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.

The question posed in this blog comes up for a simple reason:  There is no direct, specific answer.

And, does the lack of an answer matter?

It does for some and not for others.

For me, as a lobbyist, before I retired, it would have mattered.  I spent much of my time in the Capitol Building lobbying legislators on behalf of my firm’s clients.

But, at the Capitol for so many years, it always struck me as strange that access was so easy.  Especially in Salem which is the home of major prison and mental health facilities only blocks away from the Capitol.

All this has changed recently with an announcement by Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek.  It said this:

“Anyone entering the Capitol will be required to pass through a security checkpoint.  That entails walking through metal detectors staffed by security guards and having bags checked by hand or sent through an X-ray machine.” 

Finally.

At the same time, all committee meetings during the coming February short session will be held virtually, which is why I say therCapitol is both open and closed.

My word “finally” was echoed this week by my friend, Dick Hughes, former editorial page editor of the Salem Statesman Journal and now a columnist for Oregon Capitol Insider.

He wrote this:

“Top of Form

Bottom of Form

When I began covering the Oregon Legislature full-time, I could enter the State Capitol because, as a member of the Capitol press corps, I had a key.  

“…That around-the-clock access had been handy.  I beat other reporters on stories not because I had more talent or smarts – I don’t – but because I outworked them.  In the 1980s, I learned to be the last one in the pressroom each day, especially on Friday nights when state regulators tended to drop off press releases announcing the latest closures of insolvent banks. I sometimes came in on weekends to write in quiet or to check the press release drop-box.”

Further Hughes remembers what I remember…this:

Savvy state officials, such as Secretary of State Norma Paulus, periodically strolled through the pressroom to share news tips before heading home. Back then, security was so relaxed that Governor Vic Atiyeh often ate lunch in the Capitol cafeteria with everyone else.

I also remember when Atiyeh – I worked for him as his press secretary – would venture down to the pressroom in the basement to talk personally with reporters.  I never knew what stories would develop, though the governor’s conduct illustrated two of his best qualities – openness and accessibility.

Hughes also that, in contrast to Atiyeh, Senate President John Kitzhaber was not easy to catch. 

“At the end of the day,” Hughes remembers, “he would occasionally hang out by the governor’s SUV – long before they were called SUVs – in the Capitol’s underground parking garage, hoping for a brief interview.

All this occurred with a fully open Capitol building.

The new Capitol security changes were expected after the 2021 Legislature banned holders of concealed weapon permits from having their firearms in the Capitol.  Of course, it is natural to use metal detectors to verify that the ban is working.

Further, the Legislature’s presiding officers ordered legislative employees to work remotely whenever possible and confirmed the point that committee meetings in February would be held virtually, not in person.

So, I am sure how my former colleagues in my lobbying firm will function in their bid – actually “their need” – to talk with legislators on behalf of clients.  They may have to continue to resort to less-than-personal means, such as phone calls, texts, and e-mails.

Of course, there always is the opportunity to meet with legislators outside the Capitol building. 

For me, just glad I am not there any longer, metal detectors and all.