ON TWO SUBJECTS – GOLF AND POLITICS – HERE IS WHAT I HOPE FOR IN THE NEW YEAR

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.

On this day, the last day of 2022, I engage in a ritual…writing resolutions for 2023.

The preamble to this blog notes two of my favorite subjects – golf and politics – so I thought, why not summarize New Year’s resolutions for both.

Here goes, though I also will limit myself to one resolution for each subject.

GOLF

• I wish leaders of the PGA Professional Golf Tour and LIV Golf would find a way to arrive at middle ground – middle ground for the good of the game.

This may mean that Greg Norman, the spokesman for LIV Golf – what else does he do besides speak — may have to exit stage left because he is nothing if not controversial as his ego intrudes into almost every conversation.  Negotiations likely will not go on with Norman at the helm for LIV.

Would PGA Tour CEO Jay Monahan have to go or could he change his notions to allow negotiations?  I believe the latter. 

One point not worth negotiating:  Should players who left the PGA Tour for LIV (or, is the word “defected”), be allowed to return?  I say “no.”  They left for the lure of money, so stay there.

Being open to middle ground would require me to let go of my disdain for the funding of LIV Golf, reliance on the tainted Saudi Defense Fund.  But, for the good of the game we love, I’ll stifle my disdain.

Plus, I hope any settlement, if there is one, would restore professional golf to being a “competitive” event in the spirit of real athletic pursuits instead of the “exhibition” nature of LIV.

So, I pine for negotiations.

POLITICS

• Speaking of pining, I pine for politicians of all stripes to find middle ground on pressing public policy issues.

This should be preceded, of course, by asking a hard question – is there a role for government in a particular issue and, if there is, how should a program be designed to achieve results.

Further, middle ground is often where the best solutions lie anyway.  Not the far left.  Not the far right.  In the middle.

This also would mean that politicians would have to stop campaigning for a new term in office after having just been elected.  Get about the business of governing, not campaigning.  The skills are different.

Two resolutions.  Both are worth pining for – and isn’t “pining” a good word?  I say “yes.”

AT LEAST I WASN’T BOOKED ON SOUTHWEST AIRLINES!

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.

I wrote the other day about being dislocated on Alaska Airlines and how my wife and I managed to make the best of bad situation.

At least I wasn’t booked on Southwest Airlines!

Just think of how bad it would have been.  We’d still be sitting in an airport waiting for a new flight days off, even as we spent time trying to find our luggage.

Here is the way the Wall Street Journal opined on the issue as editorial writers worried that, in the aftermath of struggles like Southwest (or is it really the aftermath?), the federal government was working to take over the airlines:

“The scheduling meltdown at Southwest Airlines is one for the business record books, and the carrier will pay a price for months or years in damaged reputation.  

“The only worse result for seething passengers would be to put Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in charge.

“Don’t laugh.  Buttigieg’s department said Monday it will investigate Southwest’s ‘unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays.’   It will also ‘take action’ to hold the carrier ‘accountable,’ as if the airline isn’t eager enough to make things right.”

To put it simply, Southwest cancelled more than 5,000 flights and is still trying to find its planes and crews!

And this from the Washington Post:

“No flights, no rental cars, no Christmas, but luggage everywhere. Everywhere!  Everywhere but where we need it.

“Luggage lined up in Dallas terminals like dwarf soldiers in a nightmare reveille.  Rings of luggage encircling empty carousels in Chicago, in a kind of artistic commentary on capitalism and modern itinerancy.  (Medium: thermoplastic polymer on wheels.)”

At times like these, the Post added, “our physical luggage becomes our emotional baggage.”

Congress is also doing what it does best, which is described best by one of my favorite short sayings:  It is setting out “to shoot the wounded.”

Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell announced a probe, while Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is using the mess to complain as usual about airline consolidation.  She wants Buttigieg to block a merger between JetBlue and Spirit Airlines.

Though the Christmas week brought huge lists of flight cancellations, most airlines are recovering.

