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 tomorrow's print edition.
While most people were focused on what lawmakers were doing about Washington state’s $9 billion deficit, a potentially momentous election measure quietly made its way through the 2009 Legislature.
Senate Bill 5599, which was signed into law Tuesday, is designed to elect presidents by straight popular vote, thus turning the Electoral College into a quaint constitutional fossil.
This would effectively amend the U.S. Constitution, in concert with other state legislatures. That’s an ambitious agenda for a measure that wouldn’t amend even the state constitution. The idea hasn’t gotten nearly enough public debate, so it’s good to see opponents launching a referendum that would force a real discussion of its merits.
SB 5599 is part of a multi-state effort called National Popular Vote. The strategy is ingenious.
Legislatures would be persuaded, one by one, to join a compact under which their states’ electoral votes would automatically be awarded to the presidential candidate who won a majority of votes nationwide.
When enough states have joined to command 270 electoral votes – the number needed to secure the White House – the compact would take effect. This would guarantee that the Electoral College couldn’t produce a winner who hadn’t also won the popular vote, as happened in 2000.
The arguments for and against this bill are pretty much the arguments for and against the Electoral College itself.
Opponents of the elector system – mostly Democrats, especially since it sent George Bush to the White House in 2000 – say that democracy invariably demands majority rule.
They indict the Electoral College on other charges, as well. One argument is that it reduces the value of votes in overwhelmingly Republican and Democratic states, letting “battleground” states dictate the winner. Also, it gives the citizens of smaller states more voting power (at least on paper) than their counterparts in the most populous states.
But supporters score points of their own. Holding 50 distinct presidential elections guarantees that rural interests will get at least some attention from the candidates. Election by straight majority threatens to let the big cities dominate presidential politics. The traditional system also quarantines election fraud to individual states; votes may be stolen in Illinois, but that won’t affect the results in Montana.
One criticism of SB 5599 could prove hard to counter: Once the compact took effect, Washington’s votes would be allocated according to results in other states. In 2004, for example, most Washingtonians voted for John Kerry – but the new system would have counted them in George Bush’s camp.
This measure involves huge issues of national consequence, and the electorate ought to be in on the discussion. The referendum campaign – which could repeal SB 5599 – promises to give the arguments the public hearing they deserve.
