shining like a newly minted penny – reopened for a second tour of duty as a great architectural landmark. Its resurrection spurred the rebirth of the surrounding district, now a regional showcase that features the Museum of Glass, the Washington State History Museum and Tacoma Art Museum.

And just across the street, the University of Washington Tacoma.

The publication of that letter demonstrates a newspaper’s unmatched power to focus attention on big problems, mobilize action and bring about change. In this case, the champion of change was a letter writer – a “citizen journalist.” The newspaper’s opinion section was the vehicle of his message.

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In response to the August shooting death of a hiker by a 14-year-old hunter, state legislators are talking about reinstating a law that requires young hunters to be accompanied by an adult.

The state had that requirement until 1994. Lawmakers did away with the rule then, but no one seems to remember why.

“That’s one of the damned good questions to which nobody’s got an answer,” Ed Owens, a lobbyist for the 56,000-member Hunters Heritage Council, told the Spokesman-Review. “We would absolutely support restoration of the limitations that were in effect in 1994.”

Come on. Someone has to know why the rule was struck from the books. Or why lawmakers didn't respond when the state Fish and Wildlife Department asked that it be reinstated on six different occasions.

Those memory lapses are awfully convenient. If the rule had been in effect, a hiker might still be alive.

Could it be that no one wanted to take a chance on riling the politically powerful gun lobby? I can't come up with any other reason that lawmakers would think it's a good idea for there to be no age restriction on kids hunting alone.

We editorialized on the subject back when the shooting occurred. Here's what we said:

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I forgot to mention that UW President Mark Emmert was in yesterday. No, not to talk about football.

He spent much of the time arguing for sliding scale tuition rates – i.e., families that make more money pay more money to put their children through the UW.

But ... we did get around to football, by way of him not liking our editorial suggesting that Qwest Field could sub for Husky Stadium. The context was the UW's effort to use King County tourism taxes to overhaul the 88-year-old structure.

The UW stadium, Emmert pointed out, is as historic a historic landmark as there is in this state. "It would be easier to take down the Space Needle than Husky Stadium," he said.

And if you're not going to take it down, why not fix it up and use it?

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

The Department of Corrections must tell Snohomish County that it’s getting a work release center.

Pierce County has no sympathy for the uncomfortable situation in which Department of Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail finds himself.

When he took office a year ago, Vail inherited an intolerable injustice: a state prison system that has made Pierce County a dumping ground for ex-cons for far too long.

Vail may not have created the problem, but it’s his for the fixing. And Pierce County is done being patient.

The simple truth is that until a work-release center is sited in Washington’s third most populous county (Snohomish), the state’s second most populous county (Pierce) will continue to bear a disproportionate burden.

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In researching today's editorial about efforts to fund a major renovation of Husky Stadium, I came across a September 2007 column by News Tribune sportswriter John McGrath.

In it, he makes the case for the University of Washington football team to play at Qwest Field (pictured) instead of renovating Husky Stadium. Although a few references are out of date, his main points are still valid (and I cribbed some of them for my editorial). Here's his column:

Save cash, Huskies - try Qwest

By John McGrath
Remember those drawings of a remodeled Husky Stadium that University of Washington athletic director Todd Turner presented to reporters last November?

Dumb question. You don't remember. Seattle's basketball-arena conundrum makes any football-stadium renovation ideas discussed last November seem as dated as an eight-track tape.

Anyway, Turner shared some artist's renderings of what the 87-year old stadium would look like after an overhaul - of course, it would look beautiful - but he couldn't begin to a offer a completion date because he hadn't yet organized a fund-raising drive.

Come to think of it, Turner couldn't even estimate how much the school would need.

"From zero," he said, "to hundreds of millions of dollars."

I'm no expert, but I suspect the cost of the project would lean more toward the hundreds-of-millions range than zero.

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The following editorial will appear in Thursday's print edition.

Cougs’ lame arguments against stadium funding
There are valid reasons to question UW’s request, but not the ones that some WSU alumni are offering.

Washington State University claimed victory in a painful Apple Cup this year, giving it bragging rights to having only the second-worst college football team in the state.

But that wasn’t enough. Now some Cougars want to add insult to injury by trying to quash University of Washington efforts to get public funding for renovating decrepit, unsafe, 88-year-old Husky Stadium.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's printed edition.

A citizen committee’s persistence pays off in making a strong case for not raising Narrows Bridge tolls.

Citizen advisory groups, for all their public-accountability potential, often can’t be described as true watchdogs.

The volunteers who advise the state on Tacoma Narrows Bridge tolls, however, are getting close. Their persistence in asking the state Department of Transportation to scrub its numbers is serving toll payers’ interests well.

These are the same folks who this time last year were calling out the state Department of Transportation for negotiating a bad contract that allowed the company that handles toll collection to make money hand over fist.

Lately, transportation officials had been prodding the committee to sign off on raising tolls, which by law has to cover debt payments for the bridge construction and ongoing maintenance and operations costs.

High gas prices – and an accompanying drop in bridge traffic – apparently had the department spooked. State officials wanted an extra cushion to ensure they’d be able to meet their expenses.

