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.

Several letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal caught my attention as they dealt with a major issue – the over-the-top conduct of some parents at youth sports games.

We’ve all seen or heard about this problem. But it is growing in scope and intensity.

Still, I heard and saw a bit of good news lately as I attended high school games to see my granddaughters play here in Oregon.,

In high school tennis, representatives of the Oregon School Activities Association did an excellent of providing instructions for spectators as they watched school district tournaments.

Root for your team, they said.  Don’t root against the opposing team.  And, be patient with officials who are trying to do a good job, often as volunteers.

In high school volleyball, my granddaughter plays for a league up in the State of Washington and officials from that league, as well, did a solid job of counseling good sportsmanship on the part of those watching a major event that drew 200 teams to Portland’s Expo Center.

In both cases, we saw almost nothing but solid, mature, credible behavior from parents and grandparents.

Back to the Wall Street Journal letters to the editor.  Here are copies of what readers wrote:

Letter #1:  I neatly solved the problem of nasty parents years ago when I refereed soccer for 15-year-olds in Massachusetts (“Why Did the Umpire Quit Little League? Nasty Parents,” Sports, May 5).  I told the coach of the team with an unruly parent that, if the parent didn’t stop, I would call the game in favor of the other team.  It worked beautifully the two times I needed to do it. — Tom Holzel, Litchfield, Connecticut

Letter #2:  My son was a youth soccer coach.  One season he had several unruly parents who shouted orders to their sons, often including curses, for bad plays.  He called all the parents into a meeting on the field before the next game, and quietly informed them that he was the coach, and he would be the only one instructing the team.  If any of the parents continued to yell orders and obscenities to a youth, he would bench the player.  He and his team weren’t harassed anymore that season, and they went on to finish at the top of their league. — Sheila W. Evans,  Charlotte, North Carolina

Letter #3:  I have coached youth and high-school sports for 40 years, and I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone blame the umpires or referees for their team’s defeat.  Yet not once have I ever heard a parent, coach or player boast that they won because of the umps or refs.  Somehow the math doesn’t add up. — Paul McCarthy, Surfside Beach, South Carolina

Letter #4:  As a former Little League umpire, I would consider returning to the job only if I were assured that both teams came from an orphanage — Bob Spear, Coronado, California

Good suggestions, all, especially the point about orphanages.

But, what this comes down to is parent conduct.  Simple.  Just be mature, patient, and courteous.  Root FOR your kids.  Not against others.  And respect officials.

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.

When I think of the word “blackberry,” two things spring to mind:

• The blackberries on bushes near where I live that are almost ripe and that means I get to go out and pick some.  And, guess what – they are free!

• Blackberries also were some of the early hand-held phones and, given the character of that early development, the rest of this blog will be about Blackberry technology.

Here’s what my friend Mr. Google says about the device:

“BlackBerry Limited, known as Research In Motion (RIM) until January 2013, had a long history of extreme success and failure.  It’s credited by many as creating the first smartphone.

“And at its peak in September 2011, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide.  But the rise of Google’s Android platform and Apple’s iOS caused it to decline in popularity by nearly three-quarters.

“BlackBerry’s stock price effectively tanked from highs of $147 to around $3.69 as of March 2023.

“How did a high-flying revolutionary tech company get eclipsed so badly? A new movie, set to release in Canada in May, is set to tell the tale.”

The pioneer in bringing e-mail services to handheld mobiles, with its trademark QWERTY keyboard, BlackBerry became an instant darling of world leaders, corporate honchos, and the rich and famous alike.  

Indeed, owning a BlackBerry device was once a status symbol, and BlackBerry addiction was a prevalent condition.

The always-on, always-connected wireless world that allowed secure and reliable access to e-mails turned out to be very useful for businesses, including mine.

The first prominent release from BlackBerry, the Inter@ctive Pager 950, was in 1998.  It had a small-sized screen, keyboard buttons, and the iconic trackball that allowed seamless syncing and continuous access to corporate emails. It became an instant hit, and then there was no looking back.

