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 print edition.
Attack ads aimed at winning public sympathy and cornering state lawmakers have deservedly backfired.
What were the lawyers at a Seattle law firm thinking when they took out hit pieces on three state senators last week?
The full-page newspaper ads told the story of a Vietnam vet and former Bremerton shipyards worker who died at age 57 after a “horribly painful illness” caused by asbestos exposure. They also accused three senators, Puyallup Democrat Jim Kastama among them, of denying asbestos victims justice.
If Bergman Draper & Frockt, the firm that bought the ads, had hoped to win the Legislature over, it failed miserably. Washingtonians don’t have much of a stomach for hardball politics, especially outside of the campaign season.
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition:
No county justice system should be saddled with a sitting judge – like Michael Hecht – under the cloud of serious criminal charges.
This state clearly needs a faster way of dealing with judges who have been charged with felonies – but still refuse to stop hearing cases.
It happens rarely, but not rarely enough. Judge Michael Hecht of Pierce County’s superior court has been charged by the state Attorney General’s Office with felony harassment – threatening to kill a prostitute, to be precise. He’s also been charged with the misdemeanor of hiring the services of another young prostitute. He’s still on the job.
If found guilty of either charge, Hecht should be removed from the bench. But a jury’s decision is likely a long way off, if the case does come to trial.
In the meantime, the criminal charges hanging over Hecht have crippled his effectiveness as a credible arbiter of justice.
Other states have mechanisms for suspending judges charged with felonies. A common rule provides for “interim suspension,” in which judges must step aside when the state’s judicial conduct commission begins an investigation of possible ethical violations. Another common rule automatically disqualifies them from hearing cases when they are indicted with felonies.
The Washington Post has picked up on the broad significance of Barack Obama's plan to kill plans to dispose of nuclear reactor wastes at Yucca Mountain, Nev. Our comment. Theirs:
Yucca Mountain; Now What?
The following editorial appeared in Sunday’s Washington Post:
By stripping the funding for the nuclear repository at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, President Obama has succeeded in killing the contentious project that remains unfinished 22 years after Congress selected the site.He compounds the error by not offering an alternative. If the president’s vision for a clean energy future is to be believed or is to come to fruition, nuclear energy must be a part of the mix, and the safe disposal of its radioactive waste must be given more serious consideration.
There should be a way to temporarily suspend Washington judges accused of criminal misconduct rather than keep them on the bench in a credibility-impaired state.
Washingtonians got a rare glimpse into how things really work in Olympia last week – and it wasn't pretty. Lawmakers didn't take kindly to lawyers' attempts to strongarm them over asbestos legislation.
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 Ms. Oprah Winfrey,
This past weekend, news got out that Michelle Obama was going to be the first person other than you to grace the cover of "O" Magazine. Fitting, I thought to myself, not too many people share a plane with Oprah, but Michelle Obama surely does.
Now flash forward to this morning when I saw a picture of the magazine cover. As promised there was the radiant Michelle Obama standing tall in the sun, as if to signal to all of us that a long and cold winter was finally over, but next to her (cue screeching sound effect) was you. Talk about an "O moment."
Oprah, I mean no disrespect, but I am going to tell you what I once overheard a bride say to her newly minted mother-in law as they stood by the honeymoon getaway car: “Get out of the picture!”
