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.
Bar codes have been the object of deep suspicion in certain circles since they were introduced in the 1970s. Some of the conspiracy-minded have even identified them as the apocalyptic Mark of the Beast.
The latest flowering of this suspicion is a lawsuit challenging the use of the codes on ballots used by some of Washington’s smaller counties.
The lawsuit, filed by liberal-minded activists, argues that the unique identifiers on those ballots can allow officials to match voters with votes, in violation of the law.
The secretary of state’s office – which supervises Washington’s elections – sees things differently.
Here’s how its Web site explains the bar codes:
“Voters in one precinct are eligible to vote on one set of ballot measures and candidate races, while voters in the neighboring precinct are eligible to vote on a slightly different set of ballot measures and candidate races, all based on the set of jurisdictions that cover that precinct.
This editorial will appear in Thursday's print edition.
Fight over Plan B rules not over yet
A court ruling restoring the state’s mandate to dispense “Plan B” emergency contraception should not be mistaken for a checkered flag, but it could well signal the final lap.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court has lifted an injunction against a state rule requiring pharmacies to fill valid prescriptions for legal drugs and sent the case back to a federal trial court in Tacoma.
An Olympia grocer and two pharmacists argue that requiring them to dispense the so-called morning-after pill would trample their constitutional rights since they see Plan B as tantamount to abortion.
A court ruling restoring the state's mandate to dispense "Plan B" emergency contraception should not be mistaken for a checkered flag. Up next is the true test of the rules: whether they pass constitutional muster.
The claim that secret ballots are threatened in Washington because of bar codes is ridiculous.
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.
The Washington State Labor Council, frustrated by its failures to advance its cause in Olympia this year despite strong Democratic majorities, has announced that it will no longer give to House and Senate party funds, but rather donate directly to individual candidates who are judged to be supporting labor priorities.
Interestingly, both labor and free market advocates are cheering the move. Here's Horse's Ass blogger Jon DeVore:
Yeah, the days of dumping money into party committees probably should have ended long ago. There’s still a place for that, and there’s no reason the state labor council (or other groups) can’t pump money into party committees as situations warrant. But the system of kissing rings in Olympia has broken down, at least as I see it from SW Washington. Candidates that could have scored major upsets have been sold short, and squishy, milquetoast types get an automatic nod. That’s a sign of institutional sclerosis.
And Piper Scott of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation:
Well, all I can say to this effort by WSLC is PA-LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE do it! And the sooner the better...Pa-leeeezzze, pa-leeeeeze, pa-leeeeze, pa-leeeze, pa-leeze! What a great way for them to marginalize their influence and free many in the Legislature from being under labor's domineering thumb!
