At first blush, that headline may seem to convey a mixed message. To some, a tender roast cannot be well done, though at the same time, I guess it is possible.

This time, “tender roast” was the description my friends at “my” firm, CFM Strategic Communications, applied to a roast held in – what can I say – “my honor” earlier this month. It was a retirement party.

Despite the fact that I had given explicit instructions that my retirement should not be the subject of any kind of party, my friends at CFM didn’t listen. Nothing new about that.

They planned a party and decided to hold a roast. It was a total surprise to me, but once I adjusted to the idea that there would be a party for me, I had a great time reliving portions of my 40-year career in forming public policy – 15 years as an Oregon state government manager and 25 years as a lobbyist in a firm I helped to co-found with partner and long-time friend, Gary Conkling.

How did the surprise occur?

Well, two of my now “former” friends – lobbyist Tom Gallagher and Bend attorney (and former state senator) Neil Bryant – enticed me with an invitation to play golf at the club where I am a member, Illahe Hills in Salem.

I should have suspected that something was up, but then many of my friends would tell you that I am not necessarily quick on the uptake.

The first clue was when Tom called to set up a golf game at Illahe; he does not like the golf course, so such a call should have struck me as strange. Then, when he came to the club on the fateful day, he met me on the putting green in his Sunday best attire. I thought he had just left his golf clothes up on the locker room.

Soon, around the corner came Neil carrying his golf clubs and a change of clothes.

To be ready for our tee time, we trooped up to the locker room and then came another clue – Neil, who has been at Illahe many times, asked to see the remodeling out in the front of the clubhouse. Well, that remodeling occurred more than 15 years ago, but again I dutifully walked with Neil and Tom out to the front.

There, I arrived at a room and, seeing a lot of my friends in the same place, I wondered what they were all doing at Illahe.

Finally, I tumbled to what was up when I saw my daughter, Lissy, standing there with all of my friends. Turned out she had flown down from Seattle just for the retirement party occasion. At that point, it was real. Finally.

It was gratifying to re-live some great memories over 40 years. The best news was that representatives of four of my favorite lobby clients were in the room.

Greg Van Pelt, Marcia Williams and Jessica Adamson from Providence Health System came, a great honor for me. Providence was CFM’s first client 25 years ago and it was a distinct pleasure to represent such a fine organization over the years. From its roots in the Catholic Church, Providence is a great health care organization, the cornerstone of which “is to provide compassionate care accessible for all – especially those who are poor and vulnerable.”

Ron and Lynne Saxton also did me the great honor of attending. They are two great friends. For Ron, I represented JELD-WEN, a home-grown Oregon company that became, in our lifetimes, an organization with an international scope. Lynne, the executive director of Youth Villages-Oregon (formerly Christie School and ChristieCare), came from her new job as director of the Oregon Health Authority to attend the event.

For me, the Saxtons, beyond our friendship, represented two great clients – JELD-WEN and Youth Villages. They stood for honesty and forthrightness in all of their disparate activities.

The fourth client representative was Annette Price from the Port of Portland, a great client for CFM over the years when we worked together to gain funds to deepen the Columbia River Channel, thus allowing deeper draft ships to make their way on the 90-mile transit off the oceans to inland ports, including, especially, the Port of Portland.

Gaining these funds stands as one of the results of which I am most proud during my 25 years as a state lobbyist. As always, in such projects, credit goes not to one individual, but to a team that worked together effectively to produce a solid result.

Back to the retirement party.

With so many friends and colleagues in the room, it turned out to be a great evening. I won’t mention the names of all who honored me by attending, but two people stand out – my wife of 41 years (almost 42), Nancy, and my daughter, Lissy. [Son Eric couldn’t be at the event because – and he knew I would support his decision – he was serving as captain of Oregon’s teams at the Pacific Northwest Golf Association championships in Portland.]

As Lynne Saxton rightly said in her remarks about me, Nancy is truly the “wind beneath Dave’s wings.” Without Nancy’s steadfast love and support over the years, I would not have been able to accomplish much of anything.

As for Lissy, it would not be possible to have a better daughter who has become a loving wife and mother in her own right. The fact that she made the trip down from Seattle was a special treat.

Thanks to all who contributed thoughts and ideas for this best of all retirement parties. One of best moments of the evening came, properly, I guess, at my expense. My former associate, Beth Remley, with microphone in hand, relayed this story about me: “Hey Beth, I asked, how do you get rid of those blue dots on e-mails?” Her reply: “Well, Dave, just read them!”

It cracked up the audience, but, of course, to set the record straight, one of my duties in this post, my friend Beth failed to mention one key fact — it was that my question came after I read the e-mails and the blue dots still wouldn’t disappear. Oh well, the fiction of her story was better than the truth of mine.

I might not have wanted this party in the beginning, but now it stands as a fitting end to my professional career, which has been made better by too many friendships to count over the years — friends who will remain friends long after professional associations come to an end.

***************

[It should be reported that three of my colleagues had the idea to come up with this retirement. They are my long-standing friend and partner Gary Conkling, who has led CFM with distinction for many years; Partner Dan Jarman, who now leads the CFM state lobby practice; and Cindy Brown, our office manager who could not be better than she now is. And, by the way, retirement gifts for me are still being accepted!]

For many of us, golf is an important pastime. A great way to get out of doors, exercise, apply your mind and compete, if only against yourself.

But beyond the activity, a recent report depicts golf as an economic engine that drives results across the state – results in dollars, jobs and quality of life, including substantial commitments to charitable organizations.

