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, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), 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.

That question has troubled me as I look at the political landscape in Oregon, especially as public employee unions push forward with a job-killing initiative to impose a huge increase in business taxes.

Creating jobs – or, better put, creating an environment favorable to job creation — also does not appear to be a top tier issue for those running for president, at least on the Democrat side.

Political leaders in Oregon – and, at the moment, all of them are Democrats – rarely talk about producing more jobs (or even saving them in Oregon) as a way to gain more revenue for important priorities, including K-12 education, higher education, cops, prisons and health care.

Instead, leading Democrats seem always to talk about how to impose more taxes on business, which, as Oregon proved in several years ago, will come at the expense of new jobs.

Further, the current emphasis to increase minimum wages also, according to various experts, will come at the expense of entry-level jobs.

The question: Why?