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...

The Republican Governors Association apparently wasn't fazed by the group of prosecutors and law enforcement types who denounced their attack ads yesterday.
The group, led by Pierce County deputy prosecutor Mark Lindquist, said the ads accusing Gov. Chris Gregoire of losing track of 1,300 sex offenders are false and misleading, and are aimed at scaring people. They called on gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi to ask the RGA to pull the ads (if you haven't seen one, they're avaialbe at www.onherwatch.com) from the air.
Not only is the RGA not pulling its TV ads, but now it's mailing fliers to voters with the names and faces of six sex offenders they say are "lost."
At least one Pierce County man is on the list: Leon Robert Harshman.
I checked The News Tribune archives and found that we last wrote about Harshman on Dec. 25, 2007. He was one of three sex offenders mentioned in an article under the headline "Sex felons register in Pierce County." Here's an excerpt of what we published:
Leon R. Harshman
Age: 46.
Description: 5 feet 11 inches tall, 200 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.
Where registered to live: Transient in Tacoma.
Criminal history: Convicted in 1988 of second-degree rape in Pierce County after he sexually assaulted a woman he knew.
Sex offender treatment: Participated in the treatment program while in prison.
Other information: Because he's homeless, Harshman must check in with the Sheriff's Department every week until he finds a fixed address.
For more information: Call Tacoma police detective Fuller at 253-591-5989.
According to the RGA press release, the other names on the flier are:
• Sean Allen Sills, convicted of child rape
• Robert Earl Hicks, convicted of rape
• Gerald Schilling, convicted of child rape
• Gary Duane Prater, convicted of child molestation
• Vernon Helzer, convicted of child rape
"By losing track of 1,300 convicted sex offenders, Chris Gregoire has created a nightmare for Washington families," RGA spokesman Chris Schrimpf said in the release.

