Keep the Secretary of State Partisan

Recently, the Oregonian published an editorial, advocating a move to a nonpartisan Secretary of State.  The Oregonian uses the majority of the article to argue that Democratic groups like Act-Blue and the SoS Project, as well as Oregon SoS Bill Bradburry are undermining fair elections.  Yet, the article only briefly mentions Kathrine Harris’ botched and unethical handling of the 2000 election, and omits any mention of the thousands of voters she illegitimately stripped from voter rolls.  Similarly, the article fails to criticize the significant ethical and legal problems of Ohio SoS Ken Blackwell, who, at the same time as being Bush’s campaign co-chair, was using voter suppression tactics in Democratic areas of the state, during the 2004 election.  Despite the Oregonians assertions, this is has been a Republican problem.

With the potential for the appearance of impropriety from similar Republicans, shouldn’t the SoS be nonpartisan?  The argument appears strong, until you dig to the second level.  Consider if removing the R or D next to a candidates name actually remove partisanship from the candidate or the office?  Probably not.  In order to mount a well funded state wide campaign, a candidate would either have to be independently wealthy or have been in partisan politics long enough to establish the requisite fundraising networks.  Therefore, it is likely that successful SoS candidates would have a partisan bent.  That being so, is it really better to hide partisan affiliations from voters?  Voters should not have to do significant amounts of research to uncover these affiliations.  We should just call a spade a spade.

Finally with Oregon’s SoS being a heartbeat away from the Governor’s Office does one really want voters kept in the dark about what side they are on? Furthermore, as Jeff Mapes reports, the SoS candidates have very different visions of how the office should function.  According to Mapes, State Sen. Rick Metsger wants to use the position as a bully pulpit for speaking out on other issues, yet, according to Politickeror he thinks that the position should be nonpartisan.  Those two roles are not compatible, as to effectively use a bully pulpit, one must speak out against those in government and elsewhere, which would create the same questions of impartiality that having a partisan SoS does.

What we need is to do is elect a good Secretary of State who follows the law, not hide crucial information from the voters. We should keep the Secretary of State a partisan office.

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Tags: Secretaryof State, Jeff Mapes, Oregonian, Rick Metsger, elections