For Secretary of State: Eu

California’s secretary of state interprets and enforces election laws. The state’s chief elections officer also handles the filing of numerous corporate documents. Secretary of State March Fong Eu has handled all of these diverse responsibilities well enough that she should be returned to office.

Eu and her capable staff are especially knowledgeable about voter registration and have worked to make the process more convenient. Under her leadership, California became one of the first states to adopt registration by mail. Eu also advocated, although unsuccessfully, automatic registration at the offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles and state agencies. She remains committed to accessible voter registration.

As overseer of the California State Archives, Eu persevered to finally persuade the Legislature and governor to replace the leaky, old storage area with a new state archives building to house irreplaceable documents.

Despite these accomplishments, there is room for improvement and more vigorous leadership. Eu’s most prominent challenger, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, has pointed out that Eu has relaxed most of the fines assessed for late campaign reports. Most fines have been levied against novices and third-party candidates who do not file late intentionally. The fines have been relaxed across the board; in fact, one of Eu’s challengers got a fine reduced from $100 to $10. In spite of the broad reductions, Eu’s office has collected $400,000 in fines during her tenure but the office could--and should--collect more.

There is also the troubling matter of fines assessed against Eu’s own campaign. As Eu has admitted, there is simply no excuse for late filings from a secretary of state. There is the even more troubling reduction of Eu’s penalties. To avoid a possible conflict, Eu’s chief deputy has refrained from ruling on those fines; a civil servant has made those decisions. To avoid even the appearance of a conflict, Eu’s campaign should pay full freight on all future fines.

On balance, March Fong Eu has done a credible job since she was elected to the post in 1974. We recommend Eu for another term.