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 headline makes the point that the department is open again. I am the director. I don’t report to anyone. I just name the pet peeves at my whim.

So, here goes.

I WISH TRUMP WOULD STOP TWEETING: When I attended the swearing-in ceremony for Oregon’s new treasurer, Tobias Read, he said that it seldom is possible to render sound judgments on complicated public policy issues in 140 characters.

Well said.

My wish is that Donald Trump would stop tweeting. The tactic should be beneath him in his role as president, if only now as president-elect.

And, one more point on tweets…next.

I WISH THE MEDIA WOULD BE MORE DISCREET IN COVERING TRUMP’S TWEETS: Not everything Trump tweets is news, so reporters and editors should show more even-handed discretion. Don’t just tumble to the Trump goal, which is to usurp the news cycle, if there is a cycle any more.

As a former journalist, my view is this: Since it is likely that Trump will continue tweeting, take note of what he says via that medium and then do real stories on the subject he raises, not just stories that he is tweeting again.

In other words, use the tweets as pegs for news stories. But do the stories themselves using sound journalistic standards and judgments.

New York Times media critic Eric Wemple put it this way in his column this week: “Journalism is a classic craft that does not need new strategies to manage its fundamental work. Report, report, report. That’s how one major newspaper is approaching Trump, as its six-person White House detail is the largest it has ever deployed to this beat. The Washington Post also has a six-person deployment, and Politico has seven, the largest in its decade-long history. More resources to cover a president-elect that deploys falsehoods and misdirection at every turn — that’s called a strategy.”

CONCERNS ABOUT THE CONFIRMATION PROCESS: We are witnessing another chapter in a long book – confirmation processes for persons named by a president or a president-elect to head a federal agency. Similar processes exist at the state level in Oregon for those named to head state agencies.

Call me stupid or poly-annish, but I think the focus of these confirmation processes should be on whether a nominee has the experience and credentials to manage a particular agency, not on whether the nomine agrees with the views of a particular senator who may be asking the questions.

In fact, if a Republican president or president-elect nominates someone, it is likely that person will not hold the same positions on issues as Democrat members of the Senate. Further, a case could be made that they should not; they don’t work for the Senate; they work for the president.

One of the recent examples went even farther down a dead-end road. This time, Republican Senator Marco Rubio from Florida – yes, Republican — was not pleased with answers provided by Rex Tillerson who has been nominated by Republican Donald Trump to be Secretary of State. Rubio was not pleased because Tillerson did not share all aspects of his, Rubio’s, bias against Russia, including whether Vladimir Putin was a “war criminal.”

Tillerson, properly, I contend, declined to provide a yes or no answer to the question until he had more information, but also came me across as an official, if confirmed, who would be appropriately skeptical of Russia’s motives.

Here’s the way Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan put it in a column this week: “Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson came across as distinguished, calm, informed. In intense questioning, Senator Marco Rubio was strangely, yippily hostile. ‘Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal?’ Mr. Rubio pressed. ‘I would not use that term,’ Mr. Tillerson replied, blandly, but with an expression that allowed you to imagine a thought bubble: You can mess with me, son, but it won’t end well for you. In the end, Mr. Rubio did Mr. Tillerson no harm and himself no good.”

Rubio’s focus should have been on whether Tillerson is qualified for the job, not whether he agreed with him on tough issues about which there can be many views.

Beyond the confirmation process, columnist Ruth Marcus notes that the Trump administration’s first Cabinet meeting should be a very interesting affair. On issue after issue — Russia, the border wall, the Iran nuclear deal, climate change, torture, NATO — she writes that Trump’s nominees have diverged from his stated positions. “So, she continues, “whose views will prevail? Could Trump’s secretaries help save Trump from himself — and the country from Trump? Will they offer a sobering dose-of-reality therapy for the reality TV president?”

And this footnote. Soon we’ll see a confirmation process for a U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Here, based on seeing past Court confirmation processes, the focus will be whether the nominee agrees with a questioner, not whether he or she is qualified for the court seat. No way to avoid this, I guess.

DEMOCRATS IN OREGON SHOVE REPUBLICANS ASIDE: Democrats are in charge of nearly all aspects of government in Oregon – the House, the Senate and the Governor’s Office. They lead 35-25 in the House and 18-12 in the Senate and they hold the Governor’s Office.

Republicans in the House are complaining that Democrat leaders there are giving the Rs short shrift in dividing up the committee assignments for the 2017 legislative session. Sure, the Ds are in charge and they get to assign committees, but as the Oregonian opined this week, Democrats “should court Republican support anyway for reasons far beyond bi-partisan bragging rights. First, the problems of educational mediocrity, a massive budget deficit and the lack of affordable housing cut across Oregonians – from urban Democratic precincts to Republican strongholds – and those elected to represent them deserve a hand in shaping policies to meet their constituents’ needs.”

Further, the Oregonian used a telling phrase by saying that “good legislation is not created in an echo chamber.” My pet peeve is that those in charge, in this case, the Democrats, usually overplay their leadership hand – yelling in the echo chamber, if you will – rather than getting about the business of finding real solutions to real public policy problems.

Here’s hoping that all parties in Salem will end up being able to find middle ground. It will take reasoned leaders and followers, not those who shut out the other side.