But committee members balked, as they should have. The last toll hike just took effect in July and was supposed to be good for two years.

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"Washington state is ground zero for just about every nutty secular cause on earth," says Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly.

O'Reilly's latest cause is whipping up opposition to the atheist sign display in the Washington state Capitol. A Nativity scene and "holiday tree" are also on display.

He calls Gov. Chris Greogire a "weak, confused" leader for allowing the atheist sign display. He gives out her telephone number and says listeners should call and offer their opinion on her refusal to get rid of the display.

To see a film clip of O'Reilly talking about the display, click here. Click on "The culture war erupts over Christmas" under "Talking Points."

Here's our Oct. 31 editorial about the display.

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The Narrows Bridge citizens advisory committee’s persistence in requesting answers from the Department of Transportation has paid off in a strong case for keeping tolls at their current amount. The Transportation Commission and Legislature should heed the committee’s recommendation.

Cougars’ lamest reason for opposing UW's request for state money to renovate Husky Stadium is that it would give the Huskies an unfair leg up on recruiting over WSU. A better argument would be: Why spend $300 million upgrading a stadium when a $450 million taxpayer-subsidized football facility – Qwest Field – sits vacant most of the year just a few miles away from campus?

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

In writing today's editorial about handicapped-parking enforcement, I wanted to find out how widespread it was for communities to use volunteers – which Tacoma has decided NOT to do in order to appease the labor union that represents the city's parking patrol officers. A Google search reveals that volunteers are being used all over America, from Honolulu to Omaha, Neb. and St. Petersburg, Fla.

I came across this great photo out of Washington County, Ore., which uses volunteers. The Web site describes its program:

The most recent addition to the Traffic Safety Unit is the Disabled Parking Enforcement Volunteer Program. The program is unique in that it authorizes volunteers to take direct enforcement action by writing citations to motorists who ignore the law. Volunteers receive 8 hours of classroom training, and a minimum of 40 hours of field training to prepare for this assignment. The most common violation cited is for parking in a disabled parking space without a disabled person parking permit or for unauthorized use of a disabled person's parking permit. This group responds to citizen complaints and actively patrols business parking lots throughout the County.

This editorial will appear in Wednesday's edition.

Many communities use citizen volunteers to handle handicapped-parking violations. Tacoma should, too.

What could the City of Tacoma do with $340,000?

With the nation officially in recession, people out of work and homes being foreclosed, $340,000 could help alleviate some of the basic needs in the community. Or maybe fill some of the potholes that aren't scheduled for filling until the next century or so.

Instead, because the city gave in to a labor union's objection, that money will go toward hiring three extra parking enforcement officers to target drivers who wrongly take up handicapped-parking spaces.

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This editorial will appear in Wednesday's printed edition

Federal efforts to prop up the economy have to date have done little to head off what might be the worst recession in generations.

That foreboding sense of financial doom and gloom? It's not just in your head or your 401(k) statement.

The experts at the National Bureau of Economic Research have pronounced the United States officially in a recession. Turns out, this one hit in December – as in last December when some economists were still pooh-poohing such a notion.

The nation probably won't be so lucky as to have a repeat of 2001, when the recession almost came and went before the bureau declared there was one. A retroactive announcement certainly would have been preferable, akin to your doctor diagnosing cancer after it's cured.

The bureau's announcement, while no surprise, does serve to reinforce what many Americans know in their gut: For anyone who missed the Great Depression, this might be the worst recession of their lifetimes.

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Now they tell us. The official declaration that the U.S. is in a recession is certainly no surprise, but it does help underscore that this just might be the worst economy many of us have seen in our lifetimes. The federal government won’t be able to penny-pinch its way out of this downturn.

The City of Tacoma is spending $340,000 on hiring and equipping parking enforcement officers rather than standing up to the union and taking advantage of willing volunteers. That’s a pity.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

A reasonable case can be made for extending term limits for the Pierce County Council and executive. It would be a better case if the current council members weren’t grandfathering themselves in on the deal.

There are always pros and cons to term limits. Tacoma voters last month defeated an attempt to repeal the 10-year limit on the tenure of its city councilmembers. That may in part have been backlash for the way the City Council rushed the proposal to the ballot with minimal public discussion. The haste looked shamelessly self-serving.

Pierce County Councilman Dick Muri, the prime mover behind the new county proposal, also championed the 2007 charter amendment that extended limits for the auditor and assessor-treasurer from two to three terms.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

The incoming Obama administration could use a reminder that the nation’s energy obligations include cleaning up Cold War sites.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and Attorney General Rob McKenna are done being patient about cleanup progress at the Hanford nuclear reservation, and it’s hard to blame them.

The state has been exceedingly reasonable in pressing the federal government to live up to the Hanford cleanup pact signed nearly 20 years ago. Gregoire and McKenna simply asked that, in exchange for giving the federal government more time to meet its own deadlines, the new timeline be enforceable in court.

The Justice Department said no. So after 18 months of trying to talk sense to federal negotiators, Washington is going to court.

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