Bradbury's broken pledge of neutrality
EDITORIAL
February 26, 2006

Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, a Democrat, came by recently to preen about his pledge to remain neutral, independent and fair in election oversight.

Our hero!

But, alas, his office is sounding suspiciously partisan in its criticism of independent gubernatorial candidate Ben Westlund of Tumalo.

To get on the November ballot, Westlund needs 18,386 signatures from Oregon voters. He is asking independents, Democrats and Republicans to sign his petitions. There's a new Oregon law hatched by Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature, though, to cripple independent candidates.

Before the law, any registered voter could sign a petition to get an independent candidate on the ballot. Now if a voter takes part in a partisan primary and signs a petition for an independent candidate, the signature doesn't count.

Democrats got spooked in 2004 when Ralph Nader tried to get on the Oregon ballot for president. Republicans helped Nader because they believed votes for Nader would mean fewer votes for Democrat John Kerry.

In 2005, legislators from the two parties saw their chance to prevent that sort of thing from happening again. They passed the crass law that we like to call "The Democratic and Republican Party Preservation Act."

Back to the present. Bradbury's spokesman, Anne Martens, told The Associated Press, "it doesn't make sense" for Westlund's campaign to solicit people who might not be eligible to sign. "They are trying to load their list with invalid signatures, which only hurts them."

Uh, Anne, it does make sense.

The campaign is asking people to sign petitions. All the signatures from registered Oregon voters are valid now. The campaign needs a bunch of them. It is not disregarding the law. If some signatories vote in partisan primaries, they will be scratched off.

Maybe you wanted a law that forbids people from signing a petition for an independent candidate. That isn't what the law says.

And shouldn't Bradbury's office - if it is going to be neutral, independent and fair - decline to sling mud about Westlund's intent?

It looks like Bill broke his pledge. We'll have to look for new heroes.