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 Thursday's print edition.
For a barometer of the shifting public opinion on gay rights, take a look at the escalating debate over Referendum 71 and public disclosure.
In 1994, a group that formed to oppose anti-gay rights initiatives in Washington pleaded with the Public Disclosure Commission to excuse donors from having to list their occupations and employers. Leaders of Hands Off Washington claimed that gay and lesbian contributors might be targets for harassment and intimidation.
Fast forward 15 years, and the shoe is on the other foot. This time, it’s opponents of gay rights who say they have reason to fear campaign finance disclosure.
• Do the health care overhaul plans promote euthanasia and abortion?
• At his town hall meeting Tuesday, President Obama said: "We have the AARP on board." Was he right?
• Will senior citizens and the disabled have to go in front of government "death panels" that will decide if they are deserving of care?
If you're confused by what various health care proposals would and wouldn't do, you're hardly alone. But help is out there.
Two of the best sources for checking facts and debunking myths are FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, and Politifact.com, a project of the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. PolitiFact won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting.
On FactCheck.org, for instance, you will learn that the Democrats' proposals would not promote euthanasia and abortion.
FactCheck.org also says the president was wrong Tuesday; the AARP supports health care reform but has not come out in favor of any particular legislation.
AARP Chief Operating Officer Tom Nelson was quoted as saying, "While the president was correct that AARP will not endorse a health care reform bill that would reduce Medicare benefits, indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate."
As for those "death panels," that claim made by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gets a "Pants on fire" rating from Politifact.com.
Politifact.com's "truth-o-meter" makes it the more user-friendly site. It rates claims on a scale of True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True, False and Pants on Fire! (in other words, so blatantly false you have to wonder whether the person making the claim is out and out lying).
The Seattle Times provided a good service Tuesday with an article answering several of the most common questions about health care reform. Read it here.
The group behind the referendum to overturn Washington's newly expanded domestic partnership law now wants campaign donor names to be off limits too. No way, no how. R-71 sponsors may indeed feel threatened by the nasty comments posted online and sent via e-mail, but if they're surprised by the level of vitriol out there, they haven't been paying attention. The answer is not to dismantle public disclosure piece by piece.
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to kim.bradford@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.
