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.

This, remember, is one of three departments I run with a free hand to do and act as I wish. Call me a dictator.

The others are the Department of Pet Peeves and the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering.

So the Department of Just Saying is now open.

A NEW “KICKER” DEBATE: Just saying it is important to retain the “kicker” law as a hedge against government over-spending.

Almost everyone in Oregon knows what the word “kicker” means.

But, in case you don’t, “kicker” refers to a policy that returns money to taxpayers if revenue exceeds estimates by more than 2 per cent.

As a generalization, Democrats hate the kicker. They want to spend the money.

Republicans like it. They believe excess revenue should go back to taxpayers because, after all, they paid the money in the first place.

I was struck by hearing a quote from State Economist Mark McMullen who said reporting the facts about the kicker “was a terrible day for Oregon.” What he appeared to mean was that, under current law, the “excess money” would have to go back to taxpayers – and it did not appear that he liked it. Normally, state economists keep political statements to themselves; this time the economist didn’t.

Bad news, right? Well, not if you were and are a taxpayer. It is logical for you to want “your” money back.

All of this arises again because the most recent revenue forecast for the next two-year budget indicates that revenue will be up enough to produce the largest kicker rebate in history.

There actually is a relatively elegant compromise here. It is that part of the kicker rebate be salted away in a fund – a mostly untouchable fund such as the Rainy Day Fund – that can be used to help the state withstand the next inevitable recession.

PUBLIC OFFICIALS STAYING AWAY FROM WORK: Just saying that it does nothing for trust in government when public officials don’t go to work.

We had two examples of this recently.

One was when Republican senators stayed away from the Capitol in Salem for more than a week to deprive the process of a quorum necessary to conduct business. Such actions – leaving — is allowed, but, whatever the leverage being sought, it was not pretty to regular Oregonians.

The second case was when hundreds of Oregon teachers stayed away from classrooms in early May to head to Salem to advocate for more money for schools.

Senator Ginny Burdick, D-Salem, castigated Republican lawmakers for “not showing up for work” while, at the same time, supporting hundreds of teachers who did the same thing?

Seems like a double standard.

THE CONTROVERSY OVER BILL BARR IN CONGRESS: Just saying that Attorney General Barr has become a lightening rod for various members of Congress, but doesn’t deserve the slander and vitriol he is getting.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) says issues over Barr’s performance and conduct are “Mainly Blatant Partisanship.”

The WSJ says the way Congress acknowledges that the Executive Branch is co-equal is by following this simple rule: Staff meets with staff, and principals meet with principals.

Congress doesn’t want it that way as it continues to go after Barr. Members want Barr to subject himself to an inquisition from staff attorneys who, no doubt, will try to make a name for themselves before the TV cameras.

I thought Barr conducted himself with consummate Executive Branch leadership as he dealt with release of the Mueller report and as he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee where, without an responding – a very smart move – he endured slander from Senator Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.

If Barr had done what Congress wanted, he would have broken federal law. Plus, he offered congressional leaders a chance to review the full Mueller report in private – without redactions. Not one Member of Congress took him up on the offer.

NADLER GOES NUTS: Just saying that Representative Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, continues to look like he is preening before the cameras, not doing the real work of Congress.

Here’s a description from a piece by Wall Street Journal Deputy Editor of the Editorial Page Dan Henninger:

“Democrats’ assaults on the Trump presidency roll in like the ocean’s tides. But one has landed on the beach recently that deserves to go under the microscope. It is the notion that Donald Trump is a dictator.

“Most prominently, there is House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, who is maxing out his 15 Warholian minutes of fame.

“When Attorney General William Barr refused to appear before the committee—after being ridiculed and slandered by Senate Democrats the day before—Nadler unloaded: ‘The very system of government of the United States, the system of limited power, the system of not having a president as a dictator, is very much at stake.’”

Henninger is right. Nadler goes over the top against Trump.

No sympathy for Trump in this corner. I say boot him out of the office in the 2020 election. Trying to impeach him before, no matter how much he deserves the process, will only strengthen his base and prompt Trumpians to give him four more years in the Oval Office.

Obtain solid legislative achievements in Congress and elect a nominee with the clout to take on and beat Trump.