The lobbying and public relations firm – CFM Strategic Communications, or CFM for short — where I have been a partner is celebrating its 25th anniversary this spring.

The summary: Time passes quickly when you are having fun and being involved in something very purposeful.

While I am now retired, I remain a shareholder in the firm and have had the privilege of continuing to work with – call it mentoring — several CFM associates who are performing very well, so much so that no one misses me…which is good.

On this 25^th anniversary, it is appropriate to reflect back on the past and draw a few conclusions:

• The first is that CFM has had the privilege of representing many great clients over the years. Never once was I embarrassed to be associated with our clients at the Capitol in Salem where I lobbied for those clients. Quite the contrary: The roster of excellent clients added materially to CFM’s reputation as a firm.

• I have had the privilege of working with great partners over the years. While we brought different skills and abilities to our enterprise, we were able to work as a team to produce results for clients – and results for CFM in the sense that we survived for 25 years in a tough, competitive business. This is further piece of good news: I always trusted every one of the partners, a noteworthy assurance in private business these days.

• Beyond the partners, I also had the privilege of working with great staff members. I have seen many of them go on to bigger and better things based on their experiences in our firm – and I take great pride in having played a role in that.

In our business, I like to call myself a “communicator.” For me, the title stems from my background as a newspaper reporter. Ten years ago, if you said you worked for a “communications company,” someone would have thought you worked for the phone company. No longer.

Some of us communicated with legislators at the Capitol in Salem. Some of us communicated with city councilors and county commissioners. Some of us communicated with representatives of the media. Some of us communicated with stakeholders who were affected by our clients’ programs.

I had the privilege of joining two other partners 25 years ago to form CFM. One was Gary Conkling, who is still active today as the president of CFM. He and I went to college together and the rest is history as we have worked together at The Daily Astorian, Oregon Congressman Les AuCoin’s Office and Tektronix.

The other partner is Pat McCormick, who left CFM a few years to start a public relations company with his daughter. Pat and I became acquainted when we worked for Congressman AuCoin.

There could be no better partners than the two of them.

So, what was a lobbyist anyway? There are a lot of stories about disreputable figures who carry around bags of money to buy results. Usually, it doesn’t work that way.

When she asked what I did for living, I told my mother many years ago that a lobbyist, like me, was, (a) someone who functioned like an attorney with a client and with courtroom that consisted of a legislative hearing room, the Capitol hallway, the legislator’s office, the coffee shop and, yes, the golf course (anywhere where a message could be delivered), (b) someone functioned like a trader on a busy commodity trading floor, figuratively yelling to get someone’s attention, and (b) someone who who functioned like a salesperson, though my product was a point of view, a perspective, not a widget.

So, as I continue moving into retirement, I salute my firm and all of those who have had a hand in our success. It has been a clear-cut team effort.