This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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This editorial will appear in 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.
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.
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.
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.
