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Kate Brown
In 2010, the Oregon secretary of state will redraw the state’s legislative districts. That may sound as exciting as rearranging patio furniture, but it’s an awesome responsibility. If done in a partisan way, redistricting allows the secretary to tilt the playing field toward her party.
The secretary also serves as the state’s chief elections officer; oversees state audits, archives and the corporations division; and sits on the State Land Board with the governor and treasurer. Altogether it’s a complicated, if mostly low-profile, job.
But redistricting is the key to the kingdom and largely explains why four Democratic state senators entered their party’s primary for secretary of state. One of the four—Brad Avakian—got named commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries. Kate Brown, considered more pliable than her opponents Vicki Walker and Rick Metsger, won the crucial union support that gained her the nomination.
In this election, Brown faces Republican Rick Dancer, a former Eugene TV journalist, and Seth Woolley, a computer programmer representing the Pacific Green Party. Dancer, a political newcomer, is still learning his steps. Woolley is smart but not running much of a campaign.
Brown, the former two-term Senate majority leader, never quite delivered on her promise as a lawmaker. She historically scored better than average in our “Good, Bad and Awful” surveys assessing state lawmakers. But her marks—and our enthusiasm for her candidacy in this race—would have been stronger if she were less concerned with keeping everybody happy and more focused on making bold policy. Still, her training as a lawyer and record of leadership in the Legislature make her much more qualified than her two opponents.
Video of WW endorsement interview(thanks to Portland Community Media)
If I buy someone at the Willamette Week an expensive lunch can we then finally see some good press of the non-demrepubs?
The WW endorsed Measure 65, claiming it would limit or end partisanship, but they endorse Kate Brown here. Where is their consistency?
Vote for Seth Woolley for real election reform.
As far as the other candidates, have they been campaigning full time? It's hard to say. Kate's website has been rather empty of updates from since the primary to October, when she came out "in favor" of campaign finance reform -- my major issue. She doesn't list any substance as far as events.
It's curious that you don't mention my candidacy at all when you reported that sudden change of heart. Am I not influencing the debate if the newspapers don't publish that the debate happened?
Yes, I'm not employed by large special interest donors, so I can't do the campaign full time, and I'm not a trust fund kid, but when has that ever been a requirement for public office?
Oh, right, it is to Willamette Week -- somebody has to buy political ads from them, the TV stations, and the rest of the media.
Tell you what, Willamette Week. How would you like to be required to cover all ballot-qualified candidates equally in exchange for use of the public sidewalks for distribution points?
If you live in a democracy, when you abuse your power, you lose it. The question that remains is whether or not we live in a democracy instead of a plutocracy. Why don't you editorialize on that?