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 Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering is open again – and I am the director with full and complete authority over which quotes to cite.

There will be no bi-partisanship here, just as there appears to be not much of the same in Congress or the Oregon Legislature.

This department is one of two I manage alone. The other is the Department of Pet Peeves. It is closed now, but will open soon.

So, here are the quotes, with comments from me.

Wall Street Journal editorial: “Amid these passing controversies—and ode to joy, there will be more—Congress ought to ponder how to better use the power of the purse. Most of the government has been on autopilot since 2010, lurching from one short-term funding bill to the next. The author of this dysfunction was the unlamented former Majority Leader Harry Reid, who shut down regular budget order to shield Senate Democrats from having to make spending choices. He carried the practice into the minority after 2014.”

Comment: Good riddance to Reid, one of the master manipulators of what should be a better democratic process in the U.S. Senate. He is gone, thank goodness, but, sad to say, his obstructionist policies remain in place.

William McGurn in the Wall Street Journal: “Let us stipulate that Medicaid reform and corporate tax cuts are both excellent initiatives. Done properly, each would offer Americans, including those at the lower end of the income scale, a better deal than they have now. Unfortunately, pitching health-care reform as the way to help ‘pay for’ corporate tax cuts undermines the best arguments for both.”

Comment: It appears that expanding Medicaid is the means to expand the provision of health insurance to many citizens, which means, to me, that we continue to be on the way toward a single payer system – with government as the payer.

Gerald Seib in the Wall Street Journal: “Imagine this new president had a given a different kind of inaugural address one in which he didn’t accuse the capital’s political leaders of flourishing at the expense of its citizens, but rather sketched out a vision of a new way of working with those leaders.

“This presidency wouldn’t have started with polarizing issues guaranteed to back both parties further into their corners: Aiming to repeal the Democrats’ signature health care law and imposing a ban on travel from a set of Muslim-majority countries as the first step in fighting terrorism. Rather, it would have opened with two big initiatives in which at least a few Democrats would have been willing – maybe even eager – to cooperate: Rebuilding U.S. infrastructure and changing the nation’s inefficient tax code.”

Comment: Good reflection by Seib on why the Trump Administration’s first 100 days – admittedly an arbitrary marker – has been fraught with peril.

Oregon union leader on legislature’s budget cut proposal: “Unions wasted no time in rebuking the proposals. Steve Demarest, SEIU 503 president, called the cutbacks “outrageous,” noting that the majority of the proposals are directed at public employees. This is an effort to scapegoat people who have dedicated their lives to public service,” he said. He called for lawmakers to solve the state’s budget shortfall by increasing taxes on corporations.”

Comment: No surprise here as public employee union leaders decry any budget cuts.

Oregon business leader on legislature’s budget cut proposal: “The business community praised the proposals. Patrick Criteser, chair of the Oregon Business Plan coalition, said the group supports ‘an approach that slows the runaway growth in state spending, especially one that tackles long-term spending. Once the business community has ‘assurance that costs will be addressed,’ Criteser said, businesses will be open to paying higher taxes to support education funding.”

Comment: Criteser’s comment underscores the long-standing reality for business – cuts must precede tax increases, especially in light of the union-inspired Ballot Measure 97 business tax increases that went down to a major defeat last November.

Republican McInturff in the Wall Street Journal: “If Trump is for it, a Democrat has to be against it. There is no middle left.”

Comment: McInturff is right on. There is no smart middle on much of anything these days.

Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek on prospects for as budget deal in the legislature: “It’s not enough to cobble together a budget that merely avoids the worst cuts for a couple of years. We need real cost-containment, real revenue reform, and real statesmanship to do right by the people who elected us to wrestle with these difficult issues.”

Comment: Kotek and other legislative leaders on BOTH sides of the aisle will have to get their act together if a compromise is to emerge before the end of the session in late June or early July.