Count me among the early users.  Actually, count my firm, then called CFM Strategic Communications, in the early-user category.

We were the first lobby group at the State Capitol in Salem, Oregon to use BlackBerries and, for us, it was a revolutionary development.

No matter where we were, we could, not just get phone calls, but also check e-mails.

The devices meant we were able to communicate more nimbly with our clients, a critical factor for anyone in the lobbying business.

Sitting around our conference room in our Portland headquarters office, I still remember the day we got the new BlackBerries.

I was transfixed and, I say that as not the most tech-savvy partner in our firm.

I say that, perhaps because I now knew I could be on the golf course without “leaving” my clients.  Not just the golf course, but everywhere.

All of this seems pretty routine now, with IPhones everywhere.  But, back in the day, BlackBerries led us to this current space where everyone is always connected.

Consider me and my firm to be visionaries!

Footnote:  Speaking of “firsts,” when I was in Washington, D.C. working in the office of Oregon Congressman Les AuCoin, our first on the Hill to get a Wang word-processing system.  Imagine that.  We could now write letters without carbons or white typo-fixing solutions.  Just consider me a pioneer!

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.

If you don’t know to whom this blog refers, just think … unfortunately … Donald Trump.

CNN has come under intense criticism after it gave a serial liar, Trump, airtime the other day to spout his typical invective.

CNN tried to say that all it was doing was covering another presidential aspirant. 

Nice try!

Trump is not a traditional presidential aspirant.  He lies incessantly and refuses to give an interviewer, such as Kaitlan Collins, a so-called “rising star” at CNN, any space to ask credible questions or provide credible answers.

So, here, rather than go over this issue in more depth – there have been so many stories since the CNN debacle – I choose simply to include some quotes from those who thought CNN made itself look stupid.

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:  “The former president repeatedly dodged or sneered at questions from CNN’s moderator, Kaitlan Collins, during the live, 70-minute forum at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire on Wednesday night.

“He doubled down on false claims that ‘a rigged election’ led to his 2020 ouster and referred to writer E. Jean Carroll, who just prevailed in her lawsuit against him for defamation and battery, as a ‘whack job,’ to cheers and laughter from the audience, made up of local Republican voters.”

Error! Filename not specified.According The former president repeatedly dodged or sneered at questions from CNN’s moderator, Kaitlan Collins, during the live, 70-minute forum at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire on Wednesday night. He doubled down on false claims that “a rigged election” led to his 2020 ouster and referred to writer E. Jean Carroll, who just prevailed in her lawsuit against him for defamation and battery, as a “whack job,” to cheers and laughter from the audience, made up of local Republican voters.

FORMER TV NEWS EXECUTIVE MARK LUKASIEWICZ:  “Predictably disastrous.  Live lying works. A friendly MAGA crowd consistently laughed, clapped at Trump’s punchlines … and the moderator could not begin to keep up with the AR-15 pace of lies.”

JOURNALISTS EVEN AT CNN AND OTHERS OUTSIDE THE ORGANIZATION:  They called the town hall a “debacle,” a “disaster,” and “CNN’s lowest moment.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL IN A COLUMN BY PEGGY NOONAN:  “Trump steamrolled the moderator, talking over her, dismissing her, as they stood together, as nasty.  He spoke with what seemed like conviction, backed down on nothing, made things up.”

ERIK WEMPLE COLUMN IN THE WASHINGTON POST:  “CNN host Kaitlan Collins has spent years in proximity to the lies of Donald Trump. She rose to stardom covering the 45th president, asking tough questions in the White House briefing room and experiencing the wrath of the Trump Administration’s anti-media policies:  In 2018, she was banned from a news conference for allegedly asking ‘inappropriate’ questions.

