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OREGON BLUE BOOK:  WHAT IS IT?  

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.  

My friend and former business partner, Kerry Tymchuk, answered the question in this blog headline as he wrote in his monthly director’s column for the Oregon Historical Society.   Here is how Tymchuk started his on-line column:   “I confess that every two years, I am one of those Oregonians — and there are many more like me out there — who can’t wait for the day when the new Oregon Blue Book is available for purchase.   “Published every two years since 1911 by the Oregon State Archives, a division of the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, the Oregon Blue Book is our state’s official almanac and fact book.   

“From a list of Oregonians who have the won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize, to addresses and phone numbers of every agency of state government, to facts about all of Oregon’s 36 counties and 241 incorporated cities, to background on Oregon’s nine federally recognized Tribal Nations, to the text of the Oregon Constitution, and to so much more, this year’s 400+ page book, like those that came before it, is chock full of information about Oregon’s history, government, economy, and culture.”  

Tymchuk reported that the Oregon Blue Book is so highly regarded that state law actually requires it to be published.   “ORS 177.120,” he said, “reads, in part, The Secretary of State shall compile and issue on or about February 15 of each odd-numbered year an official directory of all state officers, state institutions, boards and commissions, and district and county officers of the state, to be known as the Oregon Blue Book, and include therein the information regarding their functions that the secretary considers most valuable to the people of the state, together with such other data and information as usually is included in similar publications.’” 

Several years ago, one of Tymchuk’s friends gave him a collection of Oregon Blue Books, which date back to the original publication in 1911.  No surprise, he treasures those past editions and has given them to the Society he leads.

The reason Tymchuk supports the Blue Book so strongly revolves around this phrase:  If history repeats itself, we should learn from that history.   Finally, I report that I am purchasing the new Blue Book, so it will join others on my home bookshelf.   And, I add that Tynchuk is a good friend of mine.  He holds the “Boyle Family Director” position at the Oregon Historical Society.  The name derives from the Boyle Family in Oregon which has done much for the Historical Society, including funding Tymchuk’s position as director.  

So, Kerry, if you learn more in the new Blue Book, give me a heads up.

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