However, Southwest’s problems roll on, with the carrier cutting 60 per cent of its schedule earlier this week. One problem seems to be outdated technology that failed to match crews to planes, as Southwest’s “point-to-point” network stranded aircraft across the U.S.

Back to the Wall Street Journal editorial:

“But Democrats care less about stranded passengers than they do about gaining more federal control over the airline industry.  Carriers are already required to refund when flights are canceled or ‘significantly changed.’

“Buttigieg proposed a new rule in August that requires airlines to provide refunds if flights are delayed more than three hours, increase the number of connections, land at a different airport, or use a downgraded’ type of aircraft.  The rule also would force airlines that received federal pandemic aid to provide credits if a passenger says he or she can’t fly because of Covid.”

The fact is airlines have struggled this year, but the government has contributed to the problem.

Covid lockdowns cost airlines business for two years (though, I add, that there might have been no useful alternative).  The federal aid that kept airlines afloat came with a mandate not to lay off or furlough employees. This caused airlines to offer retirement and buyout packages to preserve cash, leading to a pilot and crew shortage.

Washington receded from airline management in the 1970s, and the ensuing competition opened air travel to the masses.  Not sure whether this will continue – or be allowed to continue.

Again, the Journal:

“Politicians love to kick an industry when it’s down, but passengers can take their market revenge on Southwest without political help that will make air travel worse and more expensive.”

CRIMINAL PROSECUTION IS THE WRONG IDEA; USE THE 14TH AMENDMENT ON TRUMP

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.

Do you know what the 14^th amendment to the U.S. Constitution is?

Well, I didn’t either.

So, I read a piece in the Washington Post yesterday.

Here is the best summary:

Section 3 explicitly bars insurrectionists like Donald Trump from holding “any office, civil or military, under the United States” unless “two-thirds of each House” of Congress lifts the ban.

The Post article was written by Bruce Ackerman, a professor of law and science at Yale University, and Gerard Magliocca, a professor at the Indiana University School of Law.

It posited that the House January 6 Committee should have focused on the 14^th amendment because of its virtues, say, in regard to the slim chances of a criminal indictment against Trump.

Here is how the professors’ article started:

“Apart from a relatively brief mention in its 800-page report, the January 6 Committee missed the Constitution’s preferred punishment for former high officials turned insurrectionists.  The committee tries to persuade Americans that criminal prosecution is the only adequate response to Donald Trump’s systematic efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“Nearly forgotten debates over ratification of the 14th Amendment point to a better, less divisive approach.  Nowadays, the amendment is best known for the Section 1 guarantee of ‘equal protection of the laws.’  At the time of the debates in 1868, however, Section 3 — barring insurrectionists from future elected offices — was the hot-button issue.

“Section 3 targeted Jefferson Davis, a former U.S. senator who was president of the rebellious Confederacy, along with other leaders of the attempted overthrow of the U.S. Constitution.  These men had ‘taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States’ before the Civil War, then betrayed their oath by joining in ‘insurrection’ or ‘rebellion’ during the conflict.

“Section 3 explicitly barred them from holding ‘any office, civil or military, under the United States’ unless ‘two-thirds of each House’ of Congress lifted the ban.”

Sounds good to me.

Surely better than trying to get Trump on criminal grounds, even if he deserves that result.

No doubt, as he always has, Trump will try to squirrel his way out of criminal liability.  Or, he will just delay the processes to the extent that they might even go away over time.

Think back to former president Gerald Ford who explained when pardoning his predecessor, Richard M. Nixon, who resigned amid scandal: “During this long period of delay and potential litigation, ugly passions would again be aroused.  And our people would again be polarized in their opinions.”

One piece of good news here is that a Member of Congress, Jamie B. Raskin from Maryland, already has proposed a legislative solution.  His proposal would grant special jurisdiction to a three-judge federal court in the District of Columbia to determine, within three months, whether Trump’s involvement in the assault on Capitol Hill amounted to an “insurrection.” The panel’s decision would receive automatic Supreme Court review.

