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 quoted Hew York Times columnist Frank Bruni in my most recent blog, mentioning that an international soccer organization had given Donald Trump a piece prize…which, of course, he didn’t deserve.

Then, after the post, I ran across the following quote as an addendum to Bruni’s column.

“In her newsletter, Joanne Carducci scoffed at the peace prize that FIFA, the international soccer organization, awarded Trump:  ‘It’s a participation trophy for geopolitical corruption.  It’s so stupid it makes my remaining sanity stand up, politely excuse itself, and dive headfirst into oncoming traffic.’”

Well said!

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.

Whenever Donald Trump talks, you have to believe one of two things:

• Either he is exaggerating.

• Or, he is telling outright lies.

Consider his claims about winning wars and producing peace.

None is true.

He was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year, though he campaigned openly for it.  Instead, Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, took home the award.

Of course, that made Trump mad.

So, the international soccer association – yes, soccer – which is called FIFA, awarded the inaugural “FIFA Peace Prize” to Trump.

I say, let soccer be soccer without attaching it so directly to politics.

Where are Trump’s peacemaker claims coming from?

The Washington Post provides the answer.

“Trump claims he has ‘solved’ eight conflicts since taking office in January.

• A peace agreement between Congo and Rwanda.

• The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

• The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

• Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.

• Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia.

• A military confrontation between India and Pakistan.

• A border skirmish between Thailand and Cambodia.

• Fighting between Israel and Iran.”

The trouble with this list is that “solutions” claimed by Trump are not true.  Fighting continues in all cases.

So, don’t give Trump any peace prizes.

He doesn’t deserve them, either overseas or at home.

To conclude, I recite a column in the New York Times by Frank Bruni where he excoriates Trump for giving himself nothing by passing grades as he exalts – no surprise here – himself.

Consider this case.

In an interview last week with Dasha Burns from Politico, Trump was asked to grade his stewardship of the economy on his watch.

“’A-plus,’ he said.

“’A-plus?’ she said back to him, as if maybe she hadn’t heard him right, as if such flamboyant boasting were still a shock, as if she were clinging idealistically to the idea that a president of the United States could not travel quite this many light-years away from reality, as if the past decade of American history hadn’t happened.

“’Yeah,’ Trump responded.

“But then, upon further consideration, he realized that he’d been unduly self-effacing.  So, he re-wrote his report card.

“’A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus,’ Trump said.  

Bruni adds:  “That’s five pluses, for those of you too non-plussed to pause and count.  I assume he stopped there only because he was winded.   He’s not the cyclone of energy he used to be.  He’s more an erratic breeze.

“And he has decided to answer to one kind of inflation with another. You think 4.0 grade point averages are too common at the elite universities that he supposedly deplores?  They wouldn’t even land you on the dean’s list in the Trump administration, where the windbags in the West Wing, the showboats in the cabinet and the blowhard in chief are constantly gilding their self-determined A’s with self-indulgent pluses atop pluses.”

That last paragraph from Bruni says it all – so I’ll let him have the last word on Trump, the blowhard…in peacekeeping (no) and in the economy (also, no).

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.

And, this note:  I have been away from this blog for a time, but, alas, I like to write, even if not well on certain occasions, so here goes again.

I have reached the end of two terms as an Oregon Government Ethics commissioner because there is not more room for me to serve beyond eight years.

Let me say this:  So be it.  Eight is enough. 

And, for me, all the years have been good ones.  Not perfect, for nothing in government is perfect, but good.

Along the way in my eight-year tenure, I have firmly believed that no one should set out to dominate a government institution such as the Ethics Commission.

I never set out to do so.  It is time for someone to take my place – and I know nothing will be lost in the transition.

But, as I come to the end of my tenure, three major thoughts stick out:

1. First, when I was asked by Governor Kate Brown to serve in this role several years ago, it didn’t take long for me to say “yes.”  I thought it was a high calling to be part of an effort to promote ethics awareness and conduct in government in Oregon.  My eight years lived up to those early aspirations. 

• Second, when I began serving, I suspected then what has been true for eight years — supporting ethical conduct in Oregon government is not a “one person does it all” effort.  As a commissioner, I always was part of a team – all members of the Commission, all staff members, and all Oregonians who watched and supported our work.

• And, third, the nine commissioners during my tenure have come from different backgrounds, not to mention different political affiliations.  On that latter point, let me say that I have never known for sure the political affiliations of any of my colleagues.  Nor did I ask.

What’s more important is that politics never entered directly into our discussions or decisions — and that’s a good thing in Oregon.

So, as I step aside, my challenge for the Commission is to continue all it can do to support ethics in government in a bi-partisan, fact-based, and even-handed all fashion. 

I’ll be rooting for the Commission from the cheap seats in Salem, including, often, in my golf cart.