Maybe editorial page editors Mark Trahant and James Vesely will consider running some of his cartoons.  (In recent years, most Pulitzer prizes in journalism have been best viewed as reprimands, since they usually go to journalists who have done shoddy work, or worse.  It is good to see this exception, to see a prize that goes to someone who has been doing good work.)

The Seattle PI and the Seattle Times both have competent editorial cartoonists.  (Though Horsey is often misinformed, and Devericks is not as good as he was a few years ago.)  Neither paper makes good choices when they run syndicated cartoons.  Typically, their syndicated cartoons manage to be both boring and mildly annoying.  (Those in the Seattle Times are more boring; those in the Seattle PI are more annoying.)  Neither paper runs many funny syndicated political cartoons.  In fact, when I went through an entire month's worth of cartoons at both newspapers, I found only one or two syndicated cartoons that were even mildly funny.

I am not sure how Trahant and Vesely choose their syndicated cartoons.  But it is obvious that they need different procedures.  Let me make a small suggestion.  At least once a week, they should look through cartoons from Ramirez, and other cartoonists who do not follow their editorial lines, and run one of those cartoons.

Both Trahant and Vesely have people on their editorial boards who can help them choose good cartoons — though they will have to use those people in an unconventional way.  For example, Trahant should pick out some cartoons and show them to — well, I think I won't name anyone here — and if that person says something nasty and coarse about a cartoon, then Trahant should run that cartoon.   Similarly, Vesely should show his cartoon picks to — and again, I think I will skip the name(s) here — and if that person throws a hissy fit over a cartoon, Vesely should run that cartoon.

By adding some funny (and controversial) cartoons to their mix, the two newspapers might gain a little circulation, or, to be more practical, at least reduce their losses in circulation.

(You can see Ramirez's recent cartoons here.  I am especially fond of his March 24th Obama cartoon, as I have said before.)