Speier Weighs Run for Secretary of State

Assemblywoman Jackie Speier, a San Mateo County Democrat who chairs the Assembly consumer committee, said Monday she is considering running for secretary of state next year.

Speier said she is forming an exploratory committee, the first step toward a formal declaration for the 1994 election.

Secretary of State March Fong Eu, a Democrat, is expected to get a U.S. ambassadorship in Asia soon and not seek reelection.

The only other candidate who has formed a committee is Tony Miller, Eu’s chief deputy secretary of state. The office oversees elections, the state archives, lobbyists, corporation documents and official state records.

“I know this office can play an integral role in making state government more user-friendly as well as providing greater assistance to business,” Speier said in a statement.

Speier, 43, has been in the Assembly since 1986 and chairs the Consumer Protection, Governmental Efficiency and Economic Development Committee.

Speier was shot five times when she accompanied Rep. Leo Ryan on a 1978 fact-finding trip to Jim Jones’ People’s Temple in Jonestown, Guyana. At the time she was an aide to Ryan, who was killed when cult members attacked the congressional party.

Before being elected to the Assembly, she was a San Mateo County supervisor.