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.

I ask the question in this blog headline for at least two reasons:

1. When a new two-year budget is proposed by a governor on December 1 – just as Governor Tina Kotek did a few days ago in accord with state law – it can come across as just a set of numbers.  So many numbers on so many pages that it is difficult to understand their context.

• But, based on my 40 years watching and working in state government in Oregon, I know that, buried beneath the numbers, lie public policy issues important to all Oregonians.  The challenge is to go beneath the surface to find them.

Today, I’ll spare more details about this budget, which I wrote about in my blog yesterday. 

Instead, I’ll emphasize what I may be the true purposes of the budget recommendations produced by Kotek.

It is #2 above.

Smart governors – and there have been smart ones in Oregon’s recent history, even if you disagree with them – will use the opportunity of preparing a recommended budget to outline where they want Oregon to go in the future.

Not just numbers.  But policy directions.

Here is how the Oregonian newspaper summarized a few of the directions recommended by Kotek, ones that lie beneath the surface:

• A big budget increase for the Labor Bureau

• Money to target fentanyl distributors

• A new attorney to investigate cases of missing and murdered indigenous people

• Money to “protect Oregon’s values” [whatever that means, though it may be a nod to protecting Oregon from president-elect Donald Trump’s plans]

• Money to help incarcerated women

Each of these proposals cited by the Oregonian are probably different than what Kotek would cite if she were asked about major “asks” in her budget.  Her emphasis – and the one I saw through the budget document — more new housing and more efforts to reduce homelessness.

So, say what you will, all of this will be up for grabs in the 2025 legislative session, which begins in January and runs for about six months.  With super-majority control by Democrats in the House and the Senate, Kotek will likely get most of what she wants.

Make your own judgment beyond the numbers.  Will what the governor wants go down well with citizens in the state?

As the old saying goes, only time will tell.