The Best of Times

The best pieces in today's Seattle Times include:

Bi-weekly op-ed writer and Rosenblogger Matt Rosenberg's column: "Bush, not Kerry, can drive Mideast democracy forward"

In-house editorial writer Bruce Ramsey on the challenges of operating an industrial business in a city (Seattle) that is viscerally hostile to industry.

Yet another exposé of cost overruns and hallucinatory mismanagement on the Seattle Monorail.

And the Worst of Times

Today's lead editorial in the Seattle Times, "Don't Play Games With State Primary", argues for the bizarre Louisiana-style "top two" primary on the grounds that "the people want it" (where's the evidence of this?) and claims that it would somehow be improper for Gov. Locke to exercise his legitimate prerogative to veto such legislation

That is too bad, especially since the last day of the regular legislative session is tomorrow. If the governor had any impulse to ram his preference down the throats of the state's citizens — over lawmakers' best efforts — he should have been more forcefully prescriptive.

"ram ... down the throats?". The nasty excessive tone of this editorial suggests the snotty hyperbole of Joni Balter, who wrote similarly over-the-top and dishonest hatchet-jobs on Seattle's proposed district elections last October.

From the newspaper's perspective, these two seemingly unrelated election issues are, in fact, quite similar. In both cases -- favoring city-wide elections over neighborhood elections and favoring a non-partisan primary over a partisan primary -- the advantage goes to candidates who come into a race either with substantial name recognition and/or support from the, uh, media. Yes, the Seattle Times is campaigning for a change to the election law that would enhance its own influence. Imagine that!

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 10, 2004 09:40 AM