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.

This is one of three departments I run – the others being the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering and the Department of Pet Peeves.

The Department of Just Saying exists, mostly, to house issues that don’t fit in the other two.

ISSUE  #1:  News is emerging this week that President Donald Trump – yes, he is still president, though he often acts more like a dictator – has assigned his director of White House personnel to find and fire federal agency employees who are not sufficiently loyal to Trump.

A story in the Washington Post appeared under this headline:

Trump embarks on expansive search for disloyalty as administration-wide purge escalates

The action comes, of course, after Trump feels emboldened by not being convicted in the impeachment process, so is out to get his detractors, an effort which has been labeled a “purge.”

COMMENT:  JUST SAYING That, having worked for a governor in Oregon, I understand the instinct to name high-level state government who are loyal.  But the word “loyalty” should be defined.

Governor Vic Atiyeh, for whom I worked, felt loyalty was best described as meeting two objectives:  (1) working hard and well for the Administration, and (2) feeling free to question policies when there was a clear need for such questions.

In the Departments of Human Resources, Economic Development and Executive (where I worked), I remember a number of occasions when I and others pushed back on something the governor wanted to do.  He listened and, while he may not have changed his mind or his approach, the critical fact was this – he listened and did not mount a purge to find only yes-men or yes-women.

I wish Trump had the same, smart, confident ability.

ISSUE #2:   Here is what Trump said about case involving a Trump Roger Stone who was convicted of lying to authorities.

“They say he lied. But other people lied too,” Trump said, before naming former FBI officials. “You don’t know who these people are, just trust me, they all lied,” he said, to laughter from the audience.

COMMENT:  JUST SAYING THAT, when it comes to lying, Trump knows what he is talking about.

The Washington Post Fact Checker column has counted more than 15,000 lies Trump has told since he took office.

ISSUE #3:  Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago, among other government jobs, recently opined about problems with all those running for federal office.

“The central reason (for the problems), he said, “underpins a reality framing the race.  State and local government today get things done, while Washington so frequently falls short.”

Emanuel cited these other examples:

• Recall that Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer won office on the strength of a simple slogan: ‘Just fix the damn roads.’
• An ad by Joe Biden inadvertently highlighted Pete Buttigieg’s core appeal—his record of driving change at the local level can be applied to the nation as a whole.
• Mike Bloomberg comes with an impressive “get it done” record as mayor. If he can brandish those accomplishments on the campaign trail (and actually prepare for debates – after falling on his face in the first one), he could be a contender. The jury is still out on that question.
• Senator Bernie Sanders is an anomaly. As someone who’s running for the Democrat nomination without even being a Democrat, he presents himself as an outsider.  But as Biden has pointed out, Sanders has been making the same argument about profit-seeking corporations and greedy executives for decades.  It’s pretty hard to maintain a legitimate claim on the “change agent” persona when your most memorable line in the campaign is “I wrote the damn bill!”

COMMENT:  JUST SAYING THAT, the ability for government to work well – at the local, regional, state or federal levels – ought to be a calling card for those running.