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 may strike some as stupid or disassociated from reality.

Ethical conduct is not often seen as a dimension of character many would associate with lobbyists.

But, as a retired lobbyist, I say it is possible for the two to co-exist – ethical conduct and lobbying.

If it wasn’t, I would not have been a lobbyist for about 25 years in Oregon, for I consider myself to be focused on ethical conduct.

As I review my record over those years, I never was forced to do anything that was unethical.  If I happened to make a simple mistake on occasion – everyone does, and I did – I moved quickly to correct the record because there is no question but that, as a lobbyist, “your word is your bond.”

Without that, your credibility is lost.

So, here are a few principles that I would suggest illustrate ethical conduct in lobbying:

• Always say what you mean – be courteous, but don’t mince words.

• Be honest.  If you know the answer to a question from a legislator whom you are lobbying, answer it.  If you don’t, admit that you don’t and get back to the legislator with an answer as soon as you find it – and always get back.

• Ask only for consideration, not a specific action, at least until the end of the process when you might need to emphasize the final agreement you seek on behalf of a client or clients.
  
  
• Which, I say, relates to a reality of lobbying – it is a series of actions and steps, not just one step.  Thus, consideration makes sense, not action until the end, so keep in mind that, to use an illustration, you are involved in a long-distance race, not a sprint.

• Recognize that you are involved in sales – selling a perspective or point of view held by your client.  Thus, maintaining relationships contributes to a solid sales strategy.

• Be open to middle ground if a definitive answer – a “yes” or “no” – is not possible.  This is a hallmark of good government – knowing how to compromise.

• Be prepared to tell a legislator whom you are lobbying what the other side would say if that other-side lobbyist was in the room.  That clarity contributes to credibility.

• Always follow State of Oregon regulatory laws and rules for lobbyists and their clients.  If you sometimes make a mistake in what is a complicated set of laws and rules, admit the mistake, correct it, and move on.  Plus, good lobbyists help their clients file their separate ethics reports because many of them may be headquartered out-of-state without knowledge of the specific requirements for companies that lobby in Oregon.

And, let me go back to what I considered to be a hallmark of my tenure as a lobbyist, if I am allowed to grant myself a hallmark. 

It is this:  Your word is your bond.  Believe it.  Live it.