Phil Keisling

Phil Keisling (born June 23, 1955)^[2] is a politician and business executive in the U.S. state of Oregon. He served as Oregon Secretary of State from 1991 to 1999 and previously served in the Oregon House of Representatives. He is known for having championed the state's vote-by-mail system.^[3]

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.^[4] He is a Democrat, and a member of the Democratic Leadership Council.

Keisling, now a Senior Vice President for Marketing for the Oregon high tech company, CorSource Technology Group, Inc. (formerly Hepieric, Inc.),^[5] 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.

In 2010, Keisling joined a new state-wide Trade association, Smart Grid Oregon,^[6] as its Board Chairman. The organization has been created to enable, promote and grow the smart grid industry and infrastructure in the State of Oregon.

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.^[7]

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.^[8]

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.^[9] The Public Commission on the Oregon Legislature included open primaries among its sweeping proposals for reforms to the legislature.^[10] Keisling 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.^[11] They tried again in 2008, successfully placing Measure 65 on the ballot.^[12][13]

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.^[14] He is also a co-founder and board member of the Oregon Public Affairs Network (OPAN), roughly based on the C-SPAN television model.^[15]

See also

• The Oregon Channel

References

External links

• OPAN official website
• Open Oregon official website