California Politician's Rise Is Struck a Blow by Scandal

[Rose Siding]

Scandal- OMG What could it be? Groping women? Secret meetings with the energy industry against which CA has litigation pending?

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 - Six months ago, Kevin Shelley, the California secretary of state, was generating national attention for his efforts to ensure the integrity of the voting process and was considered a promising candidate for governor or the Senate.

Now Mr. Shelley, from a well-known San Francisco Democratic family, finds his political career in tatters because of scandals involving fund-raising and the way he has spent tens of millions of dollars of federal election money to carry out the voting overhaul he trumpeted. He is facing investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a federal grand jury, a state personnel board, the California Legislature and the federal agency that provides money to states to upgrade voting systems.
...
Mr. Shelley's travails come as two other prominent California Democrats are under scrutiny. Don Perata, the top Democrat in the State Senate, and Mayor James K. Hahn of Los Angeles are facing investigations over charges of fund-raising abuses or political favoritism.

The wounding of several of the state's top Democrats gives Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger an opening to pursue his ambitious efforts.......

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/national/09shelley.html?adxnnl=1&oref=login&adxnnlx=1105247541-BLp219RZRPyhdE/Gs3+4zw

[GRLMGC]

1. Goddamn it nt

[genius]

9. Shelley's a good man. I'm sure this is a set-up Please read my comments.

I don't always agree with his postions but he is a genuinely good person who worked hard to ensure a fair election. He could have done more but he did as much as he felt he could - even taking a lot of grief from the BBV people. He required the availability of paper ballots at all places having computerized voting. Some polling places fell short because of the Republcans running them. He decertified machines in a number of places for irregularities in the primaries. We need to stand behind him. Because of him, there will be a voter-verifiable paper trail at all California polling places in 2006.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

25. isn't it funny how people love to rush to judge from simple accusations

I don't put anything past the repuks when it comes to trying to take over California.
Just look at how Ahnuld got in office. They used the media to tarnish Gray Davis, got a bunch of suckers who believed it to sign and had an election where people could vote for their favorite action hero.

I was so glad when Davis beat the hell out of that repub crook.
And now I still can hardly believe they actually took the governors position anyway.

They are up to no good.

I don't believe the allegations at all.

[NVMojo]

2. like we said yesterday ...following the indictment of the Clinton person..

the long knives are out ...

[shanti]

10. yep

they're planning to take him down. i hope he stands up to the bastards. anyone running for governor next go-round should be watching this verrry closely.

[Stand and Fight]

23. Sigh... Let us hope there is not a

Let us hope and pray that there is not a Night of the Long Knives in this country as there was in that other country back in the the 20th century...

:scared:

[DemonFighterLives]

3. Almost sounds like trumped up charges

While high crimes and misdemeanors by republicans are excused or forgiven. Sickening! Arnold should be run out of the country.

[glitch]

4. First they came for the Democrats...

Then they came for the Republicans...
Anyone who isn't a fascist needs to be very alarmed.

[Stand and Fight]

24. Sad...

I was just thinking of that quote myself.

[WhiteTara]

5. do I smell the stench of retribution?

Shelley kept the Diebold machines out of California.  The
boobengroper wants a clear playing field.  There may or may
not be malfeasence.  Remember the NYT is home of the Wen Ho
Lee debacle, Jayson Blair and The witch who pumped Iraq (her
name escapes me in the moment).

[The Zanti Regent]

7. Judith Miller

and you're right about the fucking Screw York Times.

They make up lies about any Democrat and they give Republicans a pass.

I will never forgive Judith Miller for lying about Iraq and sending my only child to die.

[Liberty Belle]

13. I'm so sorry. My heart goes out to you for your loss.

My son's 18, and this war scares me to death.

[troubleinwinter]

6. Uh-oh.....

"His next step up came in 2002, when he was elected secretary of state, a usually obscure post that oversees elections, campaign finance reports and corporate filings. Mr. Shelley used it as a bully pulpit to advance causes like domestic partnership rights and corporate responsibility, and to raise his profile. He became one of the nation's most outspoken advocates of paper records of voting on touch-screen machines, one of the new technologies adopted to replace the punch cards that led to the problems in Florida in 2000."

[ebayfool]

8. 'splains why they are after him, I'm in Cal. - No clue what to do to -

help this man out.
DU suggestions?

[EFerrari]

21. The Chronicle has been put up to this witch hunt by someone,

so they're compromised. And I mean the editorial page, not just the news side. They published my letters every 6-8 weeks for a year and a half but when I wrote about Shelley, nada. Oh, also when I wrote about vote fraud, nada. I'm not saying, I'm only saying.

[Liberty Belle]

28. read my suggestions below, and kick this thread, please!

[BrklynLiberal]

11. Another thread concerned about this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=141&topic_id=5288#5293

[BrklynLiberal]

12. self deleted..dupe

[Liberty Belle]

14. Who heads up the CA Democratic Party? We could start there,

perhaps.

Also, starting now, we can all send letters to the editors of major newspapers in support of Shelley. Start with the SF papers (liberal enough to publish them), the LA Times, and the Sacramento Bee (where Shelley should see it).

Also let's send letters directly to Shelley's office to urge him to fight this as a partisan witch hunt. Can someone post his address?

We ought to get some prominent Dems to speak out on his behalf.
How about someone of national stature? Howard Dean, Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton perhaps?

Ah. How about Maxine Waters? The LA Congresswoman is a gutsy lady who has never been afraid to speak her mind.

Okay, all, spend 10 minutes RIGHT NOW looking up those e-mail addresses. Send at least a few e-mails tonight. Forward this thread to others you know.

