Bill Bradbury knows that the eyes of the nation will be on Oregon this November; his aim is that the impression will be a good one.

The State of Oregon’s No. 2 governmental executive, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, was in Enterprise Monday to speak to the 92nd annual conference of the Oregon Association of County Clerks.

Addressing the conference of 70 clerks and top state election workers, Bradbury said that after the events in Florida in 2000, many voting rights groups are “just looking for some county to screw up. … I can’t stress enough that we’re all going to go by the book on this election. We have to be especially good, because we’ll be watched as never before.”

While he expressed every confidence in Oregon’s county clerks, he said the most important thing is building confidence in the public that the voting system is completely accurate and secure in Oregon.

“You’d have to be blind to not know that Oregon is a critical state in the presidential election,” Bradbury stated. “Our vote-by-mail system does not make us immune from scrutiny. There are lawyers from both parties ready to descend on us.”

He said that the keys for county clerks to ensure that there is no shadow of doubt about Oregon’s voting is rigorous training of staff, uniformity of procedure and mandatory administrative hand recounts. “It’s not enough to understand your counting machines and have faith in them,” Bradbury implored. “You have to know that they’re right. It’s the only way the public will have confidence in these machines.”

Unity is Oregon’s top issue

In an exclusive interview with the Chieftain, Bradbury said that the top issue – politically, socially and culturally – facing Oregon today is unity.

“We have to recognize that we’re one Oregon. We need to work together to improve our economy from Wallowa to Multnomah counties. Our desires are common in this,” Bradbury said.

He said that the challenge Oregonians face is that there are some people in government who seek to divide the state, whether on economic, political or geographic grounds. Bradbury said he’s excited about Oregon’s economic development efforts and opportunities, and noted that Oregon – with its resources, industry and accessibility – is in a unique position to take advantage of sustainable growth, in terms of resource protection and cooperative efforts.

“We need to look at things and be innovative,” he said. “Things like bio-diesel are very doable here in Oregon, involving rural producers like Wallowa County and also involving consumers in the Willamette Valley. This speaks to our overall economy, the environment and our stake in the long-term global pie.

“Sustainability is not about being poor, but living well within our resources – living smart,” he stated.

Auditing saves millions

He felt his best achievements in office have been in the arena of auditing and said his office has saved Oregonians tens of millions of dollars, including a controversial audit of the Oregon Lottery.

“Auditing is a critical area of this job,” Bradbury said of the Secretary of State’s position. “How the state spends money is crucial to our economic health. My job is to make sure we’re efficient with our spending, that we get the biggest bang for our buck.”

Running for reelection in 2004, Bradbury, a Democrat, said he wants to complete Oregon’s centralized voter registration program, which he said would minimize fraud, and that he also wants to start auditing K-12 schools in their capital expenditures, but not in terms of academic performance, he stressed.

“The idea is to identify savings,” Bradbury said. “It’s not that people are purposely wasting money. We need to identify problems and share the information. In the next session of the legislature, I want to pursue that.”

He added that he wants to set up a full disclosure statement Web site for all state-wide Oregon candidates, based on the recommendation of a campaign finance reform panel, including former Oregon secretary of state, governor and U.S. senator Mark O. Hatfield, and secretaries Norma Paulus and Barbara Roberts.

“We must make sure Oregonians have access to the contributions and expense information of all candidates, on the state level and for our congressional candidates,” he said.

Bradbury concluded the interview by saying that the best part of his job is being involved in the public debate and trying his best to serve all Oregonians. “It’s quite an honor to help make the public service process better and better,” he said. “It’s so critical that we make sure the process is fair, accessible and connects with the public.”