Phil Keisling | |
|---|---|
| Secretary of State of Oregon | |
| In office January 14, 1991 – November 8, 1999 | |
| Governor | Barbara Roberts John Kitzhaber |
| Preceded by | Barbara Roberts |
| Succeeded by | Bill Bradbury |
| Member of theOregon House of Representatives from the 12th district | |
| In office 1989–1991 | |
| Preceded by | Richard S. Springer |
| Succeeded by | Gail Shibley[1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1955-06-23)June 23, 1955 (age 69) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence | Portland, Oregon |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Occupation | Director of the Center for Public Service at Portland State University |
Phil Keisling (born June 23, 1955)[2] is an American politician and business executive in theU.S. state ofOregon. He served asOregon Secretary of State from 1991 to 1999 and previously served in theOregon House of Representatives. He is known for having championed the state'svote-by-mail system.[3][4]
Keisling is the retired Director of the Center for Public Service, located in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. Keisling oversaw more than a dozen separate programs serving local, state, federal government, and international organizations in the U.S. and several countries (including Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, and China).[5]
Keisling was born inOregon and graduated fromSunset High School, then located in anunincorporated area ofWashington County, in 1973.[6] He graduated fromYale University in 1977 and pursued a career in journalism, first as a writer forWillamette Week inPortland, Oregon from 1978–1981, and then as an editor atWashington Monthly inWashington, D.C. from 1982–1984.[5][7]
From 2000 to 2009, Keisling was a Senior Vice President for Marketing for the Oregon high tech company CorSource Technology Group, Inc. (formerly Hepieric, Inc.),[8] has remained 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 statewide trade association, Smart Grid Oregon,[9] 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 thePortland Public Schools, which guided the financially troubled district through comprehensive reform in response to an independent performance audit.[10]
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 theLegislature, Keisling joined with four other former Secretaries of States of both parties,Mark Hatfield,Clay Myers,Norma Paulus, andBarbara Roberts, to publicly denounce the move.[11]
Keisling is a chief proponent ofopen primaries in Oregon, contributing to and later promoting a 2004white paper sponsored by the non-partisan Oregon Progress Forum.[12] ThePublic Commission on the Oregon Legislature included open primaries among its sweeping proposals for reforms to thelegislature.[13] Keisling and Paulus, aRepublican, 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.[14] They tried again in 2008, successfully placingMeasure 65 on the ballot,[15][16] which failed to pass, retaining the closed primaries.
A longtime supporter of open government, Keisling previously served 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.[17] He is also a co-founder and board member of the Oregon Public Affairs Network (OPAN), roughly based on theC-SPAN television model.[18]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Secretary of State of Oregon 1991-1999 | Succeeded by |