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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One of this state's elder statesmen (I'm not sure he'd appreciate the term, not being elderly) has challenged the consistency of our editorial logic.
Last week, we argued that the Legislature should fund human welfare programs in the budget rather than let voters decide their fate.
(We've been primarily concerned with the Basic Health Program for the working poor, which will have 40,000 people pared from its rolls.)
Here's his criticism. Below it is my response.
Patrick:
I appreciate the logic of your April 22 lead editorial: lawmakers should not tell voters they need to vote for a tax increase to fund an essential service. If a public vote on a tax increase is a good idea, it should be the sacred cows they put on the ballot instead.
Yet my memory is that the Tribune consistently endorses EMS levies, ostensibly based on the premise they are needed to fund an essential service. Why should state lawmakers be criticized for doing the same thing you praise local lawmakers for doing: telling voters they need to vote for tax increases to maintain an essential service? Why shouldn’t EMS services be funded with existing revenues and local lawmakers told to put sacred cows on the ballot?
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
Faced with a potentially lethal strain of influenza, the danger lies in underreacting.
Or overreacting – as when stock markets tremble in response to the World Health Organization’s “be ready just in case” warning about swine flu.
This flu is still in the wait-and-see stage. It has killed scores of people in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, but so far no Americans infected there appear to have died from the illness. No one has been able to explain the discrepancy.
The WHO’s pandemic flu alert is at four on a scale of one to six. A four means “The new virus can cause sustained outbreaks and is adapting itself to human spread.”
This editorial will appear in Tuesday's print edition.
“It was a fun round of cards tonight. Of course, the winners always feel that way.”
– State Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy
Score one for the Tacoma pirates, or the Pierce County mafia reincarnated, or whatever other epithets the South Sound’s lawmakers earned in the Legislature’s race to the finish this weekend.
A session that began with the prospect of a historic budget deficit was bound to have a theatrical finish. But no one could have predicted the drama would have something to do with insisting on fair treatment for Tacoma power ratepayers.
The Pierce County delegation rides again? Our legislators showed some grit in demanding consideration on legislation amending green-energy mandates and fending off potential threats to capital projects.
Faced with a potentially lethal strain of flu, the danger lies in underreacting. Or overreacting – as when stock markets slide around the world after the World Health Organization issues a tentative "be ready just in case" pandemic warning.
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.
We often leave our morning editorial board meetings with many more ideas for editorials than ever make the page.
We may have spotted a story that makes us wonder what's really happening behind the scenes, or a news event has us pondering "what ifs." Our discussions are usually just the starting point, after which we do our homework to figure out if there's anything worth writing about.
That was the case last week when a story about the fate of the crumbling People's Center pool on the Hilltop got us asking, "Hey, isn't Metro Parks looking for some place to put a 50-meter pool? Wouldn't that be a great asset for the Hilltop?"
Our great idea is a no-go, according to the staff at Metro Parks. Here is the response I got from Lois Stark at Metro:
There is definitely not enough space at Peoples to build the 50M pool – even if we tore down the Center and replaced it with a 50M pool (which we would never do!), there still wouldn’t be enough space. You really need a lot of parking to make a 50M pool successful since it is used for swim meets and competitions.
