This editorial will appear in Wednesday's print edition.

Some on the Puyallup City Council have argued that the group doesn’t deserve the rap for being dysfunctional.

Sure, they say, a few troublemakers occasionally make a scene – but the city’s business is still getting done and isn’t that what matters?

Yes and no. Governing by faction is certainly possible – the Supreme Court does it all the time – but open hostilities are rarely conducive to sound decision-making, if for no other reason than they tend to scare off cooler heads.

Dysfunctional is as dysfunctional does, and the Puyallup council is looking like a prime candidate for intervention.

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

Fast-tracking a special session of the Legislature can be justified if there’s an urgent need to correct some injustice. But the session proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire might actually produce more injustice.

The governor wants lawmakers to come back to Olympia briefly for some unfinished business. Her office identified three failed bills that do in fact need revisiting.

One would allow expedited deportation of criminal illegal aliens; another would allow $60 million to be cut from levy equalization; the third would revise an initiative that currently is forcing some utilities to buy renewable power they don’t need at their customers’ expense.

The deportation bill is not controversial. The other two are.

=> Read more!

Some on the Puyallup City Council have argued that the group doesn't deserve the rap for being dysfunctional. But dysfunctional is as dysfunctional does.

A special session of the Legislature can be justified if there's an urgent need to correct an injustice or save the state from going broke. The session proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire meets neither test.

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.

If the letters to the editor are any indication, the four-person Puyallup City Council majority has ticked off a lot of folks in that community. (See our editorial on the subject Wednesday in the print edition and later today on the blog.)

We've received five letters criticizing the council majority for actions that include abruptly deciding to take a vote on changing council district positions to at-large. One member of that majority, Mike Deal, has now reversed course, so it's unlikely that the change will be made.

Whenever we receive that many original letters on one subject, it's pretty safe to say that emotions are running high. A sixth letter writer (whose letter ran today) took the opposite tack – criticizing the council minority for being quarrelsome – but the trend is heavily in the other direction. There may be a council majority, but the majority of letter writers doesn't seem to be on board with it.

Hot off the press: Arlen Specter, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania, comes out of the closet and declares, “ I am a Democrat.”

He can now put his elephant ties on eBay and toss out his orthopedic footpads ‘cause this 79-year-old man no longer has to stand and filibuster. He’s joining the majority party - that is if Al Franken of Minnesota ever gets seated. Specter, a man who has professionally stood under the Republican Party banner since 1966, is finally calling himself a progressive.

Friends, family, co-workers are all thinking the same thing: “He was the last to know.” Ever since Specter was seen cozying up to President and Mrs. Obama at the White House Super Bowl party, Republicans have had their suspicions.

Specter hasn’t exactly marched in lockstep with fellow conservatives. His voting record shows he voted pro-life, but also pro embryonic stem cell research. The ACLU gave him a 60 percent rating, indicating a mixed civil rights record. Although Specter stood against gay marriage, he helped vote out a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would state marriage was exclusively between one man and one woman. He’s one of the few Republicans in favor of civil unions.

But even though he wasn’t what you’d call a neo-conservative, the Republicans could count on him for some things.

=> Read more!

Health authorities trying to stop the spread of swine flu are urging Americans to stay home if they feel sick. Businesses are encouraging their employees to do the same. But what about workers who can't afford to miss a day's pay? Is paid sick time merely a job perk or is it a matter of public health?

The Institute for Women's Policy Research argues it's the latter.

...analyses of Bureau of Labor Statistics and other data conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) have found that less than half of workers have paid sick days, and only one in three are able to utilize sick days to care for sick children. Workers without paid sick days lose wages if they stay home, and many workers risk losing their jobs. As a result, workers who lack paid sick time are more likely to go to work with a communicable illness, and parents who cannot stay home with a sick child are more likely to send sick children to school or day care. Workers who work in direct contact with the public, such as restaurant workers, child care workers, and hotel employees, are among the least likely to have paid sick days.

People who go to work or school while sick may infect coworkers, customers, and classmates, resulting in even more infections. With seasonal influenza, this pattern of infection is a serious problem, costing employers and families millions of dollars a year and sometimes causing serious illness or death, especially among infants and the elderly.

=> Read more!