Political Buzz

A team of experienced reporters keep you updated on what's happening in political arenas at the city, county, state and federal levels. From presidential campaign visits to who's running for city council, we've got it covered.

Contributors

Peter Callaghan is a local columnist. He’s covered the statehouse and state politics since 1981. Before joining The News Tribune in 1985, the Stadium High grad worked for newspapers in Everett and Lewiston, Idaho, and for The Associated Press in Olympia and Seattle. Email Peter

Joe Turner has covered state government and transportation issues since 1990. Since the Bellarmine grad’s arrival in the newsroom in 1978, he’s covered police, suburban cities, Tacoma City Hall, Federal Way City Hall and the Pierce and King county governments. Email Joe

David Wickert covers Pierce County government. Before coming to The News Tribune in 1998, he covered local government for newspapers in Illinois, Virginia and Tennessee. Email David

Ian Demsky is a general assignment reporter who specializes in database-driven reporting. He's been at the News Tribune since 2007 and has previously worked in Nashville, Tenn. and Portland, Ore. When he's not at work, he enjoys hiking and science fiction. Email Ian
Les Blumenthal has been covering Washington, D.C. for The News Tribune since 1990, focusing on issues and politicians involving the state. Before joining The News Tribune, he spent 13 years working for The Associated Press in Seattle, Illinois and Washington, D.C. Email Les

John Henrikson is a local news editor who oversees political coverage. He's worked as a journalist in the Northwest for 19 years, supervising coverage and reporting on local and state government, the environment and growth. Email John

Local politics links
Brad Shannon's The Politics Blog (The Olympian)
Adam Wilson (The Olympian)
Politics Northwest (Seattle Times)
Sound Politics
Horse's Ass
Richard Roesler's Eye on Olympia (Spokesman Review)
P-I's Strange Bedfellows (Seattle PI)
Crosscut
SoundInfo Databases
State Employee Pay
Statewide School Employee Pay
City of Tacoma Employee Pay
Pierce County Employee Pay
King County Employee Pay
Metro Parks Employee Pay
City of Lakewood Employee Pay
City of Puyallup Employee Pay
Pierce Transit Employee Pay
Other Resources
Washington Legislature Bill Lookup
How your lawmaker voted: WashingtonVotes.org

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Let's talk politics.
Saturday, October 13th, 2007
Posted by Hunter George @ 05:56:47 pm

Several months of intense work culminated this weekend as we produced the online and print versions of our Voter Guide.

In June, I sent questionnaires to more than 140 candidates in 62 contested races for city councils, school boards, park districts, the Port of Tacoma commission and King County prosecutor. I worked with various reporters and editors to tailor the questionnaires to each jurisdiction.

We asked about such issues as traffic in Orting; annexation in Bonney Lake; a Wal-Mart in Fircrest; potholes in Tacoma; development in Ruston; the use of eminent domain by the Port of Tacoma; the search for a schools superintendent in Tacoma; prosecuting gangs in King County; and improving math scores in the Orting, Clover Park and Bethel school districts.

I worked with Aaron Ritchey, one of our Web producers who repeatedly fixed the glitches in the database that's behind the online guide (my thanks again to all of the candidates for their patience). Photo editor Jeremy Harrison helped locate mug shots of each candidate.

We posted the online guide last night, with a link from our home page. The guide features candidates' answers to all of the questions (3-5 issue questions, depending on the race), plus a personal statement.

Then I repackaged the material and sent it to page designer Pat McCoid, who spent the past week assembling it into a 36-page print version. That goes to press today and will be inserted in the Oct. 21 edition of the paper. For space reasons, we only listed three issue questions per race, and we had to exclude the personal statement.

It's a ton of work (I've decided to blame the long hours on the guide for the flu bug I caught last week). But it's a labor of love. I hope voters find it useful between now and Nov. 6.

Categories: Voting, Campaign news