American history is marked by moments of political evasion — as well as moments of genuine courage.  Congress, led by Republicans willing to break with their party’s extremists, should bring the January 6 tragedy to a close and enable Americans to set the nation on the road to a post-Trump future.

The 14th amendment is a solid way to achieve that result.

A GOLF RULES ISSUE FOR THE MEMORY BANKS — UNFORTUNATELY

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.

The Southern California Golf Association came up a few days with 15 major golf rules violations in 2022.

Here, I won’t repeat all the 15, but will focus on this one:  Hughes misses cut after wrong ball penalty.

The story said this:

“PGA Tour pro Mackenzie Hughes has every right to be angry at one rules official in particular who may have cost him thousands of dollars.

“It all began after Hughes’ second shot on the par-5 9th at Torrey Pines North Course during the Farmers Insurance Open.  According to Hughes, he walked up to a flag placed by a marshal that had marked a ball, hit his next shot to within a few feet, and marked before his par putt — only to learn that the ball he had hit wasn’t his, and that his real ball was a couple yards away from the one he hit with his third shot.

“Despite the fact that the marshal deserves some share of blame, it was a clear violation of Rule 6.3c, and the result was a devastating two-stroke penalty.  The blunder had happened on Hughes’ final hole of the second round, causing him to miss the cut by a single stroke.”

Why does this story capture my attention?

Well, exactly the same thing happened to son, Eric, as he played in a Nike Tour event at Shadow Hills Golf Club in Junction City, Oregon.

I was on the bag as Eric’s caddy.

As we came to hole #5, a par five, Eric hit a decent drive, but it landed in the rough to the left of the fairway.  We walked toward his ball which had been marked by a volunteer with a flag in the rough.

Eric proceeded to hit a decent second shot, which put him in the middle of the fairway about 150 yards from the green.  A par looked achievable.

However!

When we got to his ball in the fairway, both of us learned that, like the story about Mackenzie Hughes, the ball was not his.

The volunteer had marked the wrong ball!

It was his fault, but, of course, as is always the case, the two-stroke penalty belonged to the player. 

And, as for the caddy, me?  I bore at least a portion of the responsibility because, as a good caddy would have done, I should have reminded Eric to check markings on his ball in the rough before hitting it.

Didn’t do that.  My bad.

So, Eric, with a two-stroke penalty, made a 7 on the hole rather than a par 5.

Lesson learned?  No doubt.

I wish the penalty would have been given to me.  I deserved it.

OUR TRAVAILS OF AIR TRAVEL IN BAD WEATHER

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.

With this paragraph, the Washington Post summarized the status of air travel as a major winter storm made its way from West to East:

“More than 5,500 flights were canceled Monday as weather continues to trip up holiday travel while passengers attempt to make their way back home after Christmas.”

This means something “special” to me.  Consider me to be a victim.  Here’s why:

At about 5 p.m. on December 23, we received word from Alaska Airlines that our planned flight from Portland, Oregon, to Palm Springs, California, the next morning had been cancelled. 

Here’s the way Alaska put the bad news for us:

“We sincerely apologize that your upcoming flight has been canceled. Unfortunately, the disruption from the freezing rain in Portland today continues to impact our operations and has forced cancellations and delays.  Due to limited availability, our automated system was unable to find you a new flight departing in the next couple of days or from surrounding airports.”

How’s that for service?  You are on your own, we were told.

So, my resident tour guide, wife Nancy, got busy on-line and booked two seats on the “first available” flight on December 28.

Except one detail remained unresolved.  Could our dog, Callaway, fly with us?  We weren’t sure because airlines have animal limits on flights; on initial flight, Callaway, of course, was with us.  But, on the new flight?

There was essentially no way to find out. 

We could have called Alaska, but the wait time on-line was eight hours.  Yes, eight hours!

If we had placed the call, by the time someone would have answered, we could have driven halfway to Palm Springs.

So, that’s what we did.  We got in our car and made the 15-hour drive south over the next two days.

Foresight predicted it would be the right decision.  Hindsight confirmed it.

