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.

How about this for a story!

Pretend you have just been elected to the Oregon Senate as a Republican representing the Pendleton area in Eastern Oregon, a Republican stronghold in the state.  You look forward to the challenge.

You know Democrats are in charge in at the Capitol in Salem, but you think you can have some effect.

But, soon you will learn what being in the “minority” really means.

Those in charge want to shove such issues as “abortion-on-demand” down the throats of everyone, including Eastern Oregonians.  They want gun control.  They aren’t much interested in rural issues, so they rarely talk to you and your colleagues.

What do you do?

Well, you argue assertively that rural Oregonians deserve to be heard. 

But, despite your arguments, which you utter clearly and respectfully, the Ds don’t listen.

Now, what’s your choice?

Vote and lose?

Or, walk out?

Ten Oregon senators chose the latter in the last legislative session and they are now paying a price, which means they are barred from running for re-election.  Most of them feel the effort was worth it.

Regarding what I will call the “walk-out tactic,” I had a friendly debate with a friend of mine this week about a move that tests an age-old question in OREGON:  What does it mean to represent voters who sent you to serve in the Oregon Legislature?

He thought, once elected, individuals incurred an obligation to stay at the Capitol, come what may.

I responded that, on occasion, given the depth of certain issues, walking out might be the only answer to someone from the East.

The bottom-line question:  Is it right or appropriate for elected officials to “walk out of the Capitol” and stay away to prevent the House or Senate from having a quorum to do the public’s business.

Two views, expressed more generally than just between my friend and myself:

• On one hand, some of those who have won election – like the individual I described above — believe that some issues are so important that the only way to prevent their consideration is to walk out.  In other words, they believe they would be representing their constituents if they walked.

• On the other hand, many observers contend that individuals got elected, so their obligation is to serve on-site regardless of the outcome on sensitive issues.  In other words, they would be representing their constituents if they stayed.

Frankly, I see both sides.  And, remember, by going both ways, I exhibit my traits as a long-time lobbyist in Oregon.

KGW-TV provides this further background.

“In Oregon, the walk-out tactic has become most heavily associated with Senate Republicans in recent years, but both parties have used the tactic in the past, and in both chambers.

“The frequency has increased from 2019 onward, but use of the tactic in Oregon dates all the way back to 1971.”

To understand the gravity of this tactic, consider the plight of Republicans such as the one from Pendleton I described above.  They are not in charge and often chafe under Democrat control.

Plus, voters in Eastern Oregon sent them to Salem for several purposes — to avoid abortion-on-demand, to avoid gun control, and to argue against what has come to be called “the two-Oregons.”  

Urban Democrats are in charge in Salem and rural Republicans have had to play defense lately.

So, last session, the 10 Senate Republicans who walked came up against a voter-passed initiative that said, if legislators incurred too many absences, they could not run for re-election.

The upshot is that 10 senators are shut out from seeking to head to Salem again, though in two cases, relatives of those who cannot run are running instead.

As a retired lobbyist, my solution to the walk-out tactic is straightforward and simple, but probably requires too much “give” from either side to have much of a chance.

It is this:

• If you are from urban Oregon, work hard to understand rural perspectives.
• If you are from rural Oregon, work hard to understand urban perspectives.
• If you are in charge at the Capitol in Salem, do your best to avoid hugely controversial public policy issues – abortion, for instance – that will prevent you from doing the one thing you have to do when you are in Salem, which is to pass the next two-year State of Oregon budget.

See.  Simple.