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 to 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 press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as 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.

We have seen more occasions this week when critics have suggested private sector work comes close to disqualifying an individual for public sector work.

But consider this quote: “Good public servants — including recent Democrat presidents — have worked in the private sector.”

The quote appeared in the Wall Street Journal in a story reporting that Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg released a list of his clients when he worked at the McKinsey Group. He was able to do so after McKinsey lifted a requirement on Buttigieg not to disclose private sector client lists.

It was good news for Buttigieg. It allowed him, for example, to withstand criticism from another D president candidate, Elizabeth Warren. Apparently concerned about the fact that polls show Buttigieg ahead of her, she produced the height of duplicity when she called out Buttigieg.

Before getting elected to the Senate, Warren, too, worked as a consultant to private corporations – corporations she reviles in all of her campaign activity.

Buttigieg’s client list showed genuine work for private clients, not weird political projects.

From the Wall Street Journal on what Buttigieg said as he released his client list:

“Now, voters can see for themselves that my work amounted to mostly research and analysis. At the same time, I am also concerned about efforts to demonize and disqualify people who have worked in the private sector for the sake of political purity. The majority of Americans have worked in the private sector at some point in their life.”

Good point.

In today’s politics, the risk is that experience –- including private sector experience – is often viewed as disqualifying. Those on the far left, including Warren, want fealty to a list of proposals to expand government, so that health care, education, the chasracter of all buildings (the so-called “Green New Deal”) rest on the federal bureaucracy, not individual effort.

They don’t value real-world work.

For me, Buttigieg’s private sector work is a qualification for public office.

I talked with a friend of mine last night who said he was considering voting for Buttigieg in the Democrat primary. He suggested that Buttigieg’s status as a gay individual, not to mention his young age, actually could work in his favor, if younger people in this country vote.

Hadn’t thought of it in just this way, but my friend could be right.

I just think Buttigieg has conducted himself with distinction along the campaign trail, which has been littered with the fulminations of many others. While I do not agree with all of his comments, he has managed to come across as a reasonable individual with perspectives worth considering.

Part of this rests on his private sector experience. And that’s one reason why I am considering his candidacy.