(Calif.) Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to resign

[Newsjock]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/n/a/2005/02/04/state1854EST0105.DTL

JIM WASSERMAN, Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Secretary of State Kevin Shelley was to announce his resignation Friday amid investigations into his handling of federal election funds, questionable campaign contributions and bad behavior, a source close to Shelley told The Associated Press.

Shelley, 49, was leaving his $131,250-a-year post before having to testify later this month at a Legislature audit committee hearing about his handling of millions of dollars in federal elections funds.

Shelley, the son of former San Francisco Mayor and U.S. Rep. Jack Shelley, was once one of California's rising political stars. His move paves the way for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, to name a replacement for the Democrat.

The former state Assemblyman is the first statewide elected official to quit since June 2002, when Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, a Republican, resigned after accusations that he tapped millions of dollars in earthquake funds to further his political career.

more

[Kadie]

1. Oh man.

I guess we all saw this coming.

[Liberty Belle]

21. kick! All, call your legislators right now! Tell them

under no friggin' circustances are they to vote to confirm ANY Republican replacement, no matter how benign they may seem. Make clear that this is a line-in-the-sand vote: Any DEM who crosses to the dark side must NOT be reelected.

Also call the Governor's office and say that if he appoints a Republican to Shelley's position, you will support a ballot initiative to recall both Arnold AND the shill he appoints.

We cannot sit idly by and watch our right to vote go down the tubes. A GOP Secretary of STate can influence what voting machines are bought here, obstruct recounts, and figure out creative ways to toss Democratic registrations, purge Dems off voter rolls, withhold voting machines in minority precincts, and all the other disgusting things we saw in Ohio and Florida.

Personally, I'm all for starting a "RECALL ARNOLD" Petition right now.

[Dump the deficit]

83. Time for a non-partisan Secretary of State

"A GOP Secretary of STate can influence what voting machines are bought here, obstruct recounts, and figure out creative ways to toss Democratic registrations, purge Dems off voter rolls, withhold voting machines in minority precincts, and all the other disgusting things we saw in Ohio and Florida."

A Democrat Secretary of STate can do the same thing to Republicans. We need an INDEPENDENT!

[me b zola]

89. I totally agree with you

The thought that California will be the next Ohio (which was the next Florida) keeps entering my mind. Arnold is talking about gerrymandering, which always is bad news for Dems (or anyone who wants to live in a Democracy). Now the removal of a Dem SOS seems to be more writing on the wall telling us of their intentions for '06 & '08.

Post your petition to recall Arnold petition and I will sign it , if I am eligible--I am not a resident of California. I believe his cult of personality is a dangerous way to conceal a wolf in sheep's clothing.

[genius]

24. Call 916 653 7244 We need him to stop planned gerrymandering

Arnold has all kinds of ballot props planned: one that will gerrymander everything and give Republicans more seats in CA leg and Congress, one that will finish off workers' compensation benefits, and one that will make it virtually impossible to find an attorney to handle a malpractice case - even where a doctor deliberately kills a patient.

Arnold is planning a vote-rigging replacement for Shelley and the Dems are going to go along with it because Bustamonte's son wants the job in 06 and they want someone everyone hats to run against Bustamonte's son. Our Party is willing to sacrifice voting rights to go along with Arnold's ploy.

We have to stand up to the baseless attacks on Shelley. Shelley had to take out an extra mortgage on his house to defend himself from the attacks and the Party is not helping him and he needs donations.

There is information on his legal defense fund on the front page of patrickhenrythinktank.org

[mountebank]

29. Wait - how is an independent redistricting called gerrymandering?

I'm all for keeping Shelley in office, but the redistricting plan seems sound, so long as the panel Arnold convenes is independent as he says it will be. The idea with independent panels is to stop gerrymandering. I'm sure the current districts are already gerrymandered beyond belief.

So - where in Arnold's plan is gerrymandering included?

Independent redistricting throughout the country should be a major goal of those who value voting rights.

[Helga Scow Stern]

35. Yes, every district in the state but one is a guaranteed win for

whichever party "owns" it, so no one need listen to constituents. I don't know that what Arnold has in mind will be any better--if it is just to get more Republican districts like they did in Texas, watch out.

This gerrymandering already in place explains why good Dem candidates got very little party support in the last election--like Ferial Masry, for instance.

