Contrary to a posting here Saturday, Deputy Prosecutor Mark Lindquist’s campaign for Pierce County prosecutor does not have the endorsement of the current prosecutor, Gerry Horne.

Lindquist does have Horne’s good will, though. Here’s what Horne has to say:

I read your “blog” in yesterday’s paper about Mark L. He is a tremendous talent and I try to be and am supportive of him. On the other hand, I am supportive of all my senior deputies who do so much for this community.

I told my staff that I would not choose one deputy prosecutor (DPA)

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It’s in the best interests of Pierce County residents and businesses to prolong the life of the privately owned landfill near Graham that takes their garbage. That’s the primary motivation behind the county’s proposal for a new long-term contract with incentives for sharply reducing the amount of waste sent to the dump.

The federal government’s big immigration raid at an Iowa meat-packing operation raises the question: What about the employer who knowingly hired so many illegal aliens?

About our editorials:

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials

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Is “full-blooded American” code for racism? I think it is. But syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker is either oblivious to it or willing to play word games.

The TNT, which carries Parker’s column, didn’t publish her May 13 offering. Editorial writer Kim Bradford, who was choosing the columns that week, found it offensive. Good call, but worth a discussion here.

I only found out about it today when Romenesko, a newspaper-industry blog, noted that many Chicago Tribune readers objected to the column’s thinly veiled racism. In a column about the flap, the Tribune’s ombudsman criticized Parker but

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Reading eulogies for Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan reminded me of my first visit to Arlington National Cemetery years ago.

My idea was to see some of the famous landmarks: the Iwo Jima Monument, the Tomb of the Unknowns, the USS Maine Memorial, Robert E. Lee’s mansion, etc.

As my little tour bus plodded from one memorial to the other, my focus gradually shifted to what we were passing through: the ocean of small, white gravestones.

The cemetery holds the remains of 300,000 servicemen and

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The skyrocketing price of gas was topic No. 1 all last week as it approached the shudder-inducing $4-a-gallon mark in the South Sound.

Here’s something else to make you shudder: Arjun N. Murti, the Wall Street analyst nobody believed a few years ago when he predicted oil would hit $100 a barrel, now predicts it will hit $200 a barrel.

The New York Times says gasoline would – yikes! – hit $6 a gallon if that happens.

Oil hit a record $136 a barrel last week. Politicians, including Washington’s U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, made

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King’s Books on Tacoma’s St. Helens Avenue is an unlikely venue for a political fundraiser. But it’s a logical place for one starring Pierce County deputy prosecutor and thriller writer Mark Lindquist.

Lindquist, an all-but-announced candidate to succeed retiring Prosecutor Gerry Horne in two years, will read from his latest novel, "The King of Methlehem," at 7 p.m. May 29. "A discussion of literature, politics and Pierce County will follow," the invitation says. Perhaps Lindquist will share meth recipes.

The fundraiser is for the county Democratic Party, not for Lindquist. U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, former governor and county executive Booth Gardner and Horne are billed as hosts.

Lindquist is the party favorite for the prosecutor’s race, and having Horne’s backing is a major advantage. I asked Lindquist how "Methelehem" fared with the reviewers:

Reviews for “King of Methlehem” have been good (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Seattle Times etc), overblown (The Weekly Volcano, God bless the local press, called me a “literary genius,”) and blah (New York Times Book Review was boring, but you can’t really complain about being reviewed in the NYTBR). You can see some reviews here

Reviews for “Never Mind Nirvana” (an earlier novel) were more numerous and often more enthusiastic, probably because of the subject matter. Rock and roll apparently entices more book review editors than meth.

Important thing is that the hardback did well enough that Simon & Schuster is putting out a trade paperback this month. Here’s an interesting reference to “King of Methlehem” in an msnbc article, “Pop Culture is Getting an Injection of Meth

The cover of the paperback is cooler than the hardback, so that should count for something

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And here’s a capsule review from the Los Angeles Times:

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TNT reporter Nikki Sullivan’s front-page story today on an inappropriate mix of religion and political fundraising in Fircrest for GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi came up at the ed board’s daily topic meeting.

We decided it didn’t call for an editorial; the article was embarrassment enough.

But we all agreed it looked bad for the head of a non-profit Christian businessman’s group to be caught fibbing about what happened. And it looked bad when the group and the Rossi camp decided beforehand to exclude the press.

Dwight Mason, president of the Christian Businessmen’s Connection local chapter,

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