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 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 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.

The New York Times carried a story today that reports a lament about the loss of compromise in Washington, D.C., a lament I share for Oregon.

It was a piece on the retirement of R. Bruce Josten, who had been the lead lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for years on such issues as trade, tax and energy.

He was called the master of the “inside game,” another way of putting in shorthand his ability to work both sides of the aisle to help produce middle ground compromise.

The story used a headline to which I don’t subscribe, saying that Josten mourned the loss of the “smoke-filled backroom.” For me, I don’t like the image of the smoke-filled room, but the point holds: To produce compromise, you often have to head into a room out of the glare of cameras and notepads and do the hard work of finding compromise among disparate interests.

After all, compromise is the actual definition of the word politics.

Here are a few good excerpts from the NY Times article:

• He had to “watch his specialty — sophisticated legislative give-and-take — become less prized in a polarized capital. Washington has become an ‘I win, you lose’ town rather than a ‘how do we get this done’ town where those skilled in what he calls the ‘art of the back room’ can have a big effect.’”
• “I like to be able to negotiate and go back and forth,” said Mr. Josten, recounting how he would shuttle proposals between congressional players on big bills. “That is what I did. It was a big part of closing a deal to get it out of committee, to get it to an actual floor vote to passage. And that doesn’t happen anymore. I actually do miss the smoke-filled rooms of yesteryear,” said Mr. Josten, and not just because he quit smoking after a health scare three years ago. “Because you got a lot done.”
• Josten is more concerned with the trend toward one party going it alone legislatively, using its power to impose its priorities on the other as the Democrats did with the health care law and Republicans are threatening to do by repealing it. That approach is not sustainable in the long run, he said. “If you want durability and lasting law, the only way to really achieve it is to engage both sides of the aisle and reach an outcome that the president, regardless of party, will sign because of the product itself,” he said.
• “He sees a current political and legislative climate marked by a certain inflexibility and intransigence that is not conducive to compromise and ends with little being accomplished. From time to time, you work with your adversaries,” said Mr. Josten, who became the chamber’s chief lobbyist in 1994, as the organization faced a membership revolt over the chamber’s initial endorsement of key elements of the Clinton administration’s health care proposal. “You’ve got to be able to separate certain things at certain times and do what is right for your constituents. I think it just became harder and harder for the politicians to do that and I think that has had an impact on all of us in town.”
• With Republicans about to assert themselves, Mr. Josten fears they will not learn from the mistakes made by Democrats when they had control of the White House and Congress and will “ram them and jam them” on taxes and health care. He suggests another course for Republicans who think there is but one alternative. “Why don’t you try it the old-fashioned way would be my recommendation,” Mr. Josten said. “Let’s have a real give and take.” “I always felt it shouldn’t be really easy to legislate,” he said. “It should be a bit of a challenge. You should have to work at it.”

I could write similar statements about the loss of the ability to find compromise at the State Capitol in Salem. Too often, it is a “I win, you lose” mentality, which does not usually produce good policy for Oregon.

Most of the real solutions to tax, energy, health care, education and transportation lie somewhere in the middle.

The trick in Washington, D.C. and Salem is finding those sweet spots.