[mountebank]

40. Right - Arnold's plan is short on details.

And I wonder if the panel will truly be independent (for instance, my first choice wouldn't be former judges, that's for sure). But I'm not so partisan as to say I wouldn't support Arnold's idea for redistricting IF I thought the panel was independent EVEN IF it meant that Dems would likely lose seats in the short-term (I would expect them to gain them back eventually by winning the war of ideas). Only the most partisan authoritarians from both parties could argue against redistricting by independent panels.

[xxqqqzme]

38. Hello???? this is rethug steroid boy!!!

It will B as independent as the Texass mess. What the hell is wrong w/ the CA dem party? I am going 2 B so geared up 4 that convention in April.

[CAcyclist]

45. You can't trust ANYTHING the republicans are saying

Can't you understand that!? Ok , sorry - not meaning to be harsh but I am tearing out my hair here.

I am going to change my name to Cassandra.

[natrat]

49. oh now we get to vote on diebold machines

cest la vie

[Merlot]

54. The "redistricting plan" wouldn't be happening

if repubs were in power in CA. There is no reason to fix something that isn't broken.

Of course it "seems sound," that's how they sell things. They make radical plans sound moderate. It's a power grab, plain and simple.

I read an interesting article in the LA times this morning (sorry, can't find it) written by a representative here in CA. If you can find it, it 's worth the read as it explains exactly what arnie is doing and why it's a bad idea.

Don't trust arnie under any circumstances. Think texas.

[CAcyclist]

65. Well, I'm sure they are not

Find me a map of California's districts and show me a gerrymandered district before you start throwing that word around.

[Big_Mike]

90. All right, I'll give you mine

My state Assemblyman has part of Apple Valley and Hesperia, both in the High Desert of San Bernardino County, and Monrovia, which is in Los Angeles County and over 60 freaking miles away! And to top it off, Monrovia is on the other side of a range of mountains from us. Monrovia is a bedroom community for Pasadena and Northern Los Angeles. How in the heck can there be a commonality of interests for our towns, with such disparate facts. But it does provide a nice safe "R" district, and no good "D" need worry about wasting resources fighting over it.

Our issues here are quality of life, and rural issues. Monrovia, where the district HQs are located, has no single common issue with us, only bare issues at the state level.

The back room deal that was struck to provide 50 "D" seats and 30 "R" seats in the Assembly and 25 "D" seats and 15 "R" seats in the Senate is the crassest bit of gerrymandering I've ever seen, and this is after seeing some bare knuckle fights in Texas and Georgia.

[LisaM]

2. Democratic or Republican?

I seem to recall some tie-in between the California and Florida ex-secretaries of state and voting machine companies.

[Book Lover]

4. Democrat

who reportedly was unable to conduct himself in a professional manner and did not hide his hot temper. True or not? I don't know...

[Garbo 2004]

11. Allegations are more than personnel issues, inappropriate use of funds.

also has been alleged. One way or the other, it's definitely been a pile on http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/shelley/

[genius]

28. Two HAVA people attended a political rally: That's the basis

of the claims of inappropriate use of funds.

[Freddie Stubbs]

47. If that's all that it is, why is he resigning?

:shrug:

[Garbo 2004]

60. There's a bit more than that. The State Auditor's report for example is

available online in a .pdf file (report dated Dec 16, 2004, #2004-139). http://www.bsa.ca.gov/bsa/reports/2004.html

I'm not saying this guy should have been publically railroaded either. I wanted there to be some form of due process. But something about this whole thing strikes me as rather odd. And I'm not thinking simply Diebold either btw. I wonder what else has been going on that isn't in the newspapers. Is there something more that people for whatever reason don't want to come out, and/or other political behind the scenes deals and jockeying? (Bowen announced last fall she would run for Secty of State in 2006.) Do we really know who all the players are? Are the Feds threatening to make CA pay the HAWA money back or something else? Wasn't it Texas or another state where HAWA funds were used to buy lawnmowers???

Or perhaps Shelley simply isn't up to the battle and so he resigned. But it seemed to me that his fellow Dems rather quickly dropped him like a very bad smell. Don't underestimate that sometimes what's really going down never appears in the news when it comes to pols and their dealings. They're like magicians, skilled in the arts of misdirection. What they talk about in the press is for the public. What's going on in the back rooms may be something else altogether. I just wonder what the other pols were saying to Shelley in private.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. Guess that means Arnie gets to appoint his replacement, no?

[Merlot]

5. Yes, that's exactly what it means.

Why else do you think they went after him? He stood up to diabold.

