Perspective From the 19^th Hole 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.

Under this headline – “Not Even Portlandia Wants a Progressive Prosecutor” – the Wall Street Journal went on record lauding the decision by Multnomah County residents to vote for a new prosecutor.

Nathan Vasquez, a lead prosecutor in District Attorney Mike Schmidt’s office, beat his boss by a wide margin.

By the Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman, here is what the article said:

“It wasn’t all that long ago that people talked about Portland, Oregon, in terms of craft beer and music rather than chaos and mayhem. That was of course before the city and the state began testing the outer limits of social policies deemed “progressive,” which has turned out to be the most deceptive label in the history of politics.

“The ironic adjective now stands for a descent into human degradation, and it seems Portland voters have had about all the degrading policy experimentation they can stand.

“Earlier this year the state of Oregon reversed its trendy and tragic embrace of drug decriminalization.  Now in the Portland area voters have tossed a prosecutor who just wasn’t that into prosecuting.”

Here is way Oregonian reporter Noelle Crombie described the change:

“Nathan Vasquez, a career Multnomah County prosecutor, has defeated one-term incumbent District Attorney Mike Schmidt.

“’The voters have made it clear that they are ready to take our county in a new and safer direction,’ Vasquez said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

“As DA, he said he is ‘dedicated to fulfilling my campaign promises.  I am committed to ending open air drug dealing and drug use while helping connect individuals to treatment, to rebuilding the broken relationships between the DA’s office and the community, and to ensuring that victims are the number one priority of my office.’”

More from the Wall Street Journal:

“Portland’s degradation accelerated in 2020 when new D.A. Schmidt decided not to prosecute various offenses committed by leftist protesters.  This week voters made it clear that their aspiration is for city streets to be peaceful, not mostly peaceful.

“Now there’s new cause for optimism and no doubt a few draft microbrews are being raised in Portland as residents hope for a safer and more vibrant community.”

As is often the case, the Journal’s Freeman has no trouble pontificating from his post in the East.

He doesn’t always provide context, which he would say isn’t necessary.  But, this time, Freeman has a point, buttressed by the Oregonian’s reporting.

Vasquez will set a new direction for the District Attorney’s Office in Oregon’s largest county.