Other view: California can lead way for nation
By Jeff Denham Special To The Sacramento Bee
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Partisan politics has found its way into the business of state elections with accusations of trouble at the secretary of state's office. As the state's chief elections officer, the secretary of state has an ethical responsibility to remain above partisan politics. Despite an increase in recent voter turnout, trust in government remains extremely low.

That is why, in December, I introduced Senate Constitutional Amendment 4, a measure that would make the secretary of state's office nonpartisan. Others, including The Sacramento Bee, have since called for the office to be nonpartisan.

My proposed amendment comes in the wake of allegations concerning California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley. Shelley is accused of numerous campaign finance violations and abuse of federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds. His failure to keep the office nonpartisan is now well documented. It's been alleged that he may have used federal election funding for his own political purposes. Federal investigators are auditing the way he spent the HAVA money, and a recent state audit contained some very disturbing revelations. His resignation is not surprising.

 
 As the chief elections officer, the secretary of state must hold the public trust, and serve with utmost ethics. If we do not have full faith in the integrity and independence of our elections, then our democracy has failed. The state's top election official should not feel an obligation to raise party funds or party voter registration.

The precedent exists. As I first said in December, education, which should be a nonpartisan issue, is currently handled by the superintendent of public instruction, a state constitutional office elected on a nonpartisan ticket. Elections should be no different.

The problem is not just Shelley. When the state's top elections office is partisan, that automatically creates an environment rife with opportunity to take advantage. Shelley happens to be a glaring example. With Bill Jones and Shelley's other predecessors, those problems didn't occur, even though the opportunity existed.

I believe the governor's recent appointment of Bruce McPherson will help restore integrity to the office. Indeed my SCA 4 is modeled after SCA 13 (McPherson, R-Santa Cruz) from 2000.

Of the country's 51 secretaries of state, 39 are the chief elections officers and five are appointed chief elections officer by either the governor or the legislature of their states. All are stated members of one party or the other. It is time for California to lead the nation again.

California would be first to have a nonpartisan secretary of state. Californians must be able to trust that their elections are handled in a nonpartisan way.