[Kadie]

9. Arnie is probably twirling in circles and doing cartwheels right about now

[Shakespeare]

10. Off-topic, but did you know Norquist is bankrolling his CalPERS plan?

Privatization, of course. Nearly drove off the road when I heard that on KPFA this morning.

[Helga Scow Stern]

36. OMFG. n/t

[Dump the deficit]

86. Who is Norquist?

and what do you mean by "bankrolling his CalPERS plan"? Is he paying the transition costs?

Is this good or bad?

[Shakespeare]

91. Grover Norquist. If you don't know who he is....

...you should probably make an effort to find out.

He's bankrolling the advertising and PR push for Ahnold's plan to privatize CalPERS (which is one of the most successful state pension plans in the country, and needs to be left the hell alone).

[glitch]

6. What did they do, threaten his family? So other SOS, here's your lesson.nt

[Jack Rabbit]

7. I said on trhe California forum last night that he was toast

It's not a good sign when the Assembly's majority leader, a Democrat, starts bargaining with Shelley and a committee investing him for his resignation.

Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican, will get to appoint Shelley's successor, but it will require the approval both houses of the legislature, which are both controlled by Democrats.

I expect Schwazennegger to appoint a Republican, but it won't be an in-your-face appointment.

[Robbien]

13. Freeperville had Call to Action threads every day

and hundreds of them kept up a letter writing campaign for the last month or so. If Freeperville was involved, you know the whole Focus on Family were sending out their mass mailings also.

Shelley got Swiftboated.

[CAcyclist]

62. We need to oppose whatever letter writing campaign the freepers are doing

I doubt that any of these receipients understand what kind of mindless robots these people are and if we mount our own counter-campaign, we'd be ahead of the ball on the next vital issue.

Kevin Shelley's resignation is a huge, huge blow to democracy.

[Sivafae]

41. yep, and that nasty thing about the electronic voting will no longer be a

problem

[natrat]

52. sweet now we can have a real european dictator

[CAcyclist]

66. From Austria no less nt

[merh]

8. No, he can't!

He has to stand up to them!

This is what they want, damnit! He stood up to diebold so they are forcing him out so they can get their machines into the blue state!

[Kadie]

12. He may not be able to afford to defend himself.

Donors give only $250 to Shelley's legal defense fund
JIM WASSERMAN, Associated Press Writer

Monday, January 31, 2005


(01-31) 16:51 PST SACRAMENTO (AP) --

As Secretary of State Kevin Shelley struggles to keep his job, he's received only a single $250 contribution to his three-month-old legal defense fund, which he also lent $100,000 from money borrowed against his San Francisco home.

The embattled state elections official has likewise received only $28,000 in campaign cash since his mounting legal troubles began last August, and none since the new year opened, according to campaign contribution reports released Monday.

Aides said Shelley is too busy defending himself and running his office to raise money.

"In October, the secretary took out a $500,000 loan on his family home in San Francisco," said Shelley campaign spokesman Sam Singer. Shelley, he said, is using the money to "help defray the substantial costs" of his legal bills.


more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/01/31/state1951EST0130.DTL

[merh]

15. I know that feeling!

:shrug: Their political witch hunts are very costly, especially for the hunted! :cry:

[fooj]

77. OVER MY DEAD BODY! I've had enough! Stay the fuck away from CA.!

Damn them all to hell!!!!!!!

[merh]

79. I think the article was updated that he resigned.

:cry:

[mountebank]

14. Who is behind this? This is not coincidence obviously.

Someone was very busy digging up dirt on Shelley after he very vocally mandated paper receipts on DREs last year. But I haven't seen any speculation about WHO exactly is behind this apparently successful effort to take him down. Any ideas?

[Robbien]

17. The same people who went after Dan Rather/CBS

went after Shelley. Just read through freeperville threads, they were on attack and got all the "faith" groups to join in.

[mountebank]

26. The freepers are rabid about a lot of things, but they don't always

win. I am wondering which power players were acting behind the scenes on this one.....

[Robbien]

32. The freepers are led by a group of RNC "minders"

There is a team of about a dozen signon names which work with the RNC. Their whole task is to keep the freeper brownshirts angry and keep them working attacking RNC targets.

Yes the run of the mill freeper is just a regular dittohead. But bunch together a couple hundred of these dittoheads, teach them how to be activists and keep them motivated and on attack, a run of the mill freeper is a worthy tool to have.

