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 Tuesday's edition.
All three candidates for county auditor have something to recommend them, but the most nonpartisan pick is Katie Blinn.
The Pierce County Council, as it prepares to pick a new county auditor today, doesn’t want for strong contenders.
Last week, an advisory committee appointed by the council picked from among 13 applicants for the job, which is vacant now that former Auditor Pat McCarthy has moved on to the county executive’s office.
The committee selected three finalists: Katie Blinn, assistant director of elections for the state; Richard “Dick” McEntee, an investment company executive; and former state Rep. Jan Shabro.
All three have records of public service and would likely make good county auditors.
McEntee, a former vice president of Nalley’s Fine Foods and Fircrest City Council member, has solid management experience. Shabro, who was on the County Council before being elected to the Legislature, knows her way around local and state government.
But Blinn has a couple of important qualities that the others don’t have: nonpartisan stripes and significant elections expertise.
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
No judge can be effective while under a shadow of criminality. The allegations against Superior Court Judge Michael Hecht must be resolved decisively, one way or the other.
Two prostitutes claim that Hecht has solicited sex from them, and one claims the judge threatened to kill him. Several business owners in Tacoma’s Antique Row say Hecht has frequented the area, which is notorious for male prostitution. One merchant says he has seen Hecht pick up young men there.
Those are the accusations. They must be weighed against the credibility of the two primary witnesses, both of whom have criminal records. They must also be weighed against the motives of the private investigator who first brought them to light: Morgan Armijo, the son of former Judge Sergio Armijo, whom Hecht unseated last August.
Clearly there’s the possibility of bad blood here.
There are three separate cases to be made regarding allegations that Judge-elect Michael Hecht picked up prostitutes and threatened to kill one of them. Criminal prosecution, if it proceeds, would have to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The Judicial Conduct Commission, if it has jurisdiction, would have to determine whether he violated the ethics of the bench. And Hecht – unless decisively cleared by the legal system – will have to make the case to the public that the accusations aren’t credible enough to prevent him from serving as a judge.
Without dissing Jan Shabro and Richard McEntee, we are impressed by Katie Blinn’s qualifications to be a technically expert and nonpartisan Pierce County auditor.
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.
Last month, Milwaukee’s board of education unanimously approved the country’s first “gay affirming” middle school. The Alliance School will serve sixth, seventh and eighth graders who identify themselves as other than heterosexual. To be fair, it will include heterosexual students as well. Classes are scheduled to begin in the fall of 2010.
Why a gay middle school?
A GLSEN study found that 86.2 percent of kids who identified themselves other than heterosexual were harassed verbally in the past year and 22 percent of them were victims of physical abuse as well.
Borrowing parlance apropos, let me just say that middle school sucks for just about everyone, gay or not gay.
