Joel Connelly

I worked for Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1973 until it ceased print publication in 2009, and SeattlePI.com from 2009 to 6/30/2020. During that time, I wrote about 9 presidential races, 11 Canadian and British Columbia elections‎, four doomed WPPSS nuclear plants, six Washington wilderness battles, creation of two national Monuments (Hanford Reach and San Juan Islands), a 104 million acre Alaska Lands Act, plus the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area.

A Long Hike: Congress Adds More Wilderness Area to the Olympic Peninsula

Preserving wilderness on the Olympic Peninsula began more than 113 years ago, when President Theodore Roosevelt set aside a 450,000-acre Olympic National Monument.

After 15 Years, the Episcopal Bishop of Olympia Decides to Retire

Rickel insists he “never stopped having fun” but he has faced thankless challenges. 

Independent No More: A Notre Dame Alum Laments Changed Leadership

Long kept at arm’s length, the Catholic right is using its money to establish a beachhead at Our Lady’s University in ways unthinkable in its history.

Trump Unhinged: Rallies Against Murkowski in Alaska

Trump was on a vengeance mission, but Trumpification could bring changes to the U.S. Senate.

Brutal! Boris is Done

The UK Tories have a lesson to teach, especially to the Republican Party in the United States. 

Why the Keystone State will be Key in the ’22 Election

No place is more pivotal than Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump has yet to concede his narrow loss to Joe Biden two years ago.

Battling Cancer, B.C. Premier Horgan to Step Down

Horgan, leader of the New Democratic Party, was a temperamental opposition leader but has proven an avuncular head of government. 

Three Reasons Public Confidence in the Supreme Court has Plunged

It is hard to like or respect this Court.

Jim McDermott: The Good and Bad of Serving in Congress

The book is a sharp, spot-on critique of Capitol Hill’s current clumsy dysfunction. Congress used to be collegial, with friendships across the aisle and a transactional culture of accommodating varied interests. No more.

How J.T. Wilcox Hopes to Hatch a Republican Comeback

New Republican challengers are promising not to undo decades of social progress and to avoid the scary laws other state Republicans have favored.

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