[CAcyclist]

67. We don't need to know who is behind this if we can see what the freepers

are doing.

If they have a call to action list, we can have a counterlist. They are pawns - we can check those pawns

[Helga Scow Stern]

37. Karl Rove? He is big on getting his people in top state positions.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

87. It started LONG before that. During the recall

Shelley had people in his office who were very loyal to Bill Jones (his predecessor) In fact, during the period where the petitions were coming in some of his employees were seen (and reported by the LA TIMES) giving hand signals from the windows to Ted Costa's people down in the parking lot. There has been acrimony due to the very deliberate acts of many of the SOS staff since day 1.

[bobweaver]

16. Fair elections in CA will go with him. Look for CA to go red in 2008.

[AlGore-08.com]

18. Don't forget he was considered a leading candidate for Governor

That's almost certainly part of the political calculations that lead to actually going forward with this investigation.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

19. If He Was Innocent, He Should Have Stayed and Fought

If he was guilty, good riddance.

DTH

[Robbien]

22. Once the VRWC smeared Shelley as dirty, how do you beat back

the rabid right wing hate talk radio? Kerry couldn't stop them with their Swift Boat lies. MSM has stopped trying to defeat them and have now joined them.

Half of the US population still believes Saddam was behind 9/11. That has been proven to be false, but the rabid right wing hate radio still does not acknowledge that fact and neither does their listeners.

So Shelley could be clean as a whistle, but the smears would keep coming and coming.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

23. This Is California, and Shelley Had Already Been Elected (eom)

DTH

[Robbien]

34. And now he is resigning

When each paper in your state is getting hundreds and hundreds of emails and calls each day asking that Shelley resign, and call-ins to rabid right talk radio spew hatred each day about Shelly, and local politicians gets hundreds of calls and emails all against Shelley, the pressure keeps building to ask Shelley to resign.

Shelley resigned. Mission accomplished.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

75. If I Was Innocent, No Peer Pressure Would Get Me To Resign

People complain about Democrats not standing and fighting. If you can't even stand and fight when you're absolutely, unequivocally RIGHT, then what the hell good are you?

DTH

[Robbien]

76. What are you talking about "Peer Pressure"?

It is not his peers who are asking him to resign. From the articles, the state Democratic party will not support him financially and have asked him to step down. The state democratic party knows Shelley is the target of a Swiftboat like attack and just wants the attacks to stop.

The articles have said that Shelley has been busy doing his job and defending himself against the attacks that he has not had time to campaign for donations to pay for lawyers who are defending him. If he steps down, all attacks stop. No charges will be brought.

Without money and without support of the state democratic party, Shelley cannot keep fighting. The articles have said that so far no proof has been presented, but the attacks keep getting pushed by all the calls and letters of the rabid right wing brownshirts.

It is not a question of innocence, it is a question of who lasts longer, the attack or the defense. The attackers can keep pushing the attack for free, but defense takes lots of money.

[w4rma]

82. You are being naive. (nt)

[CAcyclist]

84. Proven to me your opinions aren't worth listening to

I'm putting you on ignore too.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

68. So had Gray Davis

[DoveTurnedHawk]

74. Davis Didn't Resign (eom)

DTH

[necso]

20. We're screwed. /nt

[BrightKnight]

25. It looks like he did a fantastic job with the elections.

"Last year, electronic voting activists praised him for tightening security requirements on touch-screen voting to prevent fraud. Shelley won more plaudits for insisting that California's electronic voting machines eventually contain paper records where voters could verify their choices were accurately recorded.

But he also angered many county officials when he decertified touch-screen machines in Solano, San Joaquin, San Diego and Kern counties, saying they were susceptible to vote tampering and lacked federal approval for the March primary. He also set tougher conditions for machines in 10 other counties, and required paper ballots to be an option."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/n/a/2005/02/04/state1854EST0105.DTL
-------------------
I would contribute a few bucks to his defense fund. DeLay is still in office after the things he did in my state. Most of the Repug Secretaries of State are far more ethically challenged than he is.

[genius]

27. He kept elections honest in CA. Arnold has a vote-rigger in mind

to replace him and we need to keep Shelley.

[Helga Scow Stern]

39. Except for the one in Washington! He has integrity, and is also a

Republican.