“So Collins knows better than to say what she said in the midst of Wednesday night’s CNN town-hall event with Trump. ‘The election was not rigged, Mr. President,’ she said after yet another Trump lie about his loss to Joe Biden in 2020. ‘You can’t keep saying that all night long.’

“Sure he can.  He can lie about presidential documents; he can lie about his impeachments; he can lie about his record in office; and there is nothing an impeccably prepared interviewer can do to prevent any of it.  She can rebut him, correct him, interrupt him, and otherwise battle with him over every point, but that’s no match for ceaseless mendacity.

“As CNN host Jake Tapper said after the affair, ‘We don’t have time to fact-check every lie he told.’”

I include myself in the Tapper’s word “we.”  There is no way to rebut Trump because, in the face of every issue, he just fulminates incessantly, lying by pattern all along the way.

I also cannot believe Trump is running for president again and appears to have the support of some voters.

If he is elected president, we, as Americans, deserve what we get.  Which is folly, degradation, and, yes, even sedition as Trump, ever the actor, tears the country down.

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.

There often are two major signs that a legislative session in Salem, Oregon is drawing to a close for another year.

One is that a deadline is approaching.  Over two-year period, legislators, by law, are allowed to be in session for a specific number of days.  It is about 190, with 160 for the long session (in odd-numbered years) and about 30 for the short session (in even-numbered years).

So, come late June, lawmakers will have to think about getting out of town if they want to make the deadline.  The specific ending date is June 25.

It is possible that the deadline might not be made, so, if it isn’t, there is one more option:  Adjourn the regular session, then open a “special session” to finish up the work.

In theory at least, deadlines make it important to do business quickly.  Or, if you are a Republican and in the minority, you don’t want to do much business, especially if that business involves abortion and gun control bills Democrats want.

So, read below, to see how Republicans are delaying things.

One other major issue is left unresolved at this point.  It is the only issue legislators must handle when they come to Salem:  Approving the State of Oregon budget for 2023-25.  More hard work on that will occur as soon as the next biennial revenue forecast is produced on May 17.  What is done must be in balance – that is, expenses have to equal revenue.  No proposed debt is allowed.

The second sign a session is nearing the end is that tempers begin to run short.

One side gets mad – usually these days those in the minority in the Oregon House and Oregon Senate, the Republicans.

Democrats want to push through their political agenda, including abortion and gun control, which you could say they’ve earned the right to do by winning the majority.

But here is what is happening in the Senate, according to a newsletter from Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend:

“As you may have heard by now, members of the Senate Republican and Independent Caucuses protested during today’s floor session.  The reason for this is simple.  The bills that are being passed by the majority do not meet the requirements of the Oregon Constitution, Senate Rules, and Oregon law.

“When this was brought to the attention of the majority, it decided it was inconvenient for them to follow the law and attempted to continue passing unlawful bills.”

So, many of Knopp’s Republican colleagues walked away, thus depriving Democrats from having a quorum on the Senate floor so business could not be done.  Some of you may have thought that Oregon voters approved a new law prohibiting walkouts. 

Yes, but it’s not that simple.  Senators can get certain excuses not to be on hand and, though it is likely Senate President Rob Wagner will tend not to give many excuses any longer, some Republicans already have been excused for a time or two.

In all, if senators reach 10 unexcused absences, the law passed by voters says they can run for re-election.  One senator was reported to have said he doesn’t care.  In other cases, some senators say they intend to challenge the law in court.

Beyond walkouts, Knopp says he leading two other efforts to stop bills he and his colleagues don’t like.

• They are demanding all bills be read in their entirety, not just, as in the past, the titles of those bills.  [As an aside, Democrats have acquired a computer to read the bills.]

• They are demanding that the language in bills that do not meet a requirement to be at an eighth-grade reading level be sent back for re-writing.  [The Legislature’s chief attorney has pushed back, saying either that bills already meet that standard, or it is entirely subjective to tell if they do or not.]

