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.

With so much time on my hands during the pandemic, I have decided to use my vast management skills to open a new department.  It will be called the “Department of Appalling Things.”

It will be added to the three other departments I already run — the Department of Peeves, the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, and the Department of “Just Saying.”

For “appalling things,” there are a lot of options these days,  I guess I could I have just added them to one of the other departments.  But, as the king of those departments, I decided not to add to them, an act which I am fully the dictator.

So, here goes – “appalling things.”

THE UNBRIEFABLE PRESIDENT:  If I opened this department every day, Trump could be the lead item all the time.  Not a day goes by that he doesn’t utter some inanity.

This time, the issue is whether he has any capacity to be briefed on anything, either orally or in writing.  In the first case, he doesn’t listen.  In the second case, he doesn’t read.

Here’s the way the Washington Post wrote about the subject:

“Another question may be as important:  How does Trump absorb information?  For decades, the president’s daily briefs (PDBs) have sounded early warnings on everything from enemy troop movements to pandemics to terrorist attacks.

“Yet, under Trump, the president’s intelligence briefings have almost completely broken down.  His oral briefings, given daily to most presidents, now take place as rarely as once or twice a week.  These sessions often turn into monologues in which the president spitballs woolly conspiracy theories from Breitbart, Fox News and hangers-on at Mar-a-Lago, say intelligence officials who are familiar with his briefings.

“Convinced that the intelligence community is a ‘deep state,’ honeycombed with traitors, the president rarely believes anything the CIA tells him.

And that’s one reason why he does and says appalling things.

REPUBLICAN SILENCE IS ACQUIESCENCE:  Washington Post writer Dana Milbank took an interesting step when he wrote a recent column.  Via e-mail, he asked 11 Republicans in the Senate what they thought about Trump’s recent racists comments and tweets.

Here’s how Milbank wrote about the issues:  “President Trump’s unyielding push to preserve Confederate symbols and the legacy of white domination has unnerved Republicans who have long enabled him, but now fear losing power and forever associating their party with his racial animus.”

“On Capitol Hill, some Republicans fret — mostly privately, to avoid his wrath — that Trump’s fixation on racial and other cultural issues leaves their party running against the currents of change,”

A couple Republicans responded to Milbank, but none went after the president to separate themselves to upbraid him for his racist rhetoric.  I guess they must feel that, to win re-election, they will have to stick with him.

Which means they sacrifice their own morals and equity.

TUCKER CARLSON OUGHT TO LEARN TO SHUT UP:   Incredibly, Tucker Carlson bills himself as some kind of “journalist” as he rants on FOX News.

No, he is no journalist.  He just sets out to scapegoat others.

Here is what what was written about Tucker’s rant against U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth, the military veteran who lost her legs serving the country and who is reported to be in the running to win the nod as Joe Biden’s vice president running mate:

“Before launching a broadside against Duckworth,Carlson acknowledged that it’s not easy to go after a Purple Heart recipient who lost both her legs while serving her country in Iraq.

“You’re not supposed to criticize Tammy Duckworth in any way because she once served in the military.

“That didn’t stop him from calling Duckworth ‘a deeply silly and unimpressive person’ and suggesting that she and other Democrat leaders ‘actually hate America.’”

As I said earlier, Carlson ought to shut up.  I’ll take Duckworth over him any day.

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.

For this blog, I am indebted to Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin who excoriated Donald Trump this morning – in both her words and the words of past American leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King.

I will let the words from these leaders mostly stand on their own as a further indictment of the buffoon who says he leads this country, but, in fact, is only appealing to, as a different writer put it this week, “the base of base,” – which indicates how Trump’s as heads toward the fall election.

Now, the words from Jefferson, Reagan and King.

From Jefferson:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

From Lincoln:   “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

From King:   “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.  Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

“it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture. … We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

“Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest. …

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law”.

From Reagan:  “We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world.  And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow.  Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier.  This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

Compare these great words to Trump’s sordid actions.  He is perverting the American dream in his own, flawed image.  Enough is enough.

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.