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 Thursday's print edition.
A citizen’s access to public records shouldn’t depend on whether a state lawmaker is feeling benevolent.
Tom Carr, Seattle’s city attorney, is generally not known as an outspoken advocate for greater access to public records. But if his city council has to abide by the rules, then he thinks the Legislature ought to as well.
He’s absolutely right.
Carr, who is also the chairman of the state Sunshine Committee, wants the committee to recommend that state lawmakers eliminate the so-called “legislative privilege” that they’ve used to get around public disclosure laws.
This editorial will appear in Thursday's print edition.
Too many young people are digging themselves into debt, declaring bankruptcy and ruining their credit rating.
Paying off student loans isn’t the only debt young people have to worry about when they graduate from college. More than half of them also owe at least $5,000 on high-interest credit cards – putting them in a budget hole that will take years to dig themselves out.
Many never do get out of debt and end up throwing in the towel, declaring bankruptcy and damaging their credit rating for years – making it hard to get car loans and mortgages.
But let’s look at the recession as the ultimate teachable moment. There couldn’t be a better time to convince people of the need for financial literacy.
The Sunshine Committee has postponed a vote on making the Legislature subject to the same public disclosure rules as the rest of state government. Why? Because the lawmakers who serve on the committee weren’t at Tuesday’s meeting. How convenient. Now the Sunshine Committee could be dead before it gets a chance to meet again.
Let's look at the recession as the ultimate teachable moment. There couldn't be a better time to convince people of the need for financial literacy. That's why the unlikely pair of U.S. Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Thad Cochran, R-Miss., are introducing legislation this week to give $1.2 billion in grants over five years to financial literacy education efforts.
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to kim.bradford@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.
It's not every day that a three-star general comes to visit with the editorial board. Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., who commands both Fort Lewis and I Corps, dropped by Tuesday with the fort's garrison commander, Col. Cindy Murphy. She handles the post's day-to-day operations and is playing a major role in the upcoming merger of Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base into Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Jacoby said he wanted to touch bases with the ed board before he leaves Sunday for I Corps' one-year deployment to Iraq, where it will be managing U.S. combat operations. The fort has been in the news recently – and not in a good way – and he wanted the chance to talk about it.
He said the South Sound community should know that fort officials take very seriously the drug overdose death last month of 16-year-old Leah King in a barracks.
"It hit us all very hard," said Jacoby. "Tens of thousands of soldiers serve honorably, and the community can trust them. A small minority dishonors themselves and their comrades.
