This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write. I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.
In recent weeks, with probably too much time on my hands, I have thought of this:
What I would do differently in one past major assignment if I knew then what I know now.
Stupid, I know.
Handsight is great, I guess.
This came to my mind the other day when I saw Gerry Thompson at a social event and, sitting around, both of us recalled a very strange time in Oregon’s history – the time when a cult leader from India, Bhagwhan Shree Rajneesh, invaded Oregon with hundreds of followers.
Gerry was the chief of staff for Governor Vic Atiyeh when I served as the governor’s press secretary back in the mid 1980s. So, Gerry and I knew each well then and have maintained a friendship over the years. We also were close with Atiyeh, the last Republican governor in Oregon – working for him on one hand, and maintaining a friendship on the other.
Leaders of the cult came to Oregon, asking thousands of “members” to re-locate here, garbed in what came to be famous – all red clothing. They went to a ranch in Eastern Oregon, near the town of Antelope.
There, they tried to take over local government in that part of the state and, not just with cult members.
One strategy for cult leaders was to transport “homeless persons” from around the country, transplant them into Eastern Oregon, register them to vote and, thereby, control local government.
It turned out to be a strategy that did not work out well, so cult leaders, with too many homeless persons in Eastern Oregon, decided to “dump” them into Portland, thus giving charities in Oregon’s largest city there more than they could handle.
That was the context I entered.
Governor Atiyeh and Gerry asked me to head up to Portland from my home in Salem each day to coordinate with the heads of charities.
What to do?
Too many homeless persons taxed local infrastructure beyond any ability to respond.
By hindsight, this was the assignment which, upon reflection, I could have handled better, knowing what I know now about how government works.
I told Gerry this the other day and she said “not to worry.”
I was there in Portland, she reminded me, as a visible of a “Governor’s Office presence” to make sure local folks knew that had a governor who cared about what they were facing.
The eventual decision? Buy bus tickets for the homeless persons to get back “home” as a way to spread the responsibility for their care. Oregon, of course, would take its share.
Here is an excerpt on all this from a biography on Atiyeh that has not reached print:
“…the Oregon Community Foundation was able to help raise money which was funneled to the Salvation Army to help pay for bus tickets. By the third week in November, the Salvation Army reported that it had raised $56,000 for its efforts, including $20,000 from Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.
“Behind the scenes, the governor was ready for whatever happened. The State of Oregon quietly directed donated funds to the Salvation Army to deal with the homeless who were flooding back into the cities. None of this was ever public.
“Atiyeh remembered: We couldn’t let the homeless be the victims, so we got some money…to the Salvation Army.
“A report by the State Police counted around 1,900 homeless people departures from Rajneeshpuram (the cult’s name for Antelope).”
Fond memories?
No.
It was a difficult time in Oregon history and my memory is that Governor Atiyeh and Gerry Thompson responded with skill, aplomb, and diplomacy.
If I was able to help. Good.
Still, I wish I would have found a way to do better.
Perspective from the 19th Hole 