Thoughts at the Twilight

This article first appeared in the Central Oregonian of Prineville, Oregon, November 2008

At this writing, the election of 2008 is behind us (or at least I hope it is.) A new County Court is now elected, and I am entering the final phase, the twilight, of my 12-year political career as the transition to the new county administration begins.

It will be a strange moment when I leave office after Dec. 31. No more cell phone ringing urgently. No waking up at midnight to check the weather and wonder if the snowplows have been dispatched yet to Juniper Canyon. No more calls at home from constituents just as I’m sitting down to dinner or putting the kids in bed. I can once again read the morning paper without that nagging worry about whether the reporter got the story right. Best of all, I hope I’m done for good with same-day over-and-back trips to Salem starting at 5 a.m. and ending at 8 or 9 at night.

For the most part, my successor is welcome to it, but despite the relief I feel at handing off much of this job to someone else, there is still a tiny, tiny piece of me that regrets that I won’t be around in a leadership role as the next chapter of Crook County history.

You see, serving in public office isn’t so much about having something to do as it is about serving a passion. Any one of my predecessors in the office of county judge and county commissioner can tell you, they didn’t do it for the money. All of us were inspired by the idea that maybe we could run things just a little better. Our hope was that as a result of our service, we might leave the county and its citizens a little—or a lot—better than we found them, and all of us in our heart of hearts had a sneaking suspicion on leaving office that the next administration might change thing.

And of course change is exactly what happens. After all, that’s the point and the promise of an election: it’s an opportunity to reconsider, to allow new people to bring fresh approaches to persistent problems, to throw out what we have been doing and do something different in the perennial hope of a better result. Only in this way does the grand experiment that is democracy ensure the continuous and forward advancement of our system over time.

Of course, not everybody’s plan works out as envisioned. Make no mistake, campaigning successfully is a walk in the park compared with the challenges of governing successfully!
The role of the candidate is to promise. Reality has a funny way of forcing one to adjust one’s promises after the fact.

Do you remember the campaign of George W. Bush 2000? We were going to get out of the business of “nation building.” We were going to “decrease dependence on foreign oil.” We were going to rein in federal spending. Then came Sept. 11, 2001. Oops.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve heard candidates promise much to the community. We’re going to have a better economy, planned growth, better communication, open government, etc., etc. etc.

At the same time, I’ve been reading the papers and watching the news as the housing market has taken a nose dive, consumer confidence has plummeted, standards of living for retirees dependent on investment income have fallen, manufacturing has slumped, unemployment has risen and federal and state revenue sharing has dropped.

Despite the promises of candidates to deliver the Promised Land in local government, they may be fortunate if country, county and community simply survive the next four years intact.
Perhaps the most amusing campaign promise of all is what I like to refer to as the “Goldilocks” standard—the idea that the government through regulatory intervention can somehow control the destiny of the community so that its business growth, development patterns and conflict arising out of changing economic and social norms can somehow be implemented at a pace which is neither too hot nor too cold but is “just right.” In truth, that is the Holy Grail of every government and every elected official, and like the Holy Grail, it has never been discovered. The boom and bust cycle of the American economy forces communities and government alike to take advantage of good times and regroup in bad times. A government which applies the brakes in the up-times risks slowing the economic engine to a point that it can’t be revved again when the inevitable downturn begins. That is both political and economic reality. Always has been, always will be.

Be that as it may, the newly elected candidates can do some things right as they move forward with their new responsibilities. While those things lack the “sex appeal” of fulfilling policy promise, they probably will mean more to quality of life for all of us.

Boiled down, an elected official in local government needs to do six basic things:

· Sketch a vision not of what has been but of what could be.
· Hire good people and get out of their way.
· Appoint volunteers who have passion and competence for their contributions to community betterment.
· Budget modestly, providing what is needed but not overburdening those who are expected to foot the bill.
· Work well with other units of government. You never know when you will need help from your neighbor.
· Stay in touch with your community and its emerging and changing values

As I close my tenure in office, I can look back on my tenure in office and realize that I’ve committed myself intensely to all of these areas. Some of these tasks I’ve performed better than others. Sometimes, I’ve been more on top of my game than at other times. No doubt my successor will tackle these challenges in his or her own unique way, and I wish him or her well in doing that.

Elected office doesn’t come with a manual. No conference tells you what to do the day after you take the oath of office. It’s a “do it yourself” thing. I only hope that whatever the next administration does—and I ‘m sure it will do things differently than I have done them—that it will do them keeping these principles in mind.

They served me well, and in the long run they serve the people of Crook County well, too.