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
• 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
• 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
• How your lawmaker voted: WashingtonVotes.org
- All
- Attorney General (151)
- Auditor (44)
- Campaign news (1111)
- Congress (218)
- Education (79)
- Environment (23)
- Federal Government (22)
- Funny stuff (65)
- Governor (679)
- Health Care (6)
- Initiatives and Referenda (166)
- Insurance Commissioner (26)
- Journalism (34)
- King County (156)
- Lands Commissioner (41)
- Legislature (1133)
- Lobbying (34)
- Lt. Governor (36)
- Media (4)
- Open Government (43)
- Pierce County (581)
- President (481)
- Inauguration (25)
- Stimulus (16)
- Public Safety (47)
- Ruston (12)
- Schools Superintendent (69)
- Seattle (58)
- Secretary of State (90)
- State budget (399)
- State government (983)
- Suburbs (53)
- Supreme Court (43)
- Tacoma (450)
- Taxes (185)
- Transit (127)
- Transportation (126)
- Treasurer (31)
- Voting (274)
- Washington State Patrol (5)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | > >> | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | |||||
- September 2009 (6)
- August 2009 (105)
- July 2009 (74)
- June 2009 (138)
- May 2009 (164)
- April 2009 (273)
- March 2009 (202)
- February 2009 (148)
- January 2009 (182)
- December 2008 (158)
- November 2008 (240)
- October 2008 (175)
- More...
XML Feeds- artman77
- Guest Users: 304
It's so strong that Dennis Callies, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 76 in Tacoma, said he's recruiting workers from around the country to keep up with demand.
Construction is particularly active in eastern Washington in places like Moses Lake, Quincy and Wenatchee where server farms are sprouting, labor leaders told me.
But building also is robust here in the Puget Sound corridor, said Tracy Prezeau, statewide political coordinator for the IBEW.
The two labor leaders spoke with me this morning following Gov. Chris Gregoire's stop at the Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Children's hospital construction site on the site of the former First United Methodist Church.
About 60 workers took a short break from their work on the hospital's emergency room department and cancer center expansion to listen to Gregoire.
On the day before the state's primary election, Gregoire told the workers that Washington is leading the country in converting "helmets to hard hats" -- creating construction work for military veterans.
During her term, Gregoire said the state has spent more than $13 billion on construction statewide, including the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. She threw out a couple more statistics -- 225,000 new jobs during her term, four out of five of which are family-wage jobs.
"Many of those are construction," said Gregoire, who urged the workers to vote. "I sure hope I can count on your support," she said.
John Vallier, an iron worker from Orting, said he supports Gregoire. "A lot of our work is coming from the state," Vallier said. "The economy has gone down a little bit in the state, but we're still pretty busy."
Gregoire, who has been stopping in Pierce County almost daily for the last week, is expected to tour a construction tomorrow in Seattle. We reported
Look for plenty more visits from Gregoire between now and November. Gregoire told me that Pierce County is "extraordinarily important" and she and her family -- including husband Mike and one of her daughters -- intend to keep coming.
"Pierce County ought to be supporting me," Gregoire said. "We need to get the message out about what we've accomplished."
