The Interocitor

Shelley Must Go, Says Bee

While everyone else has been focusing on the presidential race, the CBS memos and Iraq, the Sacramento Bee and SF Chronicle have been turning over rocks in Sacramento and not liking what they find. Today, the Bee calls for Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to resign or be impeached. Strong words for a Democrat officeholder from a Democrat-leaning paper. What's up with this?:

The case against Shelley has been building for weeks. It began with a series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle. The stories revealed that state funds, which Shelley (then a member of the Assembly) helped steer to a San Francisco neighborhood group, may have found their way into his campaign coffers.

Shelley claims to know nothing about the true source of those contributions. Perhaps that is so, but his claim is curious given the fact that the funds in question were the biggest donations he received in his campaign for secretary of state. The FBI, the California attorney general and the city of San Francisco have all launched investigations.

Shelley also faces allegations that he sexually harassed and verbally abused members of his staff. He admits to being tough and has long been known to fly into tantrums, frequently letting loose with profanity-riddled tirades that have led to extremely high turnover rates at his office. Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to his treatment of his staff. County elections officials around the state complain about Shelley's use of intemperate language and his intimidating manner with them.

Most recently and most damaging, documents obtained by The Sacramento Bee reveal that federal Help America Vote Act funds Shelley administered have been used for blatantly partisan political activities.

Looks like the Quackenbush scandal all over again. It's pretty bad when Democrats accuse Democrats of violating "political ethics." I wonder what Senate candidate and former Secretary of State Bill Jones has to say about this.

(via California Insider, who also has this)

See also XRLQ and the LA Times.

Posted by Kevin Murphy at September 23, 2004 03:41 PM | TrackBack