As I write this, it appears that legislative leaders are engaged in talks to see if there if a way past the impasse.

It often is said that making laws is a little like making sausage.  You don’t want to watch in either case.

At this time of the session, it’s sausage-making.  And, for that reason alone, I am glad I am retired, so don’t have to watch on-site, though I have a lot of respect for my former lobbying colleagues who are still hanging out at the Capitol, as well as those lawmakers who are trying to do what they believe “to be the right thing.”

This means I have a lot of respect for all of those who are in Salem to attempt to make government better for all us.  That does not include everyone at the Capitol.  It does include “those who are trying to make government for all of us.

A boss I worked for many years ago in Oregon state government often said one of the easiest things to do “was to be cynical about legislative processes.”  He counseled against that.  I agree with him.

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.

The Wall Street Journal is one of my favorite newspapers.  I read it every day, sometimes in print and sometimes on-line.

But an editorial this week prompted this blog headline.

Writers got mad at President Joe Biden when he had the temerity to say that he felt his son, Hunter, had done no wrong.

What would you expect him to say…as a father?

The Journal tried to indicate that, by talking, Biden had, in effect, given the U.S. Department of Justice instructions not to charge his son with anything.

Come on!

The Journal has been quick to fault Biden for not talking enough as president, including the fact that he holds far fewer press conferences than some of his predecessors.  So, when he does talk, he’s at fault again?  No.

The Journal should go back and recount all of the times – there were many – that a president the Journal often supported, Donald Trump, told “his” Justice Department to do this or that or not to do this or that.

Trump’s instructions were issued often and there was little doubt but that Trump felt his comments did amount to “instructions.”

Biden has been careful to emphasize that he keeps safe distance from “instructing” what should be an independent Justice Department actions.

So, I say, give Biden a break as he assumes the role of father.

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.

It’s Monday morning and rain appears to be in the forecast, at least for today.

But, if that occurs, it will not take away from what for me was a great weekend.  On two different counts.

COUNT ONE/

My wife, Nancy, and I went to church as usual Sunday morning at Salem Alliance here in Salem, Oregon.

What did we find?

An emphasis on doing right by refugees in the Salem area!

We loved the expression of unity.  There were about 25 refugees or former refugees on the platform leading all of us worship.  Most of them came from African countries, dressed as they were in colorful native clothing and singing in full-throated fashion.

They did so in English, Farsi, Arabic, Spanish and French, thus illustrating that God is the GOD OF ALL.

The singers were both old and young, moving to the music and helping all of us in the congregation express our love and thanks to God.  As some of them led us in audible prayer, I looked up a couple times and saw young children in the group choosing to bow on stage during the prayers.

The group was led by a couple who formed Salem for Refugees, Doug and Anya Holcomb.  The mission is housed as part of Salem Alliance, and helps all of us learn to treat refugees with dignity and respect.

As a person who has been involved in politics for years, besides being where I belonged on a Sunday, in church, it struck me that what I was seeing  should be seen by everyone in this country, especially those concerned that immigration will soil our history, which should be about “us,” and not others.

Just the reverse.  Immigrants and refugees will make America a better place if we help them make the adjustment to this country.  And, even as we work on political agreements to improve immigration policy, we should recognize the immigrants as real people.

And, as, at least potentially, children of God.

Anya Holcomb also delivered a message based on this summary:  We should SEE (really see) refugees as people worth of dignity and respect just as God SEES us as his children.  Great words!

COUNT TWO/

In many ways, this count pales in comparison to the above, but I had loads of fun Sunday watching former University of Oregon player, Wyndham Clark, win for the first time on the PGA Tour.

To do so, he conquered past mental demeans which compromised his ability to win sooner.

And, he won while giving loads of credit to his late mother who died about 10 years ago after a battle with breast cancer. 

As he relished his victory, Clark looked upward as he said his mother was looking down on him proudly.