The challenge for airlines in a major storm like the one that is still hammering the East Coast is hard to imagine.  Flights have to be cancelled.  Planes, pilots, and other staff are not in the right place.  A group of staff have to be deployed to handle cancellations and re-bookings, including those pour souls on the phone who have to deal with anguished callers who wait for hours.

Ticket-holders like us are left as just that – ticket-holders with nowhere to go.  Except to make do.

For now, since I am Palm Springs as I write this – the temperatures here are in the mid-70s and the sky is clear – I am willing to consider this just to be something unfortunate rather than to claim status as a victim.  I choose not to blame anyone.

Based on my wife’s great work and decision-making, we got out of Oregon and into California in good shape.

I hope something similar can be said for the folks who were dislocated by the 5,000 flight cancellations, including those stranded by Southwest (see below).

And, speaking of my wife, she made another great point:  In a situation like this, you have two choices – get angry, or make the best of a bad situation.  As usual, she is right – and we made the best of a bad situation, looking on our experience as a “great adventure.”

It was!

**********

Two footnotes:

#1:  Southwest Airlines has told those stranded in airports that it will not take any replacement reservations until January.  So, the point is that at least one airline is facing worse challenges than Alaska.

#1:  If you want to have a few belly laughs read Dave Barry’s “2022 Year in Review” in the Washington Post.  He is a great writer and solid humorist.  His take on 2022, with all of its travails – including his hilarious comments on air travel – are worth reading.

IF YOU STOP AND THINK ABOUT IT FOR A MOMENT,

GOOD THINGS HAPPENED IN 2022

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.

The Washington Post showed up this week with a list of 22 good things that happened in 2022.

It was a good list, though I don’t necessarily agree with all 22.  So what? 

Good that the focus was on something positive rather than the often-typical negative news from politics.

For me, one of the most noteworthy pieces of Post-cited good news was this:   A record number of Americans gained health insurance coverage in the last year.

Here is the Post’s summary of that achievement:

“Only 8 per cent of Americans lacked health insurance in early 2022.  That’s a record low, according to government data.  There were especially big gains in health coverage in communities of color.  What drove this? Americans were eager for health-care access in the pandemic, and they were aided by extra funds from the American Rescue Plan to make plans more affordable and to keep people enrolled in Medicaid.  

“It was also applause-worthy to see the abolition of ‘surprise billing’ this year and an end to most medical debt appearing on credit reports.”

This is good news for me because I spent most of my career in state lobbying representing the interests of those – especially Providence Health Services, Oregon’s second largest employer – who wanted to generate more health insurance coverage.  The answer wasn’t always simple, so the latest achievement is noteworthy.

Here, without comment from me, is the rest of the “good news” list:

1. Ukraine still stands.

2. American voters rejected extreme candidates.

3. Gas prices are no longer at heart attack levels.

4. Lizzo played THAT flute.  (Explanation:  Musician extraordinaire Lizzo went viral for playing James Madison’s 1813 crystal flute.  First, she performed with it at the Library of Congress  — at the library’s request.  Then she tooted it briefly onstage at her D.C. concert in front of thousands of fans.  Lizzo, a classically trained flutist, instantly reminded us of the magic of in-person events and the treasures of U.S. history.)

5. “Jeopardy!” was on a hot streak.

6. Nathan “Quad King” Chen skated to redemption.

7. Metro finally lands at Dulles International Airport.

8. Pickleball is our new favorite pastime.

9. TikTok brought us “butter boards.”

10. The world (mostly) averted a global food crisis.

11. We’re going back to the moon!

12. Wordle-mania hit hard.

13. A record number of Americans had health insurance – see above.

14. More than 4 million people got jobs.

15. Sequels and prequels reigned – on TV, that is.

16. Schools reopened — and stayed open.

17. The Washington Football Team got a new name – the Commanders.

18. Bi-partisanship on guns, same-sex marriage, and chips.

19. Deficit reduction made a (very modest) comeback.

20. AI is having a moment.

21. Crypto got sober.

22. And the award goes to … older Americans.  (As much as people love “30 Under 30” lists, there has been a lot to celebrate lately from Americans (and Canadians) “of a certain age.”  Tony Bennett won a Grammy in April at age 95.  Angela Alvarez, 95, won best new artist at the Latin Grammys. Erlinda Biondic, at 82, became the oldest woman to complete a 100-mile race (she lives in Canada, but she set her record in New Jersey).  And World War II veteran Lester Wright, at 100, set a new 100-meter dash record (26.34 seconds) for centenarians and earned a standing ovation from the crowd.  Let them be your new inspirations.)