[Lostnote03]

30. This has to be turned around quickly!!!!

...Hopefully Californians will seize this opportunity as a referendum on voting integrity...The meeting between Arnold and Ken Lay hopefully will resurface in a large way now that ethics<cough> are back on the table....It certainly appears on the surface that Arnold is potentially susceptable to a recall because of his collusion with Lay.....

[BrightKnight]

33. I little money and some spin could fix this. -n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

31. Dissenting

Shelley has no one to blame but himself for his downfall.

From the Associated Press article, as run in the Los Angeles Times:

While not being charged with breaking state or federal laws, Shelley found himself embroiled in controversy over the handling of $46 million in Help America Vote Act funds and charges by ex-employees of temper tantrums and a hostile work environment.

The state Board of Personnel also criticized some of his office hiring practices as possibly illegal and a throwback to the "spoils system." Shelley likewise faced federal, state and local investigations for accepting $125,000 in campaign funds from recipients of state grant funds for a San Francisco neighborhood center that was never built.

A December state audit, which State Auditor Elaine Howle called one of the more serious reports issued by her office, charged Shelley with poor management of the HAVA funds and poor oversight of staff and consultants.

The federal act passed by Congress in 2002 authorized nearly $4 billion nationally to modernize voting systems and help prevent disenfranchisement of voters following the 2000 presidential election debacle in Florida.

The state audit painted a picture of an office in disarray that missed deadlines to send the funds to counties, avoided competitive bids for services and paid consultants for work that had little to do with the purpose of the funds.

The personnel board highlighted lax hiring procedures and an abusive work environment inside the office.

Howle found that Shelley paid consultants for federally funded voter outreach that included attending partisan Democrat events and fund-raisers and promoting Shelley's political profile.

The most serious of these allegations involves the HAVA funds. Shelley could have avoided difficulty by coming clean sooner and taking corrective action rather than stonewalling. Yes, there would have been public criticism of him, but with the facts out, he probably would have survived it.

If this story were simply about a VRWC to remove Democratic office holders in California, Shelley would have found more people in his corner. Yesterday, the Assembly Democratic leader was working to pave the way for Shelley's resignation today. He had no allies.

I am very disappointed. Shelley did a fine job making sure that voting machines in California would meet standards that would give machine users the confidence that they votes were being counted as cast. For that he should be lauded.

We must be vigilant that his work in this area is not undone. That is the most important thing we can do.

[Helga Scow Stern]

42. It's already being undone. Ventura County Board of Supervisors

just voted to use $700,000 in grant money to replace two counter terminals and a mainframe computer in the Elections Division office...They will be replaced with an array of PC's....

It must replace the current Votamatic punch-card machines. "Datavote works differently and has never created problems but must still be replaced," said Phil Schmit, election supervisor.

They are looking at touch screen systems. Schmit doesn't but that there could be fraud. "It would take a tremendous conspiracy to fix an election, to program all those computers and fix a vote."

[BrightKnight]

57. Mainframes are more secure. -n/t

[catzies]

85. Whaa? At a Camarillo Democratic Club meeting last year we heard

someone speak from the Elections Division (name escapes me) who said Ventura County wasn't going to change our voting equipment because "it wasn't broken, no need to fix."

Steve Bennett's your supervisor, Kathy Long's mine. :hi:

[Helga Scow Stern]

43. He may have brought some of this on himself,

but clearly, there is much more to it.

I mean, honestly. First they dispose of the governor. Then the Secretary of State. There is a statewide coup in place. And Grover Norquist is bankrolling the CalPERS privatization?

[BrightKnight]

48. It looks like a smear.

Most of these allegations are petty and certainly would not lead to a resignation. It sounds like he fired the wrong people for political reasons and they came after him. Taken as a whole it looks like a smear campaign.

Most of the financial intdescressions appear to have been the result of poor management skills. Based on his handling of the voting equipment I think his heart is in the correct place. Perhaps the party could help him pick a strong office manager. They could also slap him on the wrist.

Do the people California really trust Arnold to choose a SOS?

[CAcyclist]

50. Get used to more stories like this

The corporate papers can't be trusted anymore now the republicans have the upper hand. A lot of allegation and it boils down to one or two people and about $1000.

I kinda thought that if we've been through this before with Clinton that people would be a little more skeptical about these right-wing smear jobs, but I guess not.

I guess democracy is just going to keep being a dream and the fascism will keep spreading.

[CAcyclist]

44. Why,why,why,why,why did everyone ignore this until NOW!!!!

Our chance was before this happened. I posted over and over to support Kevin Shelley - why is it only now that a ton of people are commenting?

