Gov. Tina Kotek is naming LaVonne Griffin-Valade the next Oregon secretary of state, filling a vacancy left when former Secretary Shemia Fagan resigned under pressurein May.
Kotek made the announcement Wednesday morning, after weeks of heated speculation in Salem and beyond about who the governor would pick to fill out Fagan’s term.
The announcement caught many political observers off guard. While she spent 16 years as a government auditor — first at Multnomah County and then as Portland’s elected auditor — Griffin-Valade left government service in 2014 to pursue a career in writing. Kotek was widely expected to choose someone who currently or recently served in public office for the role.
“LaVonne Griffin-Valade has the professional background and ethical judgment to rise above politics and lead the important work of the agency forward,” Kotek said in a statement. “This role demands accountability and transparency, especially at this moment, and I am eager to see her leadership restore faith in the Secretary of State’s office.”
Griffin-Valade will be sworn in Friday.
The appointment comes at an important time. As the state’s senior elections official, Griffin-Valade will need to oversee a 2024 presidential race that could test the state’s elections infrastructure.
A release from the governor’s office said Griffin-Valade will serve the remaining 18 months of Fagan’s term. Elisabeth Shepard, a Kotek spokesperson, said it was up to Griffin-Valade whether she chooses to seek election to the office in 2024.
Kotek announced in Maythat she would not insist that Fagan’s replacement leave the office after the temporary term finished. That was contrary to a position that former Gov. Kate Brown took when naming two new secretaries during her term in office.
Brown urged Kotek to adopt the same approach, saying in a statement: “This will be the most consequential election of modern history and any appointee must be solely focused on restoring Americans’ faith in our electoral system and not on their own election to the secretary’s office.”
Kotek disagreed with the advice, telling reporters that appointing a person who could restore trust in the secretary’s office was more important than whether or not they planned to keep the job long-term.
“I want to make sure, whoever takes that job, that they understand that one of their primary goals is to restore confidence in the Secretary of State’s office,” Kotek said May 17.
In a press conference, the governor said she received advice it might be illegal to ask her appointee not to run for election in the future as Brown had done, since such a request could amount to exerting undue influence. While Kotek considered many people for the position, she told reporters: “LaVonne was one of the people I thought of early.”
In a statement Wednesday, Griffin-Valade said she’s up to the task.
“I have the experience to bring back credibility, accountability, transparency, and trust to the Secretary of State’s office,” she wrote. “It’s never been more important to have a leader who will focus on rebuilding the public’s trust in the Secretary of State’s office, and that is exactly what I will aim to do every day.”
The emphasis on restoring confidence in the secretary is a direct result of Fagan’s swift implosion in the role. Once seen as a Democratic rising star, the charismatic politician was undone in late April, when Willamette Week reported she’d accepted a private consulting gig with an Oregon cannabis company.
The consulting job raised questions because Fagan accepted it at a time her office was formulating an audit on state cannabis regulations that was highly favorable to dispensary owners. While Fagan says she recused herself from overseeing the audit before she signed the $10,000-per-month contract, records made it clear that the audit was already nearly finished by that point.
State auditors who worked under Fagan have been adamant they behaved ethically and that the former secretary did not influence their findings. Nevertheless, the Oregon Department of Justice is conducting an investigation into the audit. Federal authorities also have launched an inquiry into Fagan and the owners of the cannabis chain she worked for, Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell.
In the more than seven weeks since Fagan stepped down, the guessing game over who Kotek might pick hasrun wild. State Treasurer Tobias Read made clear he was interested in the role, former state Senate President Peter Courtney said he’d be willing to take it, and a bevy of former and current Multnomah County commissioners were whispered about as possible candidates. Kotek kept her thinking on the matter closely guarded.
Like Fagan, Griffin-Valade was raised in Oregon. According to a biography released by Kotek’s office, she was born in John Day and grew up in Eastern Oregon. She worked as an elementary school teacher, mentored homeless youth, and conducted trainings for teachers before earning her master of public administration degree at Portland State University. She joined the Multnomah County Auditor’s Office in 1998, eventually being elected county auditor. She ran unopposedfor the role of Portland city auditor in 2009.
Griffin-Valade left the role in 2014, and got a master of fine arts degree. She has gone on to write a series of crime novels that feature an Oregon State Police sergeant named Maggie Blackthorne as their protagonist. All have names that hearken back to the landscapes of Griffin-Valade’s youth, including Desolation Ridge and Murderers Creek.
She has maintained an interest in civic affairs. In February, she testified in front of the Portland City Council in favor of a new position meant to increase government transparency. In a brief appearance, Griffin-Valade made sure to plugher novels.
Copyright 2023 Oregon Public Broadcasting.