:kick:

Let's start kicking and keep this kicked!

[genius]

16. It's Art Torres. But he has too much faith in Republicans, like M. Powell

Torres was convinced Arnold was no threat in 03. So I don't know how useful he'll be.

Bill Lockyer (CA's AG) voted for Arnold but he's a Democrat and we might send him letters encouraging him to investigate the real bad guys. Lockyer wants to be Governor in 06 and that won't happen without Shelley. Sometimes Lockyer does the right thing though I'm not likely to vote for him again.

We might want to get Moveon to get behind Shelley, too.

Maxine is great but she's pretty busy fighting Bush in Washington. She's worth contacting. So are all the other people who are up for election/re-election in 1006. Feinstein might be really useful.

[EFerrari]

22. I've yet to see MoveOn do anything local. nt

[okieinpain]

15. just great. what a time to screw up. this will play right into dumb

ass arnuld getting reelected.

[flyarm]

20. I ALSO READ WHERE ARNOLD WANTS TO..

DO REDISTRICTING AND HAS ALREADY BEGUN PROCESS... i cant remember where i read it but it wasn't long ago...ut oh here we go..another stolen state...welcome to our world calif,,,from fla...and i used to live in l.a so you have my sympathies!! fly

[EFerrari]

17. Thank you, SF Chronicle, for going after the man who decertified

Diebold. Shortly after he did. It's all in the timing.

[EFerrari]

18. Shelley's on line feedback form

http://www.ss.ca.gov/cgi-bin/print_form.cgi

[Liberty Belle]

26. Fight the GOP witch hunt! Don't resign.

If the GOP in Congress is really concerned about corruption by state secretaries of state, they should start by going after Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio.

This is obviously revenge becuase you stood up to Diebold and kicked those riggable-machines out of California. Thank you for protecting our votes!

I'm a delegate to the state Democratic convention and am telling everyone I meet to please support you--and speak out. Democratic Underground.com is organizing a campaign to write letters to newspaper editors and Democratic leaders urging them to denounce this witch hunt. I've also notified other activist groups to put the word out on this.

I suspect these charges are bogus and trumped up to oust you and clear the way for a Republican replacement. Even if any of those charges are true, they are far less serious than the things that Blackwell did in Ohio to assure the theft of an election. As the truth comes to light (as is finally happening now), the public can be made to understand the GOP's true motivation in attacking you now.

Please don't resign and give Arnold a chance to appoint someone to fill your spot with another Kenneth Blackwell. Fight back!

[EFerrari]

29. You'll find this amusing. The same week that the Chron was

beginning this attack, they were also trying to forward an al Qaeda threat. They reported that Middle Eastern-looking men were taping downtown, the Bank of America Pyramid and so on.

And they gave twice as many inches to the Shelley attack.

I have to wonder what is being held over the head of the managing editor.

[Liberty Belle]

27. done. Kick!

:kick:

[EFerrari]

19. Maxine Waters online form.

http://www.house.gov/waters/IMA/issue.htm

[ebayfool]

30. bump n/t

[eagler]

31. And Rush Limbaugh is still at large

nt

[bklyncowgirl]

32. This may be why the Dem bosses don't want to get into election reform.

I don't know much about the specifics of the case. This may well be a setup. But what I do know is that the Democratic party bosses have been curiously reluctant to persue election reform. Cynic that I am, my assumption has been that at local levels some Democrats have been screwing around.

Look for Republicans to play this one for all its worth. It's alot easier to prove financial malfeasance than it is to prove a widespread conspiracy to steal a national election. The fact that it's a secretary of state could take the heat (whatever little of it there is) off of Blackwell.

To quote the great Bob Dylan.
You know that patriotism is the last refuge
to which a scoundrel clings.
Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal alot and they'll make you king.

[cornermouse]

33. What a coincidence. They're all democrats who are

presumbably in Schwarzenegger's way?

[bemildred]

34. So the Screw York Times thinks they can charge for this bullshit? nt

[leesa]

35. Funny how Arnie did the same thing and not a peep.

[Liberty Belle]

40. Really, can you document?

[MasonJar]

36. Just wrote him my support. n/t

[Democat]

37. The Republicans abuse taxpayer money to slander Democrats every time

This is another right wing lying smear Clinton witch hunt, just like the attacks on Hillary last week.

When our side had the chance to go after Bush, when we controlled the Senate, Tom Daschle didn't do a fucking thing.

When we had power back in the 90's, we didn't try to wipe out the Republicans Party.

Every time they get any power they abuse it to the maximum and do as much damage as they can to our side.

When we have power we say "it's time to play fair and be nice and work together".

Until we learn how the game is played, we will lose every single time.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

38. Das Gropenfuhrer will rid Shelley of his post so that....

Groper can appoint someone to "fix" the electoral process in Cali.

[zann725]

42. And according to today's LA Times, Arnold plans a "special election"

in the Fall to get several of his "initiatives" passed. It was front-page.

I never heard of a "special election" just to pass "initiatives." There's no doubt in my mind the vote will be rigged.

[NYC]

39. I suspect this will be happening a lot.

...Mr. Shelley's travails come as two other prominent California Democrats are under scrutiny. Don Perata, the top Democrat in the State Senate, and Mayor James K. Hahn of Los Angeles are facing investigations over charges of fund-raising abuses or political favoritism...

Convenient that they are all Democrats.

[AlCzervik]

41. They haven't proved a damn thing yet

Shelley helped out bigtime with decertifying diebold,

[Richard Steele]

43. Important story; KICK!