So, remember, that there is good news around if you are open to finding it.

IN SYMBOL AT LEAST, GOING BEHIND THE SCENES ON CONGRESS’ “OMNIBUS” LEGISLATION

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.

Wall Street Journal editorial writers had a field day when the U.S. Senate passed what was called an “omnibus” funding bill.

Here is what they wrote under this headline:  “Congress’ Omnibus Is $1.7 Trillion and 4,155 Pages:”

“With lawmakers eager to head home for the holidays, Congress unveiled an omnibus spending package that must be seen to be believed.  Besides a $1.7 trillion price tag, the bill includes changes to the Electoral Count Act, aid for Ukraine, a ban on TikTok on government devices, tweaks to Medicaid rules, and new FDA powers over cosmetics.  

“Is this really how Congress should be doing business?”

That strikes me as a good question, but I will demur from further commentary on an action in Congress that I watched from afar.

I add that the Senate-passed bill is under consideration in the U.S. House where its fate is far from certain as Republicans may choose to wait until they take control before deciding what to do.

But, in all of this, my thoughts went to behind-the-scenes – and, of course, I wasn’t there either in Washington, D.C.

But I think about the bill writers in the back rooms who had to translate the complicated piece of legislation into words that would fit within federal statutes – and had to do in a matter of just a few days, perhaps even hours.

And, what they got stuck doing consumed more than 4,000 pages.  Must have been several long nights at the keyboard.

My thoughts went in this direction because of my 25 years as a lobbyist, albeit in Oregon, not Washington, D.C.  Here, I knew that a band of lawyers in the Legislative Counsel’s Office at the State Capitol would stay up nights turning legislative action into statutory language.

Not 4,000 pages, probably, but still a lot of work.

One aside.  When I or my clients wanted to introduce a piece of legislation in Salem, we had to resort to this process:  We had to get what was called “a note from mother,” which was a note from a legislator authorizing a bill to be drafted.  The note would then to go to the Legislative Counsel’s Office.

Why this circuitous route?  The answer was the Legislative Counsel’s Office function as lawyers for legislators, not for lobbyists or their clients.  So, we had to get the note. 

Then, the lawyers in the Counsel’s Office would draft the proposed bill.  They were the only one’s authorized to do so.

Back to the federal omnibus bill.  My thoughts also went to its length.  Would senators have the time or attention span to read all of it before voting?  Probably not.

So, it stands as a comparison to the action several years ago in Congress to pass the Affordable Care Act, which came to be called ObamaCare.

The text was so long that none other than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted she had not read the bill as she prevailed on House members to vote for it.

Still, wherever they are, in Salem or Washington, D.C., my sympathy rests with those who get stuck with writing the details of complicated pieces of legislation.

AT CHRISTMAS, MY MIND HEADS TO THE WORDS AND MUSIC OF MY FAVORITE SONGS, INCLUDING HANDEL’S “MESSIAH”

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.

As is the case at Easter, Christmas is a time when I remember my favorite words of famous Christmas carols, the best one of which in terms of music may be “Handel’s Messiah.”

I reflect on Christmas carols, but don’t usually sing them because I cannot, as they say, carry a tune in a wheelbarrow.

There is almost no better way to celebrate the “reason for the season,” which is to remember that Christ came to earth, lived for about 30 years here, and then went to a horrible death.  All to give us a way to have a relationship with Him.

