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.

If you read the headline on this blog and if you knew about the history of politics in Oregon, you might say, “what?”

Could tax and regulation cuts really be proposals from a group appointed by a Democrat, Tina Kotek, as she runs for re-election as Oregon Governor?

All I can say is, “who knows?”

Here is the way the media reported this development from a group called the Oregon Prosperity Council:

“Overhaul the state’s economic development agency, Business Oregon, strengthen higher education and workforce development, reduce duplication and excessive regulation, and increase the supply of and funding for industrial land.”

And, oh yeah, reduce taxes!

Kotek’s opponent in the general election, Republican Christine Drazan, went on record with this comment:

“We all know this council was an election-year gimmick, but these recommendations are a meaningful start and deserve strong bi-partisan support.  Let’s build on the ideas that create jobs, fix our economy and make Oregon more affordable.  That includes bold tax cuts for families and businesses.  I’m ready to get to work.”

Some media outlets also reported that Drazan was skeptical Kotek would set out to implement the recommendations.

The report, released late last week, completes a process Kotek launched in December.  As her re-election campaign loomed, the governor expressed new interest in the state’s economy and appointed the Prosperity Council.

She hired Tim Knopp, a former Republican Senate minority leader, to be her liaison to the council and named Renee James, a former president of Intel and founder and CEO of Ampere Computing, and Curtis Robinhold, executive director of the Port of Portland, to chair the effort.

The council’s report defined the state’s economic ills with a few grim stats: Oregon ranks 49th in the nation in private sector job growth; workers’ paychecks are growing at half the national rate; and unemployment in Oregon is 21 per cent higher than the national average.

In response, media outlets reported that the group made 10 immediate recommendations for “Oregon’s Long-Term Prosperity,” a few of which are listed below.

This key conclusion from the group:  Kotek and the Legislature need to send visible signals that Oregon is open for business.”

Here are four of the short-term suggestions:

1. Trim the Corporate Activity Tax:  Raising the threshold for who pays the tax would make a big difference for small businesses, while costing the state little.  
2. Estate tax:  Oregon has the most punitive estate tax of the 13 states that levy such taxes.
3. Qualified small business stock deduction:  The 2025 Trump tax bill included an expansion of an existing tax break for people who sell equity stakes in small companies. In the February session, Oregon lawmakers “disconnected” from that tax break.
4. Modernized research and development tax credits:  There is less analysis on the cost of this incentive, but ECOnorthwest, which staffed the Prosperity Council, said a comparable program would be Oregon’s semiconductor tax credit, which costs about $40 million a year.

Back to a couple bottom lines:

• All this will be subject to political winds as Kotek and Drazan face off against each other again after Kotek won four years ago.  Betters – not me – suggest that Kotek is likely to win again, though she faces a few political headwinds that could give Republicans a chance at the top political job in Oregon for the first time in more than 40 years.
• The Legislature, now in Democrat control and likely to remain there next year, will face the same pressure Kotek does to consider tax and regulation reductions, a tough swallow for many Democrats.

Again, a hackneyed phrase comes to mind – only time will tell.  But, for a political junkie like me, will be fun to watch.