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.

I, as the director of this department, am choosing to open it again because there has been a lot of grist for the mill lately.

From Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post:  “But there is no depth to which Trump will not sink in defense of the only thing he holds dear: Himself. And so, the nation witnessed a tweet in which the president, a leader to whom the country once looked for healing in times of national tragedy, instead used innocent victims, high school children mowed down in their own school, to make his bogus, self-interested point.

“Did he? Did he really use dead children to attack an investigation into his campaign and his conduct in office? Yes, he did. This is a person devoid of empathy. He can experience the world only through the prism of his own ego.”

Comment: Again, Trump proves that, no matter the situation or the grief, his world revolves around himself.

From Kimberley Strassel in the Wall Street Journal: “With all the good news about the new Republican tax law, you may be surprised to learn that the fight isn’t over. Behind the scenes, reformers face a new challenge: Navigating the IRS swamp.

“It’s a little-known fact that for 35 years the Internal Revenue Service has exempted itself from the most basic regulatory oversight. When the Labor Department or the Small Business Administration create ‘major’ or ‘significant’ rules or guidance, they are required to submit them for centralized review. That ensures regulations are consistent with the law and with White House priorities and that they’ve been analyzed for costs, benefits and flexibility.

“But in 1983, the Treasury Department signed a memorandum with the Office of Management and Budget that largely exempted the IRS from submitting its rules to White House review via OIRA, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The memo still stands today. In the face of congressional attempts at oversight, the IRS issued a 1996 opinion claiming that tax statutes are in and of themselves responsible for any costs or inflexibility—that the IRS’s rules are, by definition, pure distillation of law.

“And the IRS is already playing games with the GOP tax reform. Just a week after passage, the IRS rushed out guidance declaring that most taxpayers couldn’t deduct prepaid 2018 property taxes on their 2017 returns to claim that benefit before the new law kicks in. The IRS decided this with no input from the White House or other agencies. IRS bureaucrats—many of them implacably opposed to his White House and bitter over recent congressional oversight—will have plenty of opportunity to cause trouble with its interpretations of a complicated tax reform.”

Comment: So, this account underscores a reality – the bureaucracy is alive and well in Washington. It would appear obvious that Trump and White House should do something about this over-reach.

From Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal: “Compromise is often good. On gun law, Republicans oppose banning assault weapons such as the AR-15, the one the Parkland shooter used, because of the numbers, power and contributions of gun owners and the NRA. Democrats oppose banning late-term abortion because of the numbers, power and contributions of the rising left, feminists and Planned Parenthood.   The idea: Trade banning assault weapons for banning late-term abortion. Make illegal a killing machine and a killing procedure.”

Comment: Noonan hits on two issues – guns and abortion – that scared me when I lobbied in the Oregon Legislature.  I usually would leave the Capitol building when either issue was under consideration.  On guns, the legislature would be hard-pressed to find middle ground and pro-gun advocates would be in the hearings, often carrying guns. On abortion, legislators were almost powerless, given the U.S. Supreme Court prerogatives, but, still, abortion-on-demand advocates filled hearing rooms.

From William McGurn in the Wall Street Journal: “Because the tax reform passed without a single Democratic vote, good news about the economy is bad news for Democratic candidates. It further means the Democratic message is rooted in enabling Washington dysfunction, because they cannot run as people willing to reach across the aisle to get things done.”

Comment: Both the Ds and the Rs often in D.C. often have what they believe is a political stake in continuing dysfunction in Congress. The McGurn quote – “because they cannot run as people willing to reach across the aisle to get things done” – is a sad commentary on two things, Members of Congress and us, as voters.

And a comment without a quote: Enough? One school shooting is one too many – and there have been 18. It’s time for Congress to act to ban buying assault rifles. At least that! Also, beyond that, my idea is to pass a law creating a new crime: It would be to classify making a threat of gun violence at a school a crime and, thus, law enforcement authorities would have reason to act – not just until there is an action, but in response to the threat of an action.