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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.