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 (Les AuCoin), 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.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that it what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

“Wasn’t that special!”

Remember that line from the old Laugh-In TV program?  It was a famous back some years ago, but I thought of it again, for some reason, as I watched the Legislative Special Session at the State Capitol about a week ago.

And, we’re in for more “Special” Sessions heading farther into the summer.

I was glad I wasn’t there for the first one.  In the past, I would have been as a lobbyist, but, in retirement, I watched from the cheap seats and am able to offer commentary afterward.

So, to put it more bluntly, I am standing on the promontory, watching the battlefield from on high and, then, after it is over, I go down to the field to shoot the wounded.

Overstatement?  Perhaps.

My colleagues in my old firm, CFM Advocates, say the just-completed Special Session was different than any other in history.

Here is how they put it in a memorandum to clients:

“After a whirlwind three days marked by remote committee hearings, technical difficulties and Hollywood Squares-style split screens, masked lawmakers gaveled out of the first of what is expected to be a series of special legislative sessions in 2020.

“With the Capitol closed to the public and occupancy limited to legislators and essential staff, committees received testimony via phone while members were connected by Microsoft Teams, and lawmakers were logged in from their offices while awaiting votes.

“In a session unlike any ever seen in Oregon, legislators debated a wide suite of policies aimed at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and reforming policing in the state.

“A newly formed Joint Committee on the First Special Session of 2020 was the sole committee and deliberated on policy proposals before concepts were passed to the House and Senate floors.  The 14-member committee included senators and representatives from both parties. However, a slight Democratic edge allowed the majority party to push through several controversial measures.  Lawmakers ended up passing all but one of the bills introduced.”

Perhaps as usual for the party not in charge, minority Republicans expressed frustration at the process, arguing they were being shut out of all decision-making on policy.  They lamented the fact that the joint committee was discussing amendments that had not yet been released to the public.

One of my sources reported that Republicans were not consulted – not one word – about the Special Session before it was convened in Salem.

And, Republicans said that, if legislators were to gather in Salem, one of their tasks should be to focus on how to balance the state budget.

Such is the current state of the minority party in Oregon – hangers on, not key deciders.

Republicans and business stakeholders did find time to push strongly for Coronavirus-related liability protection for businesses, non-profits, schools and local governments.  Majority Democrats, however, were unwilling to include those protections in this special session – and I would add that it is impossible to know why, given the pandemic realities.

It would have been logical to include such protections, but logic doesn’t always prevail in politics.

To pass bills, the 60 members of the Oregon House filtered through the chamber in waves, as social distancing protocols required no more than 25 members to be on the floor at any one time.  The smaller Senate – 30 members – did not need to observe such protocols.

As the headline in this blog states, legislators will be back in Salem again soon, perhaps next month.

Their task:  Re-designing the state budget, which must be in balance by the end of the current biennium next June 30.  That means, of course, cuts before then – perhaps $1 billion of them.

Tough stuff because the cuts will fall on K-12 schools, health care and social services, higher education, public safety and transportation – services that are important to many Oregonians.

Some of the Democrats in charge in Salem may want to impose new tax increases, but those will be opposed by almost all Republicans.

So, amidst a spiking Coronavirus, lawmakers will be back.  If this was a sport, it might be fun to watch.  But, it is not a sport.  It is serious lawmaking, which will affect all of us.