The Oregonian ran my review of former Oregon governor Barbara Roberts’ autobiography today.

I feel good about it except that, having seen it in print, I think I did not nail down this thought, which may be the most salient point of her service as the state’s chief executive:

How great might Roberts have been–arguably the happiest warrior of all state governors–if on Day One (1990), she hadn’t faced, as no iconic Hatfield, McCall or Goldschmidt-before-scandal had, two issues that shook Oregon to its foundation: the citizen’s initiative (Ballot Measure 5) that capped property taxes and blew a multimillion dollar hole in the state budget and the spotted owl crisis, which nearly sent the state into an urban-rural civil war?

We’ll never know. Which makes Roberts’ governorship almost Shakespearean in so many ways. I just wish I had hit this point more forcefully in the book review.

I’ve always second-guessed articles I’ve published, and this, obviously, is no exception. On the other hand, the review was well received on my Facebook page.