Why do I post this blog on December 22, several days before Christmas?  Well, this is the day for our family Christmas, a tradition that owes its thrill to my wife, Nancy.  She has done such a great job that our grandchildren, even now as teenagers, look forward every year to “Nana’s Christmas.”

An on-line aggregator, Pushpay, came up with a list of the Top 10 Christmas hymns played at churches at this time of the year.  Here is the list, though at the end of what I post this morning, I refer to one of the greatest sounds of Christmas, “Handel’s Messiah:”

• The Christmas carol “O Holy Night” ranked first in a list of hymns most played in December at Christian churches in the United States.
• “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Silent Night” ranked second and third, respectively.
• The top-10 list is filled with carols familiar to Catholics.  Following the top three choices are, in order, “The First Noel,” “Joy to The World” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.”
• Following those are two songs featured more in the repertoire of non-Catholic churches.  “Glorious Day,” which ranked seventh overall, was recorded by the contemporary Christian group “Passion.”  It is more of a salvation narrative without any lyrics taking note of the birth or infancy of Jesus.  Still, the song’s official music and lyrics video has received 6.6 million views on YouTube.
• There are several versions of the eighth-ranked song, “Goodness of God.”  One video of the song has climbed up to seven million YouTube views.  The song is another in the Christian contemporary genre which focuses more on a first-person singular, personal relationship with Jesus than a first-person plural voice found more often in Catholic hymnody.
• Ninth is the gospel melody “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” which has found a home in many Catholic hymnals and parishes.
• The 10th spot is taken by “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” an Advent song based on a chant melody familiar to Catholics ,not only in the United States, but throughout the world.

As we approach Christmas, I usually try to find a way to get past the glitz of the season, though the “glitz” is not all bad.  There is just a purpose to the season beyond that and a way for me to focus on the “real reason for the season” is to recall the words of great hymns and carols.

So, finally, this on the “Messiah” drawn from a story this morning in the Washington Post:

“They say you can’t force the Christmas spirit.  To that I say:  Watch me. Determined to feel something festive this year, I decided to go all in on the “Messiah,” attending three full performances of Handel’s 1741 masterpiece by three orchestras in one week:  The New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic

“That’s nearly 8½ hours of concentrated exaltation!”

For me, the exaltation occurs when, at our church for the Christmas Eve service, members of the audience are invited to head up to the stage to join in singing the “Messiah.”

Of course, I stay in my seat.  But then, as the performance begins, I stand up with every other person in the audience.  It’s the right action to take — also a traditional one — in response to the great words and music by Handel that uphold God!

DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS PROPOSE ISSUES FOR 2023 LEGISLATURE, BUT PROPOSALS DON’T ALWAYS MEAN RESULTS

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.

I found myself wondering this morning about the coming session of the Oregon Legislature, which starts officially on or about February 1, 2023 and runs through the end of June.

As a former state lobbyist, my thoughts went to what issues Democrats and Republicans will advance in the session.

I could imagine some of them, given what happened along the recent campaign trail.  But I also was not sure.

Then, I went on-line to the website of my former client, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), and got a look at prospects.

OPB remains one of the best journalistic outfits going and one central feature is a program called “Think Out Loud,” moderated by Dave Miller.

Early December interviews with soon-to-be Speaker of the Oregon House, Dan Rayfield, and soon-to-be Minority Leader in the Oregon Senate, Tim Knopp, produced the issue summary that appears below.  The results, to be sure, are a bit general, but still a helpful early look.

And, of course, as this blog headline notes, proposals are one thing.  Results are another.

But, first, this summary of the make-up of the House and Senate.

Even as former House Speaker Tina Kotek won a spirited three-way contest to be Oregon’s next governor (no Republican has held the state’s highest political office since 1987), Democrats kept their majorities in both the House and Senate.  However, they lost supermajorities in both chambers, which means:  (a) Democrats cannot pass tax increases on their own as they could in the past; and (b) they’ll need to work with Republicans to find middle ground on various issues.

On the Think Out Loud program, moderator Miller asked both Rayfield and Knopp about the “most urgent issues” facing the state.

