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.

The question in this blog headline arises because of a recent prediction that Democrats have a decent chance to come up with supermajorities in the 2025 Oregon Legislature.

That means three-fifths margins in the 60-member Oregon House and 3—member Oregon Senate.

My view, in a word, bad.

Why?

If one party controls by a supermajority, then bi-partisanship is less likely.  Perhaps even impossible.

I say this after my 40 years involved in the legislative process in Oregon, though I have now been retired for more than six years.

Does that make me right?  No.

It just means I have a view, which I can buttress by experience.

When the House and Senate were split evenly back a number of years ago, there was no option but to find public policy solutions somewhere in the middle.  And that’s often where the best solutions lie anyway – perhaps not the exact middle, but somewhere in the middle.

When one party controls the process, especially by a supermajority, it can dictate the outcome, sometimes without considering minority viewpoints.

Better, I contend, to have both parties involved in finding the best solutions.