A word to Callaghan: Charter schools are a scam, another scheme by business to get its greedy mitts into the public treasury and destroy public education.

The only reason the charter school ballot measure barely got a majority was because the Washington Education Association and the state Democratic Party were lazy and failed to run a competent campaign. Nothing new there, of course.

Callaghan admits he voted for this terrible idea even though a large majority of his fellow Tacomans voted against it.

Well, he can just add it to his admitted vote for Dale Washam. As I recall his rationale and reasons were about the same.

My main issue with his comments is that he makes Clay Bennett the villain. The true villain in the death of the Sonics was Howard Schultz. He had to know he was selling the team to a carpetbagger who had no intention of keeping the team here. If he didn’t, then I got a bridge to sell him.

Callaghan should stick to writing about politics. Any casual sports fan knows that NBA championship banners are not “flown”; they are hung from the rafters. Also, there would be no need to make a copy of the Sonics’ 1979 trophy to display; the original is currently on display in Seattle

Callaghan’s column about the Senate Democrats who have thwarted the will of voters was an aberration from his usually fine work. He claims that many voters “voted for the winning (candidate) because they like him or her.”

If a person’s vote were simply for swell men and women, then kindly Democrats in Okanogan County and genial Republicans in Seattle would get elected. But that’s not the case, and Callaghan knows it.

Callaghan has spilled barrels of ink onto the pages of The News Tribune decrying the decennial farce that is “nonpartisan” redistricting, which he correctly observes results in incumbent-protection maps; now more than three-fourths of districts are represented by a single party. If Callaghan’s claim were true, then that would never happen. But he knows that’s not true, and claiming otherwise is intellectual dishonesty.

The fact is a vast majority of voters know what a vote for a Democrat or Republican means in terms of taxes, women’s choice, the safety net, etc., and a majority of voters in Sens. Rodney Tom’s and Tim Sheldon’s districts used that knowledge when casting their vote. In our new majority leader’s (Tom’s) district, more than 61 percent of the votes Nov. 6 were for President Obama and the two state representatives, including one who had never been on a ballot before.

A large majority of voters there voted for Democrats for a reason – to implement Democratic policies, not thwart them. To claim otherwise is to not be straight with your readers.

The name-calling and putdowns remind me of a schoolyard bully. In a time where bullying is widespread in the news we have someone that is getting paid to do this same thing to our public officials. I cannot remember the last time I have seen anything positive regarding our community written in his column.

I believe if we are going to put a halt to bullying maybe we should lead by example. I am wondering if Mr. Callaghan is up for this challenge.