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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For Sunday: We're taking a closer look at President Obama's mortgage relief plan, who it will help and how effective it promises to be.
For Monday: The Tacoma City Council faces a tough vote Tuesday as it decides a proposed 14.5 pay raise for the city manager. This is an opportunity to show some leadership. UPDATE: This topic has taken a turn. Eric Anderson has asked council not to boost his pay.
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.
Yesterday, the state Supreme Court unanimously declined Sen. Lisa Brown's invitation to toss out voter-approved limits on the Legislature's ability to raise taxes. It's not for lackawanna. I think the majority of the Court would like to scrap the supermajority requirement. Brown v. Owen was simply the wrong vehicle.
Some background.
Back in 1993, reacting against lawmakers' decision to respond to a - by current standards - mild recession with tax hikes, voters adopted Initiative 601. I-601, among other things, required a two-thirds supermajority vote in both legislative chambers for tax hikes. Under certain conditions, legislators would have to submit their tax proposals for voter approval. In 2007, voters approved Initiative 960, which reaffirmed and expanded the supermajority requirement.
Unlike California and Oregon, Washington does not allow the voters to amend the constitution by initiative. Brown argued that changing the rules for passing laws in the legislature requires a constitutional amendment. Last year, she asked Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, in his role as presiding office of the Senate, to declare that a proposed tax increase could be passed by simple majority. Saying it wasn't his job to decide constitutional issues, he upheld the supermajority requirement. And Brown took the issue to Court. (Good links to the briefs here.)
Get out your microscopic birthday candles 'cause Barbie, a lady who enjoys 100 percent name recognition around the world, turns 50 this month!
Don’t look for this modern mid-lifer to start donning more neck scarves and take up Tai Chi. Oh no, Barbie’s not going to go gently into that goodnight, she’s getting even more hip. In honor of her birthday, Barbie is getting a tattoo, or a “tat” as my teenage girls inform me is the current parlance.
Moms are understandably upset. What kind of example is this setting for the average 7-year-old girl who likes to play with her? What’s to stop this little girl from jumping on the back of her boyfriends motorcycle and getting her own tattoo, other than the fact that seven year old girls don’t have boyfriends with motorcycles, and by the time they do Barbie will be long gone from their thoughts?
Maybe these moms are right though.
The Tacoma City Council will be considering whether to ban smoking in multifamily housing units. Read about it here.
I’d argue in favor of the ban.
This isn’t a particularly easy call. I know smoking is horribly addictive, and I believe people should be able to do what they want in the privacy of their own homes, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else.
But that’s the problem. Smoking in one’s own home can hurt others if that home is in a multifamily building.
How many times do we read about fatal fires started by someone leaving a cigarette unattended? Usually the person falls asleep and the cigarette ignites bedding or upholstery.
In some cases, the fire spreads to other apartment units, particularly in low-income, poorly constructed buildings without fire walls. In fact, smoking is the leading cause of fire-related deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Then there’s the secondhand smoke problem.