Rayfield said this:

“I lump them into three categories.  And just as a reminder, we have six months to really accomplish a lot of things.  The first one that we heard loud and clear from people in Oregon is that we just need to make things work.

“If you think about housing and homelessness, behavioral health, we have a public defense crisis getting better outcomes in education.  We just need to make that stuff work.   I think we’ll have some packages during the session that will really start to address those issues.

“We also need to invest in Oregonians.  They’re our biggest asset.  It’s our infrastructure.  It is the bread and butter.  So, you think about investing in the workforce.  We have general workforce shortages, as well as nursing shortages.

“We have shortages in our education side of things.  Semiconductors, there’s a tremendous opportunity to bring billions of dollars to the state and really create family wage jobs into the future.  

“And, then the third category is strengthening our democracy.  Thinking about campaign finance reform, voters overwhelmingly support this.  We have to get this done.  There’s ways to improve our ethics and build trust within the government.  I think that this is more important than ever.

“I think there’s ways to reform our electoral system, changing the way we elect candidates perhaps through ‘rank choice’ voting.  I think there’s a responsibility that we have as elective leaders to build a culture of respect in the Legislature, especially as we see a lot of the discomfort and frustration that you see on the federal level that all of us have with the government. I think there’s an opportunity for us to lead to build a culture of respect.

Here is the way Minority Leader Knopp answered the same question.

“Well, I think this is going to be a budget session and if you talk to people who are low or middle income, they’ve been in recession for the better part of the year.  Our economists from the state tell us that the whole state will be in recession within six to twelve months.  And as I said, I think a good portion of Oregonians are already having trouble paying for their groceries, their gas, and their rent.

“I think it’s really important that we do what we can in the Legislature to help them with their family budgets.  One of the things we can do is return a substantial kicker to those families who have paid taxes – we would say overpaid – and now it’s time for them to get their money back in the form of a stimulus.  I’d love to see it go back as a check as quickly as possible.  So that’s one item.

“My hope is that the Democrat majorities will work with the Republican minorities all along the way.  If they don’t, they’re not likely to have votes for budgets, which could be problematic because, if we’re talking about some budget reductions in areas, then I think that could become problematic for them.

“I think it’s all about prioritization.  And I’ve said for the last couple of years that, if you had a program that you just started up, you should consider that a one-time expenditure, whether it was agreed that was the case or not, because you could see that this recession was likely to come. We didn’t know exactly when.  But let’s just say that the Biden Administration hasn’t done a lot to help keep us out of recession and probably done more to drive us into one.

“That’s why I think it’ll probably be a little worse than what the state economists are saying.  I liken it to the pilot who comes on and tells you that it’s going to be a 15-minute delay whereby they then come on a half hour later and say it’s going to be a half hour delay and you’ve all been on flights where that’s happened. And I feel like we may be in that situation with the economists.  They don’t want to over-exaggerate that it’s going to be bad news, but I think it will likely be worse than what’s being portrayed.”

Now, beyond the summary of potential issues, one thing I have noticed in the run-up to the session is the tension in the Senate between Knopp and the Democrat who is scheduled to become Senate President, Rob Wagner.

He will be first new Senate President in 15 years, given that the incumbent, Peter Courtney, is leaving the Legislature.

I know both Knopp and Wagner, having lobbied both before I retired.  I found both to be willing to consider, to listen, and then to give me their thoughts.

So, I have been surprised about the tension between the two, even before the session starts.

Here is the way Knopp put it on the OPB program:

“It’s really up to him.  The Senate President represents the entire Senate, not just the Senate Democrats.  And obviously he comes from a place of being the majority leader (the job he held last session) and being very partisan.  

“It is our hope that he will become much more bi-partisan as we move into the 2023 session, but he hasn’t shown that to be true.

“And, as it relates to untrustworthy, many of our members have had issues with him, I would say, being less than accurate on why their bills were dying or what was happening and didn’t like it.  There are currently no votes on our side for Wagner as Senate President.

