Tag Archive for 'Secretary Brown'

The Oregon Sustainability Board

Published on December 4, 2009 in Secretary Brown and Sustainability Board. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Source: Bohemian Nights

Here in Oregon we are proud of our State’s reputation for being a leader, in both thought and action, in the green and sustainable business practices arena. As part of The State of Oregon’s commitment to greater sustainability, the Oregon Sustainability Board was created in 2001, charged with:

Employ[ing] the knowledge, expertise and creativity of Oregons citizens, build[ing] upon existing private and public efforts throughout the state to ensure efficient and complementary results, develop[ing] voluntary, incentive-based and performance oriented systems to supplement traditional regulatory approaches, [using] good science to measure resource use, environ-mental health and costs to determine progress in achieving desired outcomes, and establish[ing] clear measurable goals and targets to guide state efforts toward sustainability

Since being appointed in January of 2009, Secretary of State Brown has chaired the Sustainability Board. In addition to facilitating the meetings, she also sets the strategic direction for the Board, including how the Board’s activities and projects can build on the focus.

On November 20th the Sustainability Board met once again to discuss the progress of ongoing projects and to further develop a strategic vision for the future. During this meeting, the Board determined a major focus will be spotlighting how sustainability can heal the urban/rural divide. Over the next biennium, the Board plans to complete new projects and looks forward to a robust and innovative future.

In addition, the Board will continue to champion its role as facilitator of work on sustainability-related issues within state government and in the broader Oregon community. It will continue to serve as the primary bridge for innovation, environmental stewardship and social equity.

We will continue to post Sustainability Board news and information about upcoming projects on this blog, but until then, to learn more about the Sustainability Board and State Government efforts to promote sustainability in the State of Oregon, check out:

http://www.sustainableoregon.net/oregon/

Secretary of State Brown at KOBI in Medford

Published on November 20, 2009 in Secretary Brown. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Yesterday, Secretary of State Brown stopped by the KOBI studios in Medford for an interview. Thanks to KOBI, we are able to stream that interview here on our blog!

[flv:/wp-content/uploads/KTB.flv 240 180]

Oregon Secretary of State Brown – 20 Push-ups

Published on November 4, 2009 in Audits, Ballot Initiatives, HAVA and Secretary Brown. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Source: a href=A few years back, when I was still a State Senator, I attended a workshop, which was put on by the Council of State Governments regional arm, CSG-West, an organization I also chaired for a year.

This particular workshop was focused on how legislators can build  credibility –through improved accountability– with their constituents. At the outset of the workshop, the keynote speaker asked who in this room of legislators could do 20 push-ups. Thinking nothing of it and being the eager beaver that I am, I quickly raised my hand as did a few others.

The speaker then spent the next 15 minutes talking about some key functions of building and maintaining accountability with constituents,  delivering on campaign promises and engaging groups back inside the district.

With that lesson delivered, the speaker conducted a little real-world experiment, recalling the claim I and a few others had made regarding these 20 push-ups. She invited me and one other legislator, a gentleman from New Mexico, up to do the 20 push-ups we had promised her we could do. This was a moment of truth.

The good news for Oregon; I did them pretty easily. The bad news for New Mexico; their legislator couldn’t do his.

This drove the message home for me: If you’re going to commit to something during the campaign, you need to make absolutely sure that you can deliver on them once you’ve been elected.

When I was running for this office, I made three major promises to the voters of this state:

  1. That I was going to restore integrity to the initiative process
  2. That I was going to undertake a comprehensive civic engagement program
  3. That I was going to focus our work in the Audits division on performance auditing

When I took office, I remembered that day when I was called up to do 20 push-ups. Taking a high profile position in State government, I knew that I was going to be held to my word on the campaign trail, so I started right in, working on fulfilling those promises.

Continue reading ‘Oregon Secretary of State Brown – 20 Push-ups’

Stories from the Road – October

Published on October 30, 2009 in Road Trips and Secretary Brown. 0 Comments Tags: , .

As part of a regular series, Secretary of State Kate Brown logged this report from her time on the road.

Soon after taking office in January I promised to visit all of Oregon’s 36 counties.

It was easy to ignore the groans from my staff but a little more difficult to arrange the logistics. This is, as we know, a large state, more than 98,000 square miles, making it the ninth largest in the country. My travels reminded me of our good fortune in living in such a spectacularly beautiful state.

I’m happy to report that even with the press of the Legis­lature, I’ve so far visited 30 counties and have plans in the works to visit the other 6 by the end of 2009.

But the best part of my travels have been meeting with the county clerks and their staffs and hearing about the issues they work with, which are quite different than what goes on in the more urban counties west of the Cascades. Some of our smaller counties have been hit hard by the downturn in the economy, especially those dependant on the resource industries, and they struggle to keep up with matters bigger counties take for granted.

In Prineville, Crook County Clerk Dee Berman gave me a tour of the wonderful stone county courthouse that celebrated its 100th birthday this year. She also told me a story about how she agreed last fall to drive way out of town to help a sight-impaired man vote. “As long as you’re coming;’ he added, “would you mind stopping to pick me up a can of coffee and a gallon of milk? The one with the red lid.” She said she would and brought him some doughnuts as well.

SoS June 4-5 Road Trip 010-resized

Secretary Brown with Grant County Chief Deputy Clerk Brenda Percy

In Grant County, Chief Deputy Clerk Brenda Percy showed me the huge books that are still used to record all official county transactions: deeds, marriages, name changes, property transactions, everything. Like other rural counties, they have shelves filled with these giant ledgers that look like something out of Gringott’s Bank in the Harry Potter novels. They can post some things on their web site, but their entire history is in those books and they can’t even afford to put everything on microfilm. One fire could wipe out their history.

So I’m going to ask the Legislature to find ways to help the counties preserve their history and bring their record ­keeping up to date. I want to make sure we do what we can to preserve this important part of Oregon history.

As part of my efforts, this month I embarked on a two day trip through Malheur and Harney counties.

My first stop with the Argus Observer, where I was interviewed for a story. I was happy to see Pat Caldwell, the Argus Observer’s editor and one of 5 Caldwell brothers, some of whom I know through their hard work here in Oregon.

After that, we took a trip to meet with Harney County Clerk, Maria Iturriaga. She gave us some tremendous input on the recall process in rural communities that I am talking with my staff about. She told me that recall laws are too broad and that the recall process is extremely divisive in rural communities. The example she gave me was a recall that took place 15 years ago, which left wounds that are still healing to this day.

Next up was a Lunch Forum hosted by the Treasure Valley Community College’s Business Center and the local Rotary club, followed by a meeting with the Harney County Commissioners. In both of these meetings, I came away with the same, strong message: Times are tough and the community needs to use a team approach to tackle the challenges it’s faced with; it doesn’t really matter if I agree with you politically. In fact, one of the commissioners said to the group, “If your house is on fire, it doesn’t matter if i like you or not, you need me to help you put it out”

I have to agree. I’ve seen how this State is struggling in this time of economic crisis and I believe that the best way forward is to join hands with our political neighbors and forge ahead as a unit. Our figurative house is burning, we need to work together to put out the fire.