Ok, I will stop whining - people PLEASE send money to Kevin Shelley's legal defense fund:

Money and ONLY money will make the other Democrats sit up and take notice and know that we are serious about defending Kevin Shelley.

Money and ONLY money will make the republicans think twice about pursuing this, because if we raise enough money for Kevin Shelley, he can go after the bastards that smeared him.

Only a few people listened me before PLEASE listen now!

It doesn't take much - a lot of little checks all at once will send a message and let evryone know there is a lot more where that came from.


If you want to help donate to Kevin Shelley's legal defense fund, you can send donations to his accountants at:

Olson, Hagel & Fishburn
555 Capitol Mall
Suite 1425
Sacramento, CA 95814
[phone]

Make checks out to Legal Defense Fund .

[SoCalDemGrrl]

46. This is not good people, Shelley was hip to the fraud potential

of Diebold & ES&S and now with him gone, Arnold will appoint a successor. THIS IS DEATH TO DEMOCRACY, FOLKS!! California will be "red" sooner than you can imagine. 2006 is my bet.


And God forbid, 2008 - I can see the headlines now "California has seen a remarkable turnaround since the November 2004 election. Under the briliant leadership of Arnold Schwartzenegger, the Republican party has made unprecedented strides in the State and is poised to deliver its electoral votes to Jeb Bush".

Remember you heard it here first.
:puke:

[CAcyclist]

69. Couldn't have said it better myself

Maybe we should print out t-shirts that say this and start wearing them now

[Kadie]

51. Link to Shelley's statement.

&f=/c/a/2005/02/05/shelley05.TMP

[Name removed]

53. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Piperay]

55. When will the Democrats ever learn

that they have to 'keep their nose clean' and be above 'reproach'. If this was a repuke he could get away with it but a Democrat can't and they need to realize that. :think:

[Liberty Belle]

56. Action Plan! DU this and kick, please.

It's official CA's Secretary of State, Kevin Shelly, has just resigned.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/05/shelley05.TMP

Take these actions now to protect fair elections in California!

Schwarzenegger will appoint a replacement that must be approved by the CA Legislature. If he appoints a Republican, we could wind up with rigged elections since the Secretary of State can buy voting machines, withhold machines in minority districts, create cumbersome rules designed to purge Democratic voters off the rolls and make it harder for them to register or have votes counted, thwart recount efforts, etc. -- just like in Ohio and Florida.

URGENT!
Please call, write and e-mail Arnold to say that if he appoints a Republican, you will urge that he be recalled for thwarting our democratic process.
See contact info below.

Call, fax and e-mail your State Senator and State Assembly represesntatives. Insist that they vote AGAINST any Republican Arnold may nominate for Secretary of STate. Make clear that this is a line-in-the-sand vote. Say that a vote for ANY Republican means you will do everything possible to defeat this legislator in the next primary election. Vote NO on this GOP attempt at a coup to rig elections!
Link below to find your legislator.

Call the DNC . Tell Terry McAuliff to get the national party to pressure the CA Dems on this one. Also call Howard Dean ask him to get the DFA moving on this. Call Moveon, Progressive Democrats, and other progressive groups, too. Forward this e-mail everywhere!

Contact info:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

To send an Electronic Mail please visit:
http://www.govmail.ca.gov

Link to find your legislators and state legislative leaders:
http://www.legislature.ca.gov/legislators_and_districts/legislators/your_legislator.html


Mail or Phone the DNC
Mailing Address:

Democratic National Committee
430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003

Main Phone Number:

202-863-8000

Email the DNC www.dnc.org/contact/
If anyone has links for party leaders, other Democratic clubs, DNC members, etc., please post and contact them, too.

LT GOV CRUZ BUSTAMENTE:

Lieutenant Governor Cruz M. Bustamante, please feel free to mail his office at: Capitol Central Valley Los Angeles San Diego
State Capitol,
Room 1114 2550 Mariposa Mall,
Room 5006 300 South Spring Street,
Suite 12702 701 "B" Street,
Suite 376
Sacramento, CA
95814 Fresno, CA
93721 Los Angeles,CA
90013 San Diego, CA
92101
Telephone:
[phone] Telephone:
[phone] Telephone:
[phone] Telephone:
[phone]
Fax:
[phone]
Fax:
[phone] Fax:
[phone] Fax:
[phone]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Howard Dean: You can also contact us by phone at 802.651.3200
www.DemocracyforAmerica.com

[MelissaB]

59. Liberty Belle,

I posted your information in two other DU threads here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=317441#317915

and here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=316720

I hope that is okay. I'm trying to spread the word.