“I’ve been able to talk with him, but we need to have a partner that, when there’s an agreement that’s made, the agreement is honored.”

To react to the entire 2023 Legislature, I use this time-worn phrase, “only time will tell” as to what is accomplished.

Democrats remain in charge everywhere in Salem.  Can they work with Republicans?  And, can Republicans find a way to be a productive minority.”

For my part, I am glad to be retired, so I won’t have to deal with the process, but will be able to monitor the Legislature from afar.

THREE VIEWS FROM THE WASHINGTON POST: LOWERING THE BOOM ON TRUMP

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.

Donald Trump deserves all the legal jeopardy he faces.

He did so much damage to the country – our country – and is still brandishing many weapons as he tries to become U.S. president again.

Three views from the Post this morning verify the jeopardy – and I post these intentionally because I share the views:

FROM COLUMNIST JENNIFER RUBIN: 

“Donald Trump cannot pass off the House January 6 Select Committee’s final report as mere partisan opinion.  His criminal liability is based on a mound of evidence, as the committee meticulously detailed.

Error! Filename not specified.Donald Trump cannot pass off the House Jan. 6 select committee’s final report as mere partisan opinion. His criminal liability is based on a mound of evidence, as the committee meticulously detailed.””Moreover, the committee’s “roadmap to justice” is not just a restatement of facts already made public by the committee. It is the foundation that the Justice Department could use to prosecute the former president and his underlings to the fullest extent of the law.

“The report’s executive summary, which the committee released on Monday, includes four criminal referrals for Trump:  Insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and conspiracy to make a false statement.

“At its core, the report lays out the evidence for critical facts:

• Trump attempted to stay in power despite the vote of the American people.
• He tried to concoct phony slates of electors to change the electoral vote.
• He tried to pressure former vice president Mike Pence to disregard the electoral count.
• When that did not work, he summoned the mob to the capital on January 6, 2021, urged rally attendees (some of whom were armed) to march to the Capitol and did nothing for 187 minutes to stop the violence that ensued.  In fact, while the insurrection was underway, he sent out a tweet putting a target on Pence’s back.”

COMMENT:  Enough said.

FROM COLUMNIST GREG SARGENT: 

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“It was the biggest surprise of the mid-terms:  Bucking widespread skepticism, the House committee examining President Donald Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection made the cause of democracy matter to voters.  Its revelations surely encouraged the defeat of numerous MAGA election-deniers, helping protect our political system against future subversion.

“Now, with the panel holding its last meeting Monday in advance of the release of its final report, it appears prepared to attempt another, similar feat:  Making a public case that Trump committed crimes.

“Will this influence the Justice Department’s ultimate decision on whether to charge Trump?  Probably not.  And many will argue that this renders the move unnecessary or purely theatrical.

“But that’s the wrong way to look at the committee’s work.

“This move communicates to the public that the committee — which has examined the insurrection more deeply than anyone — believes the Justice Department should investigate whether Trump committed specific crimes. When people deride hearings as ‘political theater,’ that’s automatically understood as a ‘showboating waste of time.’  But successful hearings, even theatrical ones, are also acts of communication with the people. And in this case, that’s especially important.”

COMMENT:  Enough said.

FROM THE POST EDITORIAL BOARD

“The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack approached the end of its work Monday with a dramatic recommendation that the Justice Department charge former president Donald Trump with four crimes, including inciting or assisting an insurrection.  This criminal referral is symbolic; the Justice Department is responsible for making a tough call on whether such charges would stick — and whether it would be prudent to indict a former president and current presidential candidate.

“The committee has secured its legacy in different ways, providing a searing picture of what occurred on January 6, 2021, and exhibiting the cowardice of those who, out of fear of Trump, refused to help it reckon with that dark day.

“The public now knows much more about Trump’s culpability.  New details, including videotaped testimony from former Trump aides, showed Trump had been told he’d lost the election, but nevertheless leaned on state officials, the Justice Department, his vice president, and others to keep him in power — a campaign that resulted in the January 6, 2021, riot.”

COMMENT:  Enough said.