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
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City of Lakewood Employee Pay
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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, November 8th, 2008
Posted by Hunter George @ 04:47:49 pm

Joyce McDonald issued a statement today declaring victory in her bid for the County Council seat being vacated by Calvin Goings. McDonald notes that she has 48.5 percent of the first-choice votes and has enjoyed a solid lead over Democrats Al Rose and Carolyn Merrival in both releases of ranked-choice voting results.

That said, she is decidedly not a fan of the new voting system. She says her council agenda will include a move to drop the RCV system.

Here's an excerpt from a note she sent today to Republican activists:

As you know, the executive’s race is still too close to call, but looking at the “first choice” votes, there’s no doubt that Shawn Bunney could have won if this had been a “top two” election rather than a ranked choice. I look forward to working with my fellow council members to change the fiasco of Pierce County’s “Ranked Choice Voting” to a top two system. That way all races will appear on a “single” ballot, removing the wasted time, energy and money used for two ballots and a flawed counting system.

That's not McDonald's only complaint. She didn't mention Auditor Pat McCarthy by name, but McDonald also blasted the county's operation of poll sites on Election Day.

Probably the greatest travesty was the many disenfranchised voters who did not get to cast their votes because they could not stand in line for two or three hours. Many had to work! This happened to my son in law, who after waiting in line for more than an hour, had to leave to pick up his daughter at school. He then came back, stood in line a second time and still had not voted by the time he had to leave for work. He took a bold step and went to the front of the line and demanded his ballot – much to the anger of many others who were still waiting in line. He was so rushed and frustrated at this point that he only took the time to vote in the presidential and congressional race on the one ballot and then voted in my race only on the ranked choice ballot. This frustration caused by the unnecessary closing of polling places and the overall lack of planning and foresight cannot be tolerated. Our votes are too important.

Categories: Pierce County, Voting