Endorsement: The Oregonian

Hardy Myers for attorney general
The Democratic incumbent combines a solid track record with the proper perception of the role of the office

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Voters should be so lucky in other political races this year. The contest for Oregon attorney general features two quality candidates who measure up equally on the flash and charisma meter. They just happen to differ on their conception of the office.

Our choice here is Democratic incumbent Hardy Myers -- no surprise there, we've endorsed him the last two times he's run -- but this time's it's a bit different. The first time he ran for attorney general, the Portland Democrat had token Republican opposition, and four years ago the low-key incumbent faced real GOP opposition with light-'em-up Kevin Mannix. This time, the attorney general's race is with Republican challenger Paul Connolly, who is a credible but button-downed opponent.

An attorney representing agriculture and small-business clients (as well as the state Republican Party), Connolly worked early on in his career for the Federal Judicial Center and the American Bar Association in the area of judicial reform. The Salem lawyer wants to put all this experience to use by transforming the attorney general's post into an office that helps the state fight crime and boost the economy.

Specifically, Connolly wants to use the attorney general's bully pulpit to lower the state's high methamphetamine use and the related skyrocketing property-crime rates. He also wants the attorney general's office to help curb government regulations that, he argues, may be contributing to Oregon's high jobless rates. For all its statewide luster, though, the attorney general's office isn't really the state's top cop. The Oregon attorney general is not akin to the to U.S. attorney general, who oversees U.S. attorneys and law-enforcement agencies. And why should economic development or addressing the regulatory burden of business be housed under the attorney general?

We've opposed the top-cop model before, and we're not ready now to turn the attorney general into the state's grand regulator.

Myers has a more modest, focused view of his office. He sees the attorney general as the chief lawyer for the government and the point person for upholding the rule of law in Oregon. But there's nothing modest about Myers' record over the past eight years -- or his plans for the next four. In addition to providing solid legal advice for the state as the head of the state's own law firm, he's worked to bolster the state's economic restitution efforts in crime cases as well as its response to sexual assaults, crime victims services and child support enforcement.

Myers promises more of the unflashy same next term, which is an impressive enough re-election agenda. He's also ready to tackle the state's property-crime problem to the extent budget constraints allow -- all, of course, in his muted, bipartisan style. Small wonder district attorneys, police chiefs and victims-rights proponents across Oregon have endorsed Hardy Myers. We do, too, in a race Oregonians can feel good about this year.