[doodadem]

63. I did email Shelly, and got this back

"Thank you for your support. It is encouraging to know that the work we have been doing is appreciated.

Again, thank you for your thoughtful comments.

Sincerely,

Kevin"

I expressed grave concern about what could happen to voting in this state if he resigned, and Arnold appoints someone.
This is all smelling real wrong to me........like repuglican farts.

[BrightKnight]

73. deleted - n/t

[Gloria]

58. I'm getting nervous about California....a couple of weeks back I

heard a BBC report on how minorities are becoming the majority in California (mostly Hispanic) and how a bunch of areas are actually turning Republican. The report mused over how long the Democrats would dominate in California. OOOOOOOOOOOOOY!!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

70. Was the report biased? I find it hard to think the BCC is that.

[leesa]

61. "and bad behavior"??? What kind of charges are those?

Same old, same old...Arnie does the same thing on a grander scale, but they pin a lesser charge on a Dem so they can say, "well, they do it too" And Ahnode will skate, of course.

More con-jobbing by the immoral GOP.

[CAcyclist]

64. Proof this is a smear campaign

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/01/26/MNG12B0HHB1.DTL

Direct evidence tying Shelley to any of the allegations his office faces has yet to surface


The Audit committee hasn't even hired any experts to review the evidence:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/03/MNG6UB51PH1.DTL


Sacramento -- Legislative leaders decided Wednesday to postpone the sworn testimony
of Secretary of State Kevin Shelley by nearly three weeks, a tacit acknowledgement that
the management of their inquiry into Shelley's handling of federal voting funds has been
flawed.

The decision, at the request of newly hired independent counsel for Republicans and
Democrats, came one day before Shelley was expected to appear before the Joint
Legislative Audit Committee. Republican panel members did not hire a lawyer to help
them prepare for the proceedings until Tuesday afternoon.

"We asked the attorneys how much time they needed," said Senate minority leader Dick
Ackerman, R-Irvine. "They wanted time to review the evidence."

In recent weeks, many in the Legislature have privately questioned the wisdom of
demanding Shelley's appearance so early in the process, as well as the committee's
decision to move forward without first hiring investigators and lawyers with experience
in similar cases to guide the way.

[CAcyclist]

71. nominated for home page nt

[Cha]

72. I would think the top Dems in

California politics would be very concerned about getting a rethuglican for SOS..it's not as if they don't have enough proof of what they do in that exhalted position.

It sounds like from the articles that they wanted Shelley out, too.

Somehow, someway..the rigged elections are going to be exposed..maybe in California.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

78. kick

[dusty64]

80. Not good.

:kick:

[ticapnews]

81. So CA joins the Diebold Empire. How do Dems win the WH without those 55

votes? Answer: We don't.

With "news reports" like the one mentioned in #58, it will be so easy for Diebold to pull off another stolen election in 2008 and to John Q Public, it won't seem that unusual. Thought process: "People are "turning" Republican, and CA has a Republican Governor, so it only makes sense they'd vote GOP for president."

Guess we'll have to add California to the "Jesusland" part of the map...of course, as more states add electronic voting machines, it'll all become Jesusland. :(

[PurityOfEssence]

88. That's the worst part about it: unverifiable electronic voting

He had tried to fight this. Now we're in for another education.

[cascadiance]

92. Time for soliciting signatures for a proposition...

... for the next election (especially if Arnold calls a special one for redistricting) that will tie the Secretary of State's hands in turns of getting in voting machines without verification and some sort of external approval, amongst other things. If we can get that voted in, perhaps we can prevent the takeover, before they can engineer it to happen.

[tom_paine]

93. Total Information Awareness abused by Imperial Powers means

these allegations may be real.

The thing is, like other Totalitarian States, PARTY members are above the law, no matter what is uncovered.

Enemies of the State, of course, especially if they become troublesome, will have ALL their information (which is Propety of the State under BushPutinism) poured over so they can be "taken out" at leisure.

This sort of thing is just beginning.

Naturally, this Soviet-style Law Enforcement will be sold to the Imperial Subjects of Amerika that the Democrats are immoral, while BushPutinists are 100% morally pure.

As it was before, so shall it be again as history repeats one more time...