Kate Brown: Oregon initiative system abused, needs reform

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown, left, meets with area residents including Mary Helen Garoutte, right, at a lunch in La Grande Thursday. The Observer/CHRIS BAXTER

In an interview with The Observer Thursday morning, Brown, a former state legislator, talked about adjustments she’s made as she switches to the administrative side of government.

“I knew very little in terms of the inner workings of government,” she said. “There’s certainly been a transition period, but I think I’ve done a good job of it.”

“The initiative system is a wonderful tool. It’s brought some great changes,” she said, “but now it’s become a money-making business.”

She said she has introduced a package of reforms in the hopes the system will be more fair, more effective and win the public’s trust.

With the recent passage of House Bill 2005, the Secretary of State has authority to conduct background checks on initiative signature gatherers.

The bill also prohibits the counting of signatures collected by a circulator who has violated the law, prevents chief petitioners from turning a blind eye to illegal signature gathering and allows the secretary to impose a civil penalty while a criminal investigation is under way.

Brown said she intends to vigorously pursue initiative reform. Investigators have been hired to monitor signature gatherers and prosecute abuses.

“Our investigators are going to be very active in the next six months at least,” she said.

In the area of voter registration, Brown said she hopes to increase participation with a new online system approved by the Legislature in June.

She said she hopes to see more registration of young people, disabled people and members of the military.

“Fewer military members vote than the general population,” she said. “We’d like to make it easier for them.”

Brown also said she hopes to step up service delivery performance audits of state agencies. She said Gary Blackmer, the new head of the audit division, is  working hard to make that come about. Blackmer is the former auditor for the city of Portland.

“I think he’s already made changes. We’re going to be able to do more audits in a shorter amount of time,” she said.

Brown was first elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1991. She served two terms in the House before being elected to the Senate in 1996. In 2004, she was elected as Oregon’s first woman Senate majority leader.

She won the Secretary of State post in November 2008, and was sworn in, in January of this year.

Brown said she considers it important to stay in touch with citizens in rural areas.

“We plan to visit every county every year,” she said.

The Office of Secretary of State is one of three constitutional offices established at statehood.

The secretary of state is the custodian of the state seal and oversees the functions of seven divisions, including elections, audits and the corporation division.