Empty space 4.0

• Published October 03, 2008

What's not to like about Chris Mulick? He appreciates 90s pop culture, covering politics and blogging. He went to college on the Palouse, was born in the late 70s, has a couple young kids. I mean, aside from the excessive lack of baldness, a very likeable guy.

So it's too bad for the reading public to see him leave the Capitol press corps as of today, but not at all bad for him. You can read his own thinking on the subject in the last post to Olympia Dispatch.

When the corps said adios to Dave Ammons, we lounged on the press houses' porches, tossed a Frisbee in the parking lot. When Ralph Thomas and Dave Postman took off a couple weeks ago, we stood in the Blue House kitchen, our largest indoor meeting space, and toasted their good fortune. Last night, we were able to squeeze into the Spokesman Review's office to roast Chris. Maybe at the next wake, the gang will fit in The Olympian’s still-smaller digs.

Also in departures today, Olympian columnists Kirk Erickson and Keri Brenner take their leave. We – The Olympian staff and our readers – will miss them, as we've missed April Chan, Jim Szymanski and Lisa Pemberton since they left in June. And those are just the writers, not the photo staff, copy editors and assistants also among the dearly departed.

All this would be sad, but not bad, if any one of these people were being replaced with new blood. They are not.

In six months, there's been a 29 percent drop in reporters covering the Capitol fulltime. That is, I am now one tenth of the press corps, all by my lonesome.