Clark also benefitted from the work of his caddy, John Ellis.  He, too, played for the University of Oregon, then served as an assistant coach there when Clark came to the University.  When Clark graduated, Ellis went along as his caddy.

The two appear to have a great relationship.

Great stuff!

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.

Having just come back to Oregon from a winter in the California desert, I cannot help but post in my blog this column from the Wall Street Journal.

By Edward Ring, co-founder of the California Policy Center in 2013, the column adds credibility to a great point summarized by this blog headline: Why does California waste a chance to much of its new water during this “atmospheric river” season, not to mention record snows.

Well, to Ring, it comes down to politics and the losers are California citizens, including farmers, who don’t have enough water.

I wrote about this a few weeks ago, but Ring has more background than I do, much more, so his summary is worth reading.

**********

With the nation’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, drawn down to historic lows, the seven states that use water from the Colorado River have failed to agree on how to adapt to its dwindling flow. The impasse pits California against everyone else.

If California’s political leaders had the political will, they could solve the problem for every member of the Colorado River Compact by developing infrastructure to use untapped sources of water. But to do that, the state Legislature would have to stand up to a powerful environmentalist lobby that views humans as parasites and demands rationing as the only acceptable policy.

Unlike anywhere else in the American Southwest, California can rely on so-called atmospheric rivers that saturate the state with enough rain to supply the state’s farms and cities with adequate water. Even in drought years, these storms blow in from the Pacific, hit the ramparts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and dump tens of millions of acre-feet of runoff into the streams and rivers.

Californians can, and must, agree on new infrastructure solutions that will safely harvest more of this water for human consumption.

The Colorado crisis underscores California’s grotesque failure to upgrade its water infrastructure for the 21st century. Since 1980, Californians have endured five droughts, and politicians are predicting worse in the future. With groundwater aquifers dangerously depleted and access to Colorado River water imperiled, rationing won’t be enough.

It isn’t as if water abundance isn’t possible in California. The state’s 2021-22 water season recorded some of the lowest total precipitation ever. But in a single month, December 2021, well over 100 million acre-feet of rain fell during the one big storm that hit the state that year. ‘

If California had the capacity to capture more of that water, it would have been enough to supply full allocations to Golden State farmers and avoid rationing in cities. As it is, during this current water season, one of the wettest on record, politicians continue to warn Californians that “the drought isn’t over.”

There are two major projects that could unlock millions of acre-feet of new water for Californians. The first is to eliminate nutrient pollution in the San Francisco Bay, which feeds toxic algae blooms that kill aquatic life. The solution so far has been to dilute the nutrient loads in the bay by requiring massive diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta—a little like flushing a toilet.

But upgrading the urban wastewater-treatment facilities surrounding the bay would eliminate nutrient pollution, permitting more delta water to be directed to California’s farms and cities—a lot more water.

This rainy season started in October 2022. By the first day of spring, March 21, the net outflow (after pumping) from the delta into the bay was 11.6 million acre-feet but the state had only pumped 1 million acre-feet into the California Aqueduct, and the Federal Bureau of Reclamation had only pumped 826,000 acre-feet into the Delta-Mendota Canal.

Despite record precipitation, the state had diverted only 13 per cent of flood-level delta outflows into southbound aqueducts.

In late March and early April, as rain continued to pour in California and the biggest snowpack in decades began to melt, California’s water officials actually reduced pumping. Their reason? To protect endangered fish and maintain sufficient flow to flush out the nutrient pollution in the San Francisco Bay.

Even in a year with extraordinary rain and snow, California’s environmental extremists have done their utmost to prevent water managers from filling reservoirs, allow pumps to operate at capacity to fill the southbound aqueducts, and allow farmers to get their full water allocations so they can use runoff to irrigate instead of pumping already depleted groundwater.

But even if California’s state government weren’t dominated by extremists, California’s water infrastructure would be stretched to the limit.

