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.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why so many elected officials want to impose new taxes BEFORE taking reasonable and intentional steps to force current government programs to produce results.

• We see the trend in Congress where Democrats in the House and Senate want you and me to pay more, with no heed to a return on current investments.
• We see the trend in the City of Portland where Commissioner Chloe Eudaly is researching ways to raise an additional $50 million for city programs, by raising taxes. [To that end, according to the Oregonian newspaper, the city’s top revenue official provided Eudaly with an analysis of seven possible tax increases, including a personal income tax on Portland’s top earners, a soda tax and higher property taxes.]
• And, we see the trend in the Oregon Legislature, as evidenced by the list below.

Four big tax increases are likely to pass in Salem in the next couple months.

1. Gutting mortgage deductions (HB 3349)
2. Imposing 16-cent gas tax (HB 2020)
3. Abolishing “kicker” tax refunds (SJR 23)
4. Imposing a $2 billion business sales tax (HB 3427)

Tax #4 got a big boost this week when the Oregon Business & Industry organization signed up for the tax after weeks of negotiations. The new money is supposed to flow to K-12 schools in Oregon, which could be one reason why some business interests, but not all, have signed up for it – and those that have not may be preparing for a public vote if the legislature passes the tax. [Nike already has put $100,000 in a political action committee to prepare to fight any anti-tax initiative.]

My notion is that one key step should precede any new, higher taxes. It should be an intentional effort by elected officials to demand better performance from current programs.

One way to achieve this would be to enact sections in all state program laws that impose performance measurements on the programs. As is the case in golf – forgive the analogy, but I am a golfer — if the programs don’t meet the measurements, they would be given one warning, and then, if failing a second time, they would be terminated.

As a lobbyist back in 2011, I tried this on behalf of one of our firm’s major clients, Youth Villages. The section in Senate Bill 964, which became ORS 418, pertained to private sector foster care programs, including those operated by Youth Villages.

Either they would perform or be gone.

Here’s the section of law.

“Requires a program to demonstrate successful child-drive outcomes when compared to alternative placement options and long-term cost savings. Bases termination or renewal of a contract on demonstration of the factors described above.”

What happened?

Nothing.

Legislators ignored the performance clause in the law as if it didn’t exist. So did members of the Executive Branch agency that was involved, the Department of Human Services. Now, eight years after passage of the bill, it stands as just words on paper.

The clause should have been implemented, not as a magic answer to Oregon’s foster care crisis, but as one step to improve situations for Oregon’s children.

This is just one of several examples I could cite of a law being on the books, but not enforced – or, probably, not even recognized.

So, to repeat, one of my reform proposals for the Legislature would be to enact specific performance language for all government programs before trying to convince the public – including me and other centrists — that new taxes are warranted.

Such performance measurements make sense at the federal level, too, but, given the huge sense of dislocation and distrust there, better to use this reform in Oregon.