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 Friday's print edition.
Parents of impressionable children, beware: If a pilot program now under way is successful, an advertising blitz for state-sponsored gambling could be coming to your neighborhood convenience store.
The "Enhanced Lottery Retailer" merchandising campaign at five mini-marts in the South Sound area includes brightly colored placards, eye-catching signs advertising jackpot sizes, new dispensers and other features designed to spur impulse purchases of scratch lottery tickets.
Come in for coffee and a pepperoni stick, leave with a few lottery tickets. And the kids can be entertained by checking out all the flashy scratch games available, including "Black Pearls," "Hot Bingo" and "Rich for Life."
Giving people an extra nudge to buy lottery tickets would be unseemly during good times. But during bad times, when people are more desperate than ever for an economic boost and may be more susceptible to a glitzy marketing campaign, it's just wrong. And it's sure to push the buttons of any problem gambler who walks in the door.
Can there be any doubt that the compulsive gambler is the main target of this ad campaign? Even the lottery's own Web site notes that scratch games provide "instant gratification" – the drug of choice for all addicts, including problem gamblers.
If the pilot program proves successful in selling 20 percent more tickets than usual over the next three months at the five test locations, the state will pay up to $832,500 to expand the marketing campaign to 45 more stores. So far, retailers at those test sites are reporting significantly higher sales.
A 1999 Duke University study found that low-income people spend the most per capita on lottery tickets. Although some argue that people who want to gamble will find ways to do it, the early success of the merchandising campaign suggests that it's possible to wring more money out of people than they otherwise might have spent. And many of those people are the ones who can least afford to spend extra on scratch tickets.
It's bad enough that the state is in the gambling business. It shouldn't be shilling any more than it already is.