The second major project, then, would be for Californians to build new ways to extract and store water from the delta during atmospheric river events. A new technique, already demonstrated on the Tuolumne River, creates channels in some of the delta islands so that huge perforated pipes can be installed under a gravel bed.

Fish aren’t endangered by such installations. This water could be rapidly transferred to aquifers south of the delta via surface percolation and deep injection. Unused aquifer capacity in the San Joaquin Valley is conservatively estimated at more than 50 million acre feet.

If Californians were willing to harvest additional millions of acre-feet from storm runoff in the Sacramento-San Joaquin watershed, and had the means to do so, they might not need any water from the Colorado River. This is how California can give back not only its share of Colorado River water, but cover its annual deficit of 2 million to 4 million acre-feet.

Other states in the Colorado Basin might help fund these projects. Thinking big solves big problems. It’s time for California’s state Legislature permanently to solve the challenge of water scarcity in the American Southwest.

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.

The headline on this blog is drawn from an excellent column written by Washington Post columnist, Paul Waldman.

The first paragraph of what he wrote puts it very well:

“There aren’t many issues that unite Democrat, Republican, and independent voters, offer a ready-made villain in greedy corporations, and tick off people from all different socio-economic groups.  Which is why the “right-to-repair” movement could gain real momentum, and why any politician looking to demonstrate real populist bona fides — rather than the phony kind — should jump on it.”

So, what is “right-to-repair?”

Right-to-repair refers to proposed government legislation to forbid manufacturers from imposing barriers that deny consumers the ability to repair and modify their own consumer products, such as electronic and automotive devices or farm vehicles, including tractors.

Waldman reports that Colorado Governor Jared Polis just signed the country’s first right-to-repair law aimed at agricultural equipment.  It prevents manufacturers such as John Deere from withholding manuals and other information that would enable independent repair professionals, or farmers themselves, to fix tractors, combines and other equipment.

“This year,” Waldman continues, “bills have been introduced in 28 states to prevent companies from restricting repairs on cars, electronics, appliances and all kinds of other products.  If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t replace the battery in your iPhone, this issue is about you.  Sooner or later, it will be about almost everybody.”

Which is why Waldman says right-to-repair could become a major political issue that has the potential to appeal to both parties together. 

More from Waldman:

“We now live in what University of Michigan law professor Aaron Perzanowski calls ‘the tethered economy.’  More and more, the things we buy come with strings attached to the manufacturer, effectively requiring more payments.

“While we put stuff we buy on our counters, carry them in our pockets or park them in our driveways, the manufacturers find ways to keep extracting our money.  What makes this possible is that software is built into every piece of technology — not just obvious things such as computers and cellphones, but also appliances, cars and much more.

“That software opens up a whole new range of opportunities to control the product for the benefit of the manufacturer.”

Farmers are among the groups that have found this to be so.

In many cases, they can’t repair their tractors because the software won’t let them without the company’s permission.  This “software lock” has been particularly frustrating to those who farm because they often pride themselves on self-reliance and problem-solving.  They often wait weeks or months for the dealer to repair a tractor when they could do it themselves or have a local mechanic fix it.

A political backlash is building.

In Massachusetts, Waldman reports that voters overwhelmingly passed a 2020 initiative giving consumers and repair shops access to data sent wirelessly from cars back to manufacturers.  Last week, the Minnesota Legislature took a big step toward passing large bills with right-to-repair language.

This fall, Maine voters will have an automotive right-to-repair question on their ballots.  And in March, a bi-partisan group of attorneys general wrote a letter urging Congress to pass national right-to-repair legislation.

The new Colorado law could be important for two reasons   First, it provides relief for farmers and independent repair shops.  Second, it’s going to demonstrate that, if you pass one of these laws, the sky does not fall, markets do not collapse, and manufacturers won’t pull out of Colorado.

