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.

Going back to the confirmation process for William Barr as attorney general of the United States, I found two irksome developments in what occurred a few weeks ago in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Both relate, no doubt, to my own background as an Oregon state agency manager and, while I am in no way comparing my service to that of Barr, Democrat senators in Congress went out of their way to be irksome.

Here are the two developments:

MAKING THE MUELLER REPORT PUBLIC: The special counsel regulations call for investigator Robert Mueller to provide the attorney general with a “confidential report,” explaining who he did and did not decide to prosecute, and for the attorney general (who, after the Senate votes today, will be Barr) to notify Congress of the investigation’s end and of any steps Mueller wanted to take that were vetoed.

Further, according to the Washington Post, the regulations give Barr some latitude to release information publicly, though did note at his confirmation hearing that, under normal circumstances, prosecutors would not reveal information about those they chose not to charge.

Irking some lawmakers, he declined to guarantee he would release Mueller’s findings in full, though he has vowed to be as transparent as possible.

That solid answer prompted Democrats to rail against Barr, suggesting that he would try to keep the Mueller report confidential.

But, all Barr said was that he would adhere to the regulations governing the Mueller report, including the specification that parts of it would be confidential.

THE MERITS OF STAFF ADVICE: The second irksome incident also involved Democrat members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who came across, to me, as holier-than-thou.

They asked Barr whether he would automatically follow advice from the Department of Justice Ethics Office if staff there said it would be best for Barr as AG to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller probe.

In clear terms, Barr said no. He said he would consider the advice, then make his own decision – which is exactly what he should do as attorney general.

Staff members don’t run the agency; the AG does.

In these two irksome developments, it struck me that Democrats were trying to find any excuse to oppose Barr who, based on his long record of public and private service, is imminently qualified to be AG.

The Senate Democrat questions and positions also indicate that most of them know next to nothing about managing large bureaucracies.  They want to score political points, not allow Executive Branch managers to manage.

Fortunately, the Senate is is led by qualified leaders, not “searching for something” Democrats.  That’s why Barr will be confirmed later today.