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 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.

“Earmarks” – the process by which Members of Congress gain federal funding for their home districts – is always an issue that sparks debates on both sides.

• Those who hate earmarks say all they do is inflate federal spending.
• Those who like earmarks say they provide funding for important local projects.

All of this arose again in a letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal that appeared under this headline:  “Steny Hoyer is part of the problem in Congress.”

Well, who is Steny Hoyer anyway? 

Well, he is – or, perhaps better, “was” — a major leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.  As a Democrat, he is now out of leadership in a body controlled by Republicans, but he was a major aide and confidante of long-time House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Here is how the letter to the editor started:

“The January 3 Metro article gave high praise to Representative Steny H. Hoyer for his ability to obtain ‘dividends to Maryland.’  Clearly, Hoyer’s track record of looting the national treasury to benefit his constituents is considered a great achievement.

“In fact, Hoyer is a perfect example of congressional dysfunction.  As a career politician, with more than 40 years in Congress, he continues to be re-elected by ‘bringing home the bacon’ to his constituents.  Other members of Congress support his efforts to loot the national treasury for the simple reason of reciprocity.

“If they support him, he will support them in their efforts to send their constituents some of the public largesse.  This process of reciprocal unrestrained spending has resulted in a national debt exceeding $31 trillion and in the maintenance of a permanent political class in the legislative branch of the federal government.”

Well, as strong as those words are, there is another side to the story.  This.

If a senator or representative works well and above-board in Congress, he or she can become advocates for important, not to mention reasonable, federal investments in their home communities. 

Money to fund new roads.  Money to fund new education services.  Money for special health care programs.  Etc.

All are the types of local investments that can make sense and also can be a testament to a Member of Congress’ ability to work for those they represent back home.

So, as I said, the argument cuts both ways.

Further, I have been involved directly in earmarks in the past.

Back when I worked in Washington, D.C. for a Member of Congress from Oregon, we worked hard to secure investments for our home district.  All those potential investments were analyzed on their merits, not just from a “bring home the bacon” perspective, although, frankly, that was important, too.

Then, in the public relations and lobbying firm in Oregon from which I retired in 2018, our staff in Washington, D.C. worked hard to secure local investments for clients throughout the states of Oregon and Washington.  Again, investments that rested on their merits.

Of course, on the anti-side, there is the old story about a U.S. senator from Virginia, Robert Byrd, who made a career of bringing home federal money, so much so that one time the money built a “bridge to nowhere.”

So, on earmarks, make up your own mind.