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 is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

A story in the Oregonian newspaper caught my attention the other day because of what it conveyed about a sometimes short-sighted Oregon Legislature.

Here are excerpts from the story.

“When wildfires burned through Oregon last fall, many people didn’t receive a local emergency alert or evacuation message, which left them scrambling to evacuate safely.  State officials have since approved a new emergency alert system meant to fix that.

“The system, called OR-Alert, would operate statewide, rather than in individual counties, ideally improving communication in the event of a disaster.”

Perhaps true, but the issue is this.

When the Executive Branch embarked on a plan a number of years ago to create a statewide emergency alert system, it did so because the country learned, in the 9-11 disaster, that emergency services personnel couldn’t talk to each other, nor could members of the public potentially affected by a disaster receive advance word of it.

So, the objective in Oregon was to create what came to be called the Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network, or OWIN for short.

A request-for-proposal was circulated and two potential vendors responded – Harris Corporation and Motorola.  And, in a tough and open competition, Harris won the contract.

But, then, the Legislative Branch balked.  No one knew the reason for sure, but it might have been because some legislators didn’t want to invest money in the new system despite the rationale for it.

After last season’s fires, excerpts in the article above make it clear the Legislature should have acted when it had a chance to do so years ago.  Of course, hindsight is great and it often is better than foresight.  Further, I don’t blame legislators, in total, for the decision not to proceed because, if nothing else, some of those who had misgivings were my friends and had a rationale for not proceeding.

Am I biased?

Yes, my lobby firm represented Harris Corporation and we worked with the company throughout the bidding process.  Harris, of course, proceeded on the basis of its own, impeccable emergency communication credentials, but it was my privilege to provide a political context for the process.

Harris won the contract.

After the award, Motorola balked by going to the Legislature to try to overturn the Executive Branch decision.  The effort was unsuccessful.

But, the Legislature then didn’t move ahead with the full OWIN project, deciding, instead, to embark on a far smaller interoperable communications plan, one that didn’t provide statewide coverage for emergency services personnel, or for the public.

Now the price is being paid for being a day late and a dollar short.