The new report has just been completed by the Golf Alliance of Oregon, a partnership of the Oregon Golf Association, the Oregon Golf Course Owners Association, the Pacific Northwest PGA-Oregon Chapter, the Oregon Golf Course Superintendents and the Club Managers of Oregon.

It was unveiled at a reception at Illahe Hills Golf and Country Club on May 6.

Consider these statistics, which are drawn from the report prepared by the consulting firm, SRI International:

• In 2013, the size of Oregon’s direct golf economic impact totaled approximately $1.3 billion, which compares favorably to revenues generated by other key industries in the state, such as paper manufacturing ($3.9 billion), software publishing ($1.5 billion), and greenhouses/nurseries ($.8 billion).

• Golf brings visitors to the state, spurs new residential construction, generates retail sales and creates demand for goods and services, thereby enabling the industry to reach a total annual economic impact of $2 billion.

• That $2 billion total includes $576 million of wage income for more than 21,000 jobs in the industry.

• As for charitable contributions, the total amount of dollars is in the range of $31 million. The Safeway Classic alone raises at least $1 million every year for local organizations. The Boys and Girls Club of Portland estimates that it has received more than $3 million over the past 10 years from the professional golf event in Portland.

Based on these statistics – and many others – the Golf Alliance says that “the continued health of the golf industry has a direct bearing on future jobs, commerce, economic development and tax revenues for a large number of Oregon’s communities and industries.”

Whether it’s Bandon Dunes on the South Coast, Pumpkin Ridge in North Plains, Columbia Edgewater, Waverly, Portland Golf Club or Riverside in Portland, Eugene Country Club in Eugene, or, yes, Illahe Hills in Salem, each contributes to the economic health of the communities in which they are located.

​I have reflected on that question over the last year or so as I have moved into partial retirement after more than 30 years in the lobbying business.

​There is no formula to answer the question, but the following thoughts have come to mind.

​1.  A PERSONAL COMMITMENT:  “YOUR WORD IS YOUR BOND” ETHIC

​There is no more critical trait than this one.  At a recent Wall Street Journal CEO Forum, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a potential Republican presidential candidate next time around, put it this way:  “No one in this city (Washington, D.C.) talks to each other anymore.  Or, if they do, they don’t speak to each civilly.  They don’t develop relationships.  They won’t develop trust between each other.”

​Governor Christie could have added that, when officials talk, they don’t believe what each other says because there is no “your word is your bond” ethic.

​If you say something, mean it.  Stick by it.  If you have to change your point of view, alert all those to whom you previously spoke that you’ve had to change.  That, alone, will enhance your credibility.

​2.  A PERSONAL STYLE:  PERSEVERANCE

​Over my 30+ years at the State Capitol in Salem, I saw that those who arrived early, remained active during the day and stayed late often got things done.  In the sometimes-awkward nature of lobbying, finding legislators early and late often translated to an important minute or two – a minute or two to make a positive impression on behalf of a client.

​Because lobbying is the business of making a series of positive impressions, finding time to make the first one is critical.  Then, the others can follow – early, mid-day or late.

​3.  A PERSONAL COMMITMENT:  CLIENT EXPERTISE INVOKES LOBBYING

​In the lobbying business, I used to say that it didn’t matter what I thought or whether I agreed with a client.  What mattered was what the client thought.

​I had the good fortune to represent clients over the years with whom I generally agreed or, better put, was allowed to influence their thinking about how to achieve an objective.

​I also was fond of saying that, with regard to a client’s interests, I was “an inch deep and a mile wide,” while the client was a mile deep in its understanding of its issues.  The point?  It is that a client’s perspectives, words and deeds are critical to representing that client’s interests.  What a client wants or does not want from the legislative process should dictate what the lobbyist wants or does not want.

​My approach was, first, to listen carefully to a client’s perspective, then apply my experience — how to get things done in a public policy environment honed over more than 30 years in the process.

​If a client wanted a message carrier, I wasn’t particularly interested, as immodest as that sounds.  I wanted to work with client to hone their message, then use the client’s expertise to achieve results.

​4.  A PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENT:  FIND THE SMART MIDDLE

​Getting back to the Wall Street Journal’s report of what Governor Christie said at the CEO forum, he issued a clear call for the benefits of compromise, which, after all, is the definition of politics…the art of compromise.

​”When I’ve developed relationships with Democratic legislators (in New Jersey), it means you have to compromise at times; you don’t walk away with everything you want.  But, man, if I walk away with 70 per cent of my agenda, New Jersey’s 70 per cent better than it would have been otherwise.”

​Well, you could quarrel with elements of that quote, but the point is clear:  Finding the smart middle is better than imposing an idea from either the right or left extremes.  Look no farther these days than the “Affordable Care Act,” which doesn’t appear to be so affordable.  It was imposed without any attempt to find the middle; only Democrats in Congress voted for President Obama’s proposal and it appears he alone is implementing it – or trying to implement it.

​Fault Republicans, if you will, for putting up roadblocks.  But my wish is that smart Republicans would have been asked to work with smart Democrats to find the smart middle and, thus, make health care reform really work.

​In Oregon, by contrast, legislators met in special session earlier this fall and found the middle on a five-part compromise that included a list of tough-to-resolve political issues ranging from taxes, to state pensions, to agricultural policy.  Governor John Kitzhaber led the way, a list of Democrats and Republicans lined up to support a package deal and so did lobbyists.  No one liked 100 per cent of the outcome, which is the exact definition of politics.

​As a lobbyist, my goal was to get clients, first, to explain what they wanted and why, and, second, to be open to finding the smart middle.  That’s the way to get things done — in Salem or in Washington, D.C.