Waldman concludes:

“Unlike most problems, the right-to-repair issue appeals to people of almost any ideology, from those who care deeply about individual property rights to those who want to rein in corporate abuse.  The argument is easy to understand:  Manufacturers shouldn’t be able to tell you what you can and can’t do with your own stuff.

All of this reminds me of a time in the past in the lobbying and public relations company which I helped to start.  We represented a right-to-repair client that wanted to give local shops the right to repair cars instead of having vehicles go only to dealers based on limited access to software.

Back then, we fought hard against car dealers and, unfortunately, lost.

Today, given how far right-to-repair logic has come, it might not be the same this time around.

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.

Those who know me know that I was a fan of what retired late night TV host David Letterman often did, which was to propose a Top 10 List.  It summarized the status of various issues in simple, yet memorable, words, usually with a humorous twist.

So, below, I produce my own Top 10 List of Lobby Suggestions. 

Not sure how memorable they are, nor humorous, but they got me through about 40 years of dealing with public policy in Oregon, including 25 as a registered state lobbyist, built upon 15 years as a state government manager with responsibility to manage legislative relations for various state agencies.

I used these suggestions repeatedly over the years and, while not magic answers, they stood the test of time. 

• Identify legislative champions on an issue-by-issue basis.

To promote Port of Portland Columbia River channel deepening, for instance, I only had to cultivate three champions in the House and one in the Senate.  Each was a key member of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee, the Joint Ways and Means Committee.  So, they were well-positioned to lead channel deepening approval – and it occurred in a welcome development for the regional economy.

Of course, I also had Governor John Kitzhaber as a supporter. 

In another example, former Senator Betsy Johnson became a champion for me and for Providence Health System during the hugely controversial proposals to tax hospitals and health insurers.  She was the only official who supported the “deal” we struck officially before the taxes were imposed; all other public officials who signed off did not honor it – which underlines how difficult it is to cut a deal that lasts with the Legislature.

• Tell stories to prod understanding.

For the Port of Portland, I was able to lead an effort to gather evidence to justify calling the Port of Portland the “Port of Oregon,” thus illustrating the statewide benefits of the Port’s out-bound and in-bound maritime services.  The tactic proved to be critical in justifying money to deepen the Columbia River channel.

For Providence, doctors and nurses helped me deliver real-world messages about medical services, even as they advocated for more funding for the state-federal Medicaid program for low-income citizens.

For Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), with help from Oregon’s best journalism outfit, OPB, I was able to explain what it meant to “go dark” in rural Oregon, which at the time, was a major threat.

• Know your audience, including how and why legislators won election.  Plus, visit legislators on their home turf, not just at the Capitol in Salem.

• Identify legislators who know the smart middle and can lead everyone to it when “yes” or “no” are not possible.  Recognize that the zeal for the perfect is often the enemy of the possible. 

Former Senator Neil Bryant is my best example.  At my request, he led the successful effort to create a special “immunities section” in Oregon’s assisted suicide law, which had passed twice at the polls without such a section – and the change was important to Providence which wanted to make sure it didn’t have to participate in a questionable practice, though the deal required “referral” out to providers of the now-legal assisted suicide law.

• Recognize the importance of this ethic — “your word is your bond.”  Don’t cash it in.  If you do, you lose what you cannot afford to lose – your credibility.

If I had to change a position I had enunciated on behalf of a client, when I conveyed the change to those to whom I had spoken earlier, the corrective action increased my credibility.

Truth and honesty mattered, sometimes more even than the policy rationale for a piece of legislation.

• Recognize that solid lobbying rests on the discipline of conveying a series of positive impressions one at a time, not assuming you will succeed with one message.

In one example, I employed multiple contacts, including with then Senator Kate Brown, to advocate that a proposal to expand Oregon’s certificate-of-need law, promoted for some reason by public employee unions, did not become law because it would have increased health care costs, including for union employees.

• Build coalitions because working with others is usually better than working alone. 

