Reply #16: I unfortunately think it is a lost cause:

[rumpel]

At the End, Kevin Shelley Stood Alone

snip
 
The allegations pushed Shelley to step down Friday while continuing to deny any intentional wrongdoing.

In the end, despite his political lineage and previous party support, Shelley stood largely alone. His well-known volatility had driven away colleagues who otherwise might have backed him. And fellow Democrats sent a clear message when they shook hands with Republicans over ground rules for a pending legislative inquiry: No pains would be taken to protect Shelley from tough questions under oath.

The charge that Shelley could be an abusive boss -- as detailed in a state Personnel Board hearing last week -- was nothing new to people who had worked with him when he served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors or in the California Assembly. One former high-level aide said reporting to Shelley was like "being in a bass drum all the time."

Former staffers said Shelley exploded over things as minor as the font size of his briefing notes. His staff turnover was among the highest in the Legislature, and the churn continued when he became secretary of state.

In 1998, as an assemblyman, Shelley was videotaped by a Capitol security camera as he argued with an employee and repeatedly blocked her from getting into an elevator. Then-Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa urged Shelley to get professional help to manage his anger. Faced with a near-mutiny by Shelley's staff, Villaraigosa also moved his press secretary to Shelley's office to help calm the situation.

In his 14 years as an elected official there had been no whiff of scandal.

"He was always considered one of the most promising young men coming up in the Democratic Party," said Agar Jaicks, a longtime San Francisco Democratic activist.


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-downfall5feb05,0,7511375.story?coll=la-home-headlines