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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)
WWeek 2015