Arizona Daily Star endorses Terry Goddard for Secretary of State

The editors of the Arizona Daily Star today endorsed Democrat Terry Goddard for Secretary of State. I am sure this was an easy choice, given that his opponent Michele Reagan is the co-author of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and voted in favor of SB 1062, the Religious Bigotry bill, both of which the Star editorialized against. Terry Goddard best candidate for Secretary of State:

While the job title secretary of state sounds akin to a human filing cabinet, in Arizona it’s a powerful position charged with overseeing elections, campaign-finance reporting, and recording business and public document filings.

And in Arizona it’s the elected official who becomes governor should he or she vacate the position, which has happened at least three times in the past 25 years.

A candidate for Arizona secretary of state needs to have not only clear qualifications and a plan for improving that office but must be able to move into the governor’s office if circumstances require.

On both scores we find Terry Goddard to be the best candidate. His background as state attorney general and mayor of Phoenix and his concrete plans for making campaign contribution reporting more effective against anonymous “dark money” donations would benefit Arizona.

Goddard . . . offers useful ideas to make filing and searching campaign contributions through the Secretary of State Office faster, easier and more transparent.

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Goddard and Reagan agree on at least one other priority, which is to run a non-partisan operation. That’s a laudable goal for the person in charge of elections, albeit not entirely possible in a job filled in a partisan election. Both have pledged not to endorse candidates or to be involved in other campaigns. That would restore credibility damaged by the current secretary, Ken Bennett, who chose to chair Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in Arizona. [Let’s not forget that Jan Brewer was an honorary co-chair of the Bush 2004 presidential campaign when she was Secretary of State.]

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Goddard suggests that election results be verified by selecting a district at random and then comparing the electronic count to a hand count. That strikes us as effective and efficient in terms of time and cost.

Goddard is a hard-nosed prosecutor with administrative experience in leading a big state agency. As mayor of Arizona’s largest city, he has the leadership experience to become governor on a moment’s notice, if necessary. That background makes him the clear choice over Reagan.

The Star endorses Goddard for secretary of state.