Integrity, transparency top priorities for Phil McGrane

In the words of Ada County Clerk and Republican candidate for Idaho secretary of state Phil McGrane, the work of an elections office — and of the secretary of state's office — is conducted best when that work goes unnoticed.

“It should be behind the scenes," McGrane said Friday. "You should just go vote and not even think about the fact that there are a whole bunch of people making it all happen."

He shared one of his favorite analogies when speaking on this subject.

"When you’re driving down the road, you should be thinking about your destination, not the government that put the road there," he said. “If you hit a pothole, you know government’s not doing enough. If you hit a speed bump, you know government’s doing too much.

“We’re here to facilitate people’s lives, not to be in their lives,” he continued. "These days, that feels more complicated because there’s a lot of politics. My goal is to just make things work and hopefully build confidence."

McGrane, of Hidden Springs, won the Republican nomination in May's competitive primary election. He is running against Democratic candidate Shawn Keenan, Coeur d'Alene resident and active with the Kootenai County Democrats, in the Nov. 8 general election.

McGrane spoke with the Press Editorial Board during a four-day campaign stop in Coeur d'Alene.

He discussed his narrow primary win against House Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley, who is now the chair of the Idaho Republican Party.

"I feel very privileged to have prevailed, despite my race was quite close," McGrane said. "I was proud. I won a precinct up here in Kootenai County. I consider that a success."

The Idaho secretary of state handles three main divisions: business services, including filing annual reports, searching for business entities, monitoring business identities, notaries, liens and trademarks; elections, including maintaining and modernizing the security and integrity of Idaho's election system and increasing transparency of campaign finances; and certain government services, such as Idaho's Blue Book and other publications, will registry and an address confidentiality program for people escaping domestic violence, abuse or stalking.

Whatever the politics, McGrane said transparency is the cure.

"When you think of a public official, there's probably no position greater in terms of emphasizing transparency more than the secretary of state's office," he said. "One great example is campaign finance. We're not trying to control how people use their money, we're just trying to shine light on what's happening."

He said elections integrity has also become a big concern for many voters. This, too, requires transparency.

"I've given so many tours of our office," McGrane said. "Some people are skeptical. Let's lift the curtain. We'll show you how everything works."

He said his job as county clerk is to make sure everyone gets a fair shake. He intends to continue that approach as secretary of state.

"Whether it's a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian, a Constitutionalist, I'll take their questions and try to help them," he said.

Simplifying the system is also one of his goals.

"If we first make it easy to comply and make it transparent, then we can look at enforcement," he said. "Let's sift through all that so we can make the system work a little better."