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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1976)
Secretary of State I Favors a self-destruct plan for all state agencies By GREG WASSON Of the Emerald A familiar claim in this year's race for Secretary of State is that past secretaries, and others seeking the office, have used the position as a political stepping-stone. Medford Democrat AJ Densmore says he’d change things “I feel the office could be much more visible,” says Densmore. “The way it is now, the secretary 's office isn’t even enforcing the election laws. If a complaint is filed, its turned over to the AG s (Attorney General) office.” Densmore says he would aggressively’’ oversee the election processes in the state. His background backs up that claim. “I have a history in the area of elections I helped write the law that I would be administering." Turning to another major issue in the campaign, Dens more outlined his feelings about auditing state agencies, a job the constitution requires the Secretary of State to do. “We need to redirect our priorities on a regular basis,' says Densmore. To do this, he favors building a self-destruct clause into every state agency. Agencies would be given a life span of anywhere from two to eight years. McAlmond: Self-made millionaire says secretary of state office is unorganized, favors public evaluation of expenditure “It would force the Legisla ture, on a regular basis, to reexamine what state agen cies are doing." Densmore dismisses the “Sunset Plan” favored by Sen. Blaine Whip ple as not “going far enough." Under the Sunset Plan, state regulatory agencies would have built-in destruct dates. Densmore opposes the Republican-backed initiative to create a cross-party primary in Oregon, and favors working with other western states to create a regional primary. A 29-year-old Social Studies teacher from Medford, Densmore has served three terms in the House, during which he served as Speaker Pro-Tempore for a year, and assistant majority leader for a year. A! Densmore By GREG WASSON Of the Emerald Nobody on the democratic side of the race for Secretary of State has a lot of good things to say about the way the office is being run now, and Phil McAlmond is no excep tion. “The accounting division of that office is two to three years behind for two basic reasons. One is the high turnover rate to the office, and the other is the fact that every state agency has its own method of account ing. It’s a ludicrous situation now where state auditors often can’t even find the information they’re looking for.” To solve the latter problem, McAlmond proposes a uniform accounting system for aH state agencies. “It’s simply a must, says McAlmond. Unlike others in the race, McAlmond is calling for a per formance audit system for the state. “A performance audit is something the Legislature woukj be interested in having, but my main concern is that we set up a fiscal analysis report for the public.” McAlmond Phil McAJmond says the public should be pro vided with the information it needs to evaluate what it's get ting for its money. ‘The public should be al lowed to judge how efficiently or inefficiently its money is being spent." Me Almond favors letting In dependents vote in the prim ary, but is opposed to the cur rent petition drive for a cross party primary. “We do not be nefit our democratic system by disenfranchising Indepen dents. I propose that we allow Independents to chose one party ballot or the other at the polls." A self-made millionare, McAlmond has run for the U.S. Senate, the State Senate State Treasurer, and Con gress but has never been elected to public office. A Port land businessman, McAlmond says he s running again, “be cause I want to do something for our state.” \A/hinnlAa The state should budget VTiiippiCi for Specjfjc program goals’ By GREG WASSON Of the Emerald Blaine Whipple, a Beaver ton Democrat, is a first-term state senator who would like to be Secretary of State. Whip ple, like most other candidates seeking the office, says the current auditing system oper Biaine Whipple ated by the Secretary of State is inadequate. “I favor the ‘Sunset Ran’ re cently passed in Colorado,’’ says Whipple. “Under this plan, any new regulatory agency will self-destruct in six years, if it can’t prove its viabil ity. This would force the Legis lature to look a little more care fully at agencies and the direc tion they’re taking.” He also favors shifting the state budgeting process to a prog ram orientation. “The state should budget for specific program goals The budget of the Department of Environmental Quality, for ex ample, should relate to Oregon’s environmental ob jectives and the different priorities attached to those ob jectives. Instead, we measure the quality of Oregon s envi ronment by the number of pol lution samples taken, or the number of permits denied." Whipple also promises, ‘to join Gov. Bob Straub and de dare war on administrative gobbtediy-gook. " Induded in Whipple s part of the war would be the establishment of publicizing new administrative rules before they are estab lished and enforced. Whipple points to the fiasco surround ing the 1973 sub-division bill. “It wasn’t the legislation that caused the problem, it was the rules enacted by the Real Es tate Commissioner. If he had put those rules up for review, con traders around the state could have told him they wouldn't work. Instead we had to call a spedal session." At 46, Whipple is a Portland-area real-estate de veloper who was elected to the State Senate in 1974. He helped coordinate Eugene McCarthy’s and George McGovern’s successful cam paigns in Oregon, and is a Democratic National Commit teeman. Groener: More frequent audits, looser construction funds By GREG WASSON Of the Emerald A conversation with Sen Dick Groener, D-Milwaukie. about why he wants to be Sec retary of State, will probably start out with a run-down of the problems facing labor in Oregon today. "There's over a billion dol lars in construction funds in this state being held up by what I like to call well-meaning environmentalists. In my own district, there’s a shopping center being held up that would sit right next to a free way. That’s typical of the situa tion state-wide." What could Groener do about frozen construction funds as Secretary of State?" “I would work with the Legis lature for legislation that would make it harder for individuals to tie up construction prog rams. Among things Groener favors, is requiring individuals suing to stop construction to post bond to pay attorney fees and court cost, should they lose their battle. Turning to the duties of the Secretary of State, Groener says he isn't pushing the idea of a performance audit. We should have a perfor mance audit, but that is some thing the Legislature should decide. What we realty need is more frequent audits. Some state agencies haven't been audited for two or three years." Groener also faults the pre sent Secretary of State with a lack of follow-through in the auditing process. He doesn't favor the idea of putting de struct clauses in the legislation that establishes state agen cies. “I think if an agency is un necessary, the Legislature should take action, but I don't fa' or the idea of destruct clauses. Constituents are the ones that have the problems with the agencies, and if you listen closely, you know what problems you need to deal with." Groener has served in the Legislature for 18 years, and in his words, "I have served my apprenticeship." Dick Greener Friday, May 21, 1976
