Phil Keisling

{{Infobox officeholder

| name =Phil Keisling

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|6|23}}

| birth_place =

| residence =Portland, Oregon

| alma_mater = Yale University

| office =Secretary of State of Oregon

| governor = Barbara Roberts
John Kitzhaber

| term_start =January 14, 1991

| term_end =November 8, 1999

| predecessor = Barbara Roberts

| successor = Bill Bradbury

| state_house2=Oregon

| district2 = 12th

| term_start2 =1989

| term_end2 =1991

| predecessor2 = Richard S. Springer

| successor2 =Gail Shibley{{cite web|title=Oregon Legislators and Staff Guide, 1991 Regular Session (66th)|publisher=Oregon State Archives|url=http://records.sos.state.or.us/ORSOSWebDrawer/Recordpdf/6785351|accessdate=June 19, 2016}}

| party = Democratic

| occupation = Director of the Center for Public Service at Portland State University}}

Phil Keisling (born June 23, 1955)[https://books.google.com/books?id=DnQkAQAAIAAJ&q=Phil+Keisling+secretary+1955 Oregon Blue Book 1997] p. 15 is an American 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.{{cite news

|title=Mail ballots hit in state, iffy beyond, forum says

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|work=The Oregonian

|date=November 9, 2003

}}{{Cite news|url=https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/janfeb-2016/vote-from-home-save-your-country/|title=Vote from Home, Save Your Country|date=2016-01-10|work=Washington Monthly|access-date=2018-11-24|language=en-US}}

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).{{cite web |title=Profile page at PSU |url=https://www.pdx.edu/cps/phil-keisling |publisher=Portland State University College of Urban & Public Affairs }}

Background and career

Keisling was born in Oregon and graduated from Sunset High School, then located in an unincorporated area of Washington County, in 1973.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wJxMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Sunset+High%22+%22Phil+Keisling%22 |title=Oregon Blue Book 1999|journal=The Oregon Blue Book|date=1999 |publisher=State of Oregon |page=13 |issn=0196-4577}} He graduated from Yale University in 1977 and pursued a career in journalism, first as a writer for Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon from 1978–1981, and then as an editor at Washington Monthly in Washington, D.C. from 1982–1984.{{cite news|title =Inside: Phil Keisling| magazine =Washington Monthly| url =http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/inside/keisling.html| format =official website| accessdate =2006-11-28 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061109200712/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/inside/keisling.html |archivedate = 2006-11-09}}

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.),{{cite press release| title =News Release| publisher =CorSource Inc.| date =17 June 2005| url =http://www.corsource.net/PressReleases/June17PhilKeislingpressrelease.pdf| accessdate =2008-02-08}}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 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,{{cite web| title = Smart Grid Oregon| publisher = Smart Grid Oregon| year = 2010| url = http://www.smartgridoregon.org/| format = official website| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20100619125925/http://www.smartgridoregon.org/| archivedate = 2010-06-19}} 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.{{cite web|title =Performance Audit Implementation Steering Committee| publisher = Portland Public Schools| year = 1999| url =http://www.pps.k12.or.us/projects-c/aisc/| format = official website| accessdate =2006-11-28}}

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.{{cite news | last=Wong| first=Peter| title=Former state secretaries urge audits preservation| newspaper=The Statesman Journal| date=July 31, 2003| page=1A}}

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.{{cite news | last=Mapes| first=Richard| title=Primary system getting a 2nd look| newspaper=The Oregonian| date=May 10, 2004| page=A1}} The Public Commission on the Oregon Legislature included open primaries among its sweeping proposals for reforms to the legislature.{{cite news | last=Wong| first=Peter| title=Panel urges shakeup of legislative elections| newspaper=The Statesman Journal| date=May 23, 2006| page=1A}} 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.{{cite news | last=Walsh| first=Edward| title=Open vote in primary fails to gain ballot spot| newspaper=The Oregonian| date=August 3, 2006| page=B1}} They tried again in 2008, successfully placing Measure 65 on the ballot,[http://voteyes65.com Measure 65 web site] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929004316/http://voteyes65.com/ |date=2008-09-29 }}{{cite news

|title=Reviving Oregon elections: Let's make primaries truly open, inclusive and fair

|last=Keisling

|first=Phil

|author2=Norma Paulus

|work=The Oregonian

|date=April 13, 2008

}} 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.open-oregon.com/New_Pages/boardmemb.shtml|title=Board members|accessdate=2006-11-28|publisher=Open Oregon|year=2006|format=Official website |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061029135339/http://www.open-oregon.com/New_Pages/boardmemb.shtml |archivedate = 2006-10-29}} He is also a co-founder and board member of the Oregon Public Affairs Network (OPAN), roughly based on the C-SPAN television model.{{cite news | title=Oregonians support the network, but many don't have access to it| newspaper=The Statesman Journal| date=July 10, 2003| page=1A}}