There was a strange one for Hewlett-Packard.  I joined environmental lobbyists to support a ban on field burning.  For H-P, the issue was that smoke from field burns, as it engulfed power lines, often resulted in power outages, bad for the chip maker in Corvallis.  To emphasize, I joined environmentalists on this issue alone, not on the full extent of their lobbying agenda.

• Understand the intricacies of the legislative process and capitalize on its aspects. 

Arrive early at the Capitol every day.  Stay late every day.  Recognize the very personal nature of lobbying in Oregon in contrast, say, to D.C.   You will end up talking to all 90 legislators, plus the governor.  Recognize the need, as well, to talk with state agency officials.

• Make sure those clients you represent don’t turn your stomach.

There are three cases in my history where I failed and, remembering those cases, I still throw up – (1) advocating for establishing a bail bond program in Oregon; (2) advocating for health insurance interests in Washington, D.C. who wanted CFM to oppose a threat from anti-insurance interests, but there was not specific threat at the time in Oregon, so it became impossible to energize health insurance supporters; (3) being asked to promote a major car race track in Boardman on behalf of a client that wanted CFM “to open its rolodex” to promote the proposal; when that kind of stupid request came, we did not accept the client. 

Further, back when I was at CFM, we had a generally understood agreement that, (a) staff would not have to work with a client with whom they disagreed strongly; and (b) if opposition was wide enough among staff, we would not accept a client.  Plus, partners had their own “no” clients, with which staff agreed, including tobacco companies.

• Adhere to two standards.

Those that are part of the Capitol Club Code of Conduct are critically important, as are statutory ethical standards managed by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.  [And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I am a current member of the nine-member Commission.]

So, there you have it, my lobby suggestions.  They served me well in my professional life and, if you think about, some of them apply to general life, as well.

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.

The underdog Miami Heat pulled off the upset of the NBA basketball season last week, bouncing the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks from the playoffs in a stunning five-game romp.

Playoff tornado Jimmy Butler will now pivot to rowdy Madison Square Garden to face off with another unexpected surprise, the Cleveland-thumping New York Knicks. 

But the basketball result was not what lasted.

What did were the comments Antetokounmpo made after the game.  If I could pronounce his name, I’d be brilliant.  But, even more so if I had been able to say what he said after a sports loss.

Hours afterward, it felt like the entire  planet – or at least the online portion of the planet – was still obsessing about how Antetokounmpo addressed the topic of failure.

Here is a summary of what he said:

“Do you get a promotion every year, in your job?” Antetokounmpo answered, after a long pause in which he placed his head in his hands. “No, right?  So every year you work is a failure?  Yes or no.  No?

“Every year you work, you work towards something, towards a goal, which is to get a promotion, to be able to take care of your family, provide a house for them, or take care of your parents.  You work towards a goal – it’s not a failure.  It’s steps to success.”

“There’s always steps to it.  Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships.  Were the other nine years a failure?  That’s what you’re telling me…why do you ask me that question?  It’s the wrong question.

“There’s no failure in sports.  There’s good days, bad days.  Some days you are able to be successful, some days you’re not.  Some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not your turn.  And that’s what sports is about.  You don’t always win.  Some other people are going to win.

“And this year, somebody else is going to win. We’re going to come back next year and try to be better.”

In this answer, some sportswriters applauded him for not taking the easy way out. The easy way to feed the beast would be to say, Yes, absolutely the 2022-23 season was a failure.

That’s what our best professional athletes and teams are conditioned and expected to do – accept the terms of a false binary and declare anything short of a season-ending trophy hoist to be an unmitigated disaster.

Another writer:

“Life doesn’t work this way, of course, and Antetokounmpo is wise to point that out.  Failures can be abrupt and sudden, but successes are incremental, their gestation and development often hidden from sight.  As a zillion self-help books have lectured us, success is often born from our lowest moments, so the idea that an experience can be brightly labeled and tossed away is absurd.” So, onward and upward, Antetokounmpo!  Great answer – for sports and for life