Oregonian endorses Brown for secretary of state

The Oregonian endorsed secretary of state candidate Kate Brown (D-Portland) Tuesday, saying the state senator had the right experience to take on the job.

The secretary of state position is not only second in command to the governor, but is also in charge of the state elections. The paper wrote that Brown’s 17 years of service in the legislature, and her work on the Oregon Senate elections committee, made her well equipped to handle both positions.

“Her leadership experience in the Legislature, as well as her law career and years working on state budgets and ethics reform, give her a solid foundation to be an excellent secretary of state,” the editorial board wrote. “She is also one of the Legislature's guiding lights on improving elections. As chairwoman of the Senate rules and elections committees, she tightened the disclosure requirements for campaign contributions and helped overhaul the state's lax ethics laws.”

Brown is running against Eugene television journalist Rick Dancer (R-Springfield), who says that his years of serving his community in an unbiased fashion give him the best experience to run an impartial election process.