Phil Keisling

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Phil Keisling
In office
January 14, 1991 – November 8, 1999
Preceded by Barbara Roberts
Succeeded by Bill Bradbury
Born 1955
Oregon
Political party Democratic
Residence Portland, Oregon
Occupation Computer Services Executive

Phil Keisling (born 1955) is a politician and business executive in the U.S. state of Oregon. He served as Oregon Secretary of State from 1991 to 1999. He is known for having championed the state's vote-by-mail system.[1]

Prior to seeking public office, Keisling pursued a career in journalism, including six years as a reporter and correspondent in Portland, Oregon and Washington, and two years as editor of Washington Monthly.[2] He is a Democrat, and a member of the Democratic Leadership Council.[citation needed]

Keisling, now a Senior Vice President for Marketing for the Oregon high tech company, CorSource Technology Group, Inc. (formerly Hepieric, Inc.),[3] has remained deeply involved in politics and civic affairs since leaving office, serving on a variety of local, statewide and national committees, commissions and organizations, both inside and outside of government.

He accepted appointment in 1998 to the Performance Audit Implementation Steering Committee of the Portland Public Schools, which guided the financially troubled district through comprehensive reform in response to an independent performance audit.[4]

When a proposal came before the Oregon State Legislature in 2003 transfer responsibility for audits of state agencies and programs from the Audit Division of the Secretary of State to the Legislature, Keisling joined with four other former Secretaries of States of both parties, Mark Hatfield, Clay Myers, Norma Paulus, and Barbara Roberts, to publicly denounce the move.[5]

Keisling is a chief proponent of open primaries in Oregon, contributing to and later promoting a 2004 white paper sponsored by the non-partisan Oregon Progress Forum.[6] He and Paulus, a Republican, headed an initiative petition signature drive to place the issue on the 2006 ballot. Of the 91,401 petition signatures submitted, only 67% were determined to be valid, and the measure did not make it to a vote.[7] They are promoting a modified version of the initiative for the 2008 ballot.[8][9] The Public Commission on the Oregon Legislature has included open primaries among its sweeping proposals for electoral reform, but did not endorse the initiative.[10]


A longtime supporter of open government, Keisling serves on the Board of Open Oregon, a statewide advocacy and watchdog organization involved in Oregon Public Meeting Law (Sunshine Law) enforcement, and other government secrecy issues.[11] He is also a co-founder and board member of the Oregon Public Affairs Network (OPAN), roughly based on the C-SPAN model.[12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mapes, Jeff. "Mail ballots hit in state, iffy beyond, forum says", The Oregonian, November 9, 2003. 
  2. ^ Inside: Phil Keisling (official website). Washington Monthly. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
  3. ^ CorSource Inc. (17 June 2005). "News Release". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-08.
  4. ^ Performance Audit Implementation Steering Committee (official website). Portland Public Schools (1999). Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
  5. ^ Wong, Peter. "Former state secretaries urge audits preservation", The Statesman Journal, July 31, 2003, pp. 1A. 
  6. ^ Mapes, Richard. "Primary system getting a 2nd look", The Oregonian, May 10, 2004, pp. A1. 
  7. ^ Walsh, Edward. "Open vote in primary fails to gain ballot spot", The Oregonian, August 3, 2006, pp. B1. 
  8. ^ One Ballot web site
  9. ^ Keisling, Phil; Norma Paulus. "Reviving Oregon elections: Let's make primaries truly open, inclusive and fair", The Oregonian, April 13, 2008. 
  10. ^ Wong, Peter. "Panel urges shakeup of legislative elections", The Statesman Journal, May 23, 2006, pp. 1A. 
  11. ^ Board members (Official website). Open Oregon (2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
  12. ^ "Oregonians support the network, but many don't have access to it", The Statesman Journal, July 10, 2003, pp. 1A. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Barbara Roberts		 Secretary of State of Oregon
1991-1999		 Succeeded by
Bill Bradbury