PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19TH 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.
This is actually a brief addendum to my last blog, which outlined some of the steps in producing political leverage, a key to my long work as a lobbyist here in Oregon.
In that blog, I listed nine steps in producing leverage — nine options, not all of which would be every time in trying to produce a solid result for a client.
I forgot one.
Is in the “tinker bell” strategy, which I attribute to my partner and friend, a lobbying mentor for me, Pat McCormick.
This strategy worked as follows. You stand in the back of the hearing room and, with eyes tight shut, HOPE for the best.
Actually, on occasion for me, this hopeful strategy worked more effectively than all others.
Perspective from the 19th Hole 