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Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian is pictured here in this September 2012 photo.

(The Oregonian/OregonLive file photo)

Voters would be understandably confused if they thought Brad Avakian was running not for secretary of state, but rather for governor, attorney general or perhaps a new post of progressive superhero.

After all, in his bid for the state's second-highest office, Avakian is pledging to protect Oregonians from fraud, add civics classes to the curriculum for Oregon's schools, ensure equal pay for women, champion promising candidates, rally for worthy causes and, while he's at it, combat climate change. Considering his wide-ranging plan, we would not be surprised if Avakian were to trumpet a three-point plan for winning the war on terror as well.

It's worth revisiting what the secretary of state does. The person holding the position, which is established in the state Constitution and further defined in Oregon statutes, serves as the state's chief elections officer, state archivist and auditor of public spending. The secretary of state's seven divisions are tasked with impartially and fairly interpreting and applying election law, auditing agencies to improve government efficiency, providing regulatory information to businesses and overseeing other duties in the public interest. The secretary also redraws legislative districts if the state Legislature cannot reach agreement.

While the staid functions may not grab headlines, the office performs vital duties that, if done properly, help preserve confidence in state government as a whole.

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Unfortunately, the activist job description that Avakian, currently labor commissioner, is selling to voters is fundamentally mismatched with the position that he seeks. That mismatch is further highlighted by the endorsements of organizations that are pushing his candidacy, even though the secretary of state's core functions don't have anything to do with their own missions. Avakian's determination to secure and broadcast support from such groups suggests a campaign strategy based less on how faithfully he'd do the job than on how effectively he'd use it to deliver to the faithful.

Consider the way Avakian intends to execute the role of chief elections officer. Avakian told The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board that he would endorse candidates and ballot measures, refraining only during the period that ballots are in the hands of voters. He said his opinion won't influence how he makes elections decisions, such as determining whether a candidate violated an election law or whether to impose a penalty for a campaign finance infraction.

Avakian believes that sharing his opinion is more honest than keeping it to himself, adding that Oregonians deserve to know what their elected officials believe. He is ignoring however, that the appearance of bias can be just as insidious to public trust as the actuality of bias in influencing elections decisions. Isn't there enough voter cynicism without giving people legitimate reasons to feel the system is rigged?

In fact, when Gov. Kate Brown was secretary of state she did not personally endorse candidates or measures, telling The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board that she "felt it was critically important to maintain the integrity of elections." She wanted to remain "above reproach," noting that she knew firsthand the importance of having faith in the secretary of state because she won her first primary for the House by only seven votes.

Another of Avakian's ideas: to use the secretary of state's audit division, which conducts financial and performance evaluations of state programs, to dive into the workings of private companies that receive public contracts. Such audits, he said, could reveal whether private companies are violating wage-and-hour laws or are compensating women inequitably.

But the responsibility for investigating wage-and-hour violations and other possible misconduct by companies already belongs to the Bureau of Labor and Industries, the agency that Avakian currently heads as the labor commissioner. There's little need for the secretary of state's office to step in, especially when doing so could take resources away from auditing how state agencies are using public funds, a more critical part of the office's mission. And it's not even clear if the secretary of state's office has the authority that Avakian envisions. He said that if laws need to be changed to allow that, "then we ought to change the law."

The problem is that Avakian has already shown he is willing to misuse his power in order to further causes that he believes in. As labor commissioner, he oversaw a discrimination case against a Christian bakery that refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. While he rightfully found that the bakery's owners, Aaron and Melissa Klein, had violated state law prohibiting such discrimination, he didn't stop there. Instead, he declared that the bakery owners had also violated a separate law that prohibits businesses from advertising an intent to discriminate. Among the offending statements was an interview Aaron Klein gave to a reporter in which he recounted the conversation he had with the would-be customer. The mere retelling of what happened was deemed a violation of the state law, a reversal of the common-sense conclusion that Avakian's administrative law judge had made.

Avakian's oversized ambitions for the office are worrisome on their own. But he has the full support of several organizations that appear to embrace his concept of an activist-elected official in a position unsuited for such partisan advocacy.

Take the support of NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon PAC. Michele Stranger Hunter, the organization's executive director, acknowledged that the secretary of state's duties won't translate into action directly relevant to the nonprofit's abortion-rights mission. But the organization still felt it was important to declare that Avakian is "the best candidate to fight for Oregon women as our next secretary of state." As a statewide official, Avakian can champion pro-choice messages, she said, and will promote voting access for women.

But the underlying message is that if you support abortion rights, or gay rights or environmental stewardship, then you must support this candidate, regardless of whether the candidate will have any role in shaping abortion rights, gay rights or environmental stewardship policies and regardless of whether the candidate is well qualified to carry out the secretary of state's core responsibilities. It also ignores that Avakian's two challengers in the Democratic primary -- state legislators Richard Devlin and Val Hoyle -- have their own strong progressive records on those same issues. While Devlin has our endorsement, both legislators make a compelling and more responsible case for the office.

When choosing a secretary of state, Oregonians should favor the candidate who is best suited to do the job he or she seeks -- not the one who promises to push it in new and ideologically freighted directions for political gain.

- The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board