PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, and 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 have reflected on this lately after someone asked me if I was embarrassed after having been a lobbyist for 25 years until I retired a few months ago.

My quick and easy was no.

Sure, with lobbyists as with any other profession, a rotten apple can spoil the barrel. The risk is that all lobbyists get a bad name.

But, in my experience in a company I co-founded about 25 years ago, lobbying has been a forthright, upright and honest profession. Let me summarize how.

First, without standing on some kind of pedestal, I would say that I never was required to engage in unethical conduct to advance the cause of my clients. The clients expected straightforward and honest conduct. My colleagues and I delivered it. The professional association of lobbyists, the Capitol Club (yes, the name could be improved), maintains a code of conduct and good lobbyists live under both the letter and spirit of that code.

I did.

To be effective, a lobbyist must retain credibility at all costs. Your word must be your word, which, if you think about it, is an appropriate aspiration for all of real life.

I and others in my firm also had the privilege of representing a host of honorable and ethical clients over the years. I was never once embarrassed to have my name associated with these clients.

That includes such superb organizations as Providence Health System, Hewlett-Packard, Harris Communications, Catholic Community Services, Youth Villages-Oregon, UnitedHealthcare, Columbia River Pilots, Oregon Winegrowers Association, Coos/Yaquina Bay Pilots, the Portland Trailblazers, Salem-Keizer Transit, the City of Salem, the Oregon Association of Broadcasters, Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Coalition of County Children and Families Commissions, the Port of Portland and many others.

On behalf of these clients, I counted it a privilege to be in the business of helping to form public policy. My clients illustrated a key principle of the business of politics, which is to be open to compromise — solutions to public policy problems somewhere in the middle, which is the where the best solutions lie anyway.

So, is lobbying a honorable profession? I answer yes and look back with fondness and pride at what “we” – my colleagues and I – were able to achieve over the years with the full support and cooperation of our clients.