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Let's talk about organizations to benefit the few by using the masses? You're right Green we cannot blame the masses for the faults of what the greedy few do....
I stand corrected!

Thanks,

Marc Chamot

Willie Brown destroyed his political career and reputation by being so corrupt. Being mayor of San Francico was his demise he couldn't even get votes now as DOG CATCHER that spineless bastard!

Marc Chamot

Report cites Shelley's office for questionable hiring of contributor's son
- Christian Berthelsen, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 25, 2005

State authorities have concluded that Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's office skirted civil service requirements when it hired the son of a political contributor who is under investigation for allegedly diverting taxpayer funds to Shelley's political account, according to a report made public Tuesday.
The report also concludes that Shelley created an "abusive working environment" for people who had to work with him directly.
Auditors with the State Personnel Board have referred the two matters to the state Attorney General's Office for possible criminal prosecution, noting that the son of the woman who is now at the center of a fund-raising scandal was hired by Shelley's office even though he did not appear to achieve a passing grade on his civil service exam.
The stark findings, and the unusually harsh public comments made by public officials about them, suggest there will be increased pressure on Shelley to resign.
Already, a top Senate Democrat has suggested Shelley should quit, and the secretary himself has told friends and aides he is considering doing so.
A spokesperson for the Secretary of State's office could not immediately be reached for comment. In a written response to the personnel board's audit, Cathy Mitchell, the undersecretary of state, said the office was "taken aback" by the auditors' findings about an abusive working environment, and asserted the board did not have "sufficient evidence" for the finding.
Shelley's troubles began in August, after The Chronicle reported that $125,000 from a taxpayer-funded grant to a San Francisco non-profit was apparently diverted to Shelley's political account for his successful 2002 run for Secretary of State. Shelley earmarked the funding for the group in the state budget when he was still an Assemblyman. The founder of the non-profit group was Julie Lee, whose son was hired by Shelley soon after he took office.
In public comments this morning, Floyd D. Shimomura, the executive officer of the board, indicated Lee did not appear to have achieved a passing grade on his civil service exam, but that his original score on the grading sheet was scratched out and a new number was inserted.
Shimomura said the circumstances surrounding the hiring of Lee appeared to be a "classic case of pre-selection," in which the process was designed to eliminate all other potential applicants for the job, and that it appeared "a decision was made to hire this person regardless of what their qualifications were."
As reported by The Chronicle on Sunday, auditors also found that the Secretary of State's office created a new position for Lee that previously only existed in one other state agency, and used a "very atypical" process to receive applications. Applications could only be filed on one day in the San Francisco office during a six-hour period on the day before Thanksgiving.
Shimomura said the Secretary of State's office under Shelley appeared to revert to a "throwback" system of political spoils in the era before civil service reforms. The president of the board, William Elkins, termed the findings "outrageous."
URL: sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...lley25.TMP

Shelley considers resignation
By Associated Press |
Published on Tuesday, January 25, 2005
URL: www.examiner.com/article/...5b_shelley
E-mail this story | Print this page
SACRAMENTO -- Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, who faces release of a second critical report today on his performance in office, is considering resignation among his options in dealing with numerous investigations, unnamed aides told The Sacramento Bee.
The newspaper reported that several sources said Shelley has talked of resigning several times in recent days. But none could predict what the embattled statewide elections officer might ultimately decide. Shelley, who took office in January 2003 and guided the state through a successful gubernatorial recall election later that year, has long insisted that he has done nothing wrong.
"It's hour by hour with him," a source told The Bee. "His mood changes all the time."
Shelley spokeswoman Caren Daniels-Meade said she believes Shelley intends to testify Feb. 3 before the Legislative Joint Audit Committee, which is investigating Shelley's handling of millions of dollars in federal elections funds. In December, a state audit alleged his office poorly managed portions of $82 million in Help America Vote Act funds that it was authorized to spend.
"All indications are he intends to testify, and he's still fully engaged with the office and our operations," Daniels-Meade said. "I have no indication he intends to resign at this time."
Only Friday, Shelley certified the first electronic voting system with a paper trail for use in California elections after Jan. 1, 2006.
But today, Shelley faces a 9 a.m. release of a State Board of Personnel investigation into allegations he has verbally attacked his staffers and frequently lost his temper at work. The board, which oversees state employee issues, began its investigation after former employees complained of a hostile work environment inside Shelley's department.
Unnamed sources told The Bee the report also alleges that Shelley broke state rules in hiring Andrew Lee, the son of San Francisco businesswoman Julie Lee, as a $57,000-a-year communications worker. Shelley, as Assembly Majority Leader, helped the elder Lee win a $500,000 state grant to build a neighborhood resource center. But it was never built and several recipients of the construction money later contributed $125,000 to Shelley's 2002 campaign for secretary of state. Sources said the report states that applications for the job filled by Lee were accepted only between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the day before Thanksgiving.

SHELLEY QUITS
Secretary of state says controversy surrounding fund-raising, use of federal money and his temper have swamped his office's 'ability to function effectively'
Christian Berthelsen, Vanessa Hua and John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, February 5, 2005
Kevin Shelley Probe
Shelley announces resignation
(2/5)
Analysis: Few allies for Shelley
Democrats saddened but relieved
(2/5)
Gov mulls possible replacements
(2/5)
Shelley told to quit or face charges
(2/4)
Shelley hearing delayed
(2/3)
Shelley's legal fund is hard up
(2/1)
M&R: Shelley won't quit except for new job, legal immunity, pals say
(1/30)
Panel widening Shelley probe
(1/29)
Rules set for probe of Shelley
(1/27)
State official blasts Shelley hiring practices
(1/26)
State report another blow to Shelley
(1/23)
Shelley a no-show at hearing on use of U.S. voter funds
(1/11)
State audit rips Shelley
(12/17)
Shelley to replace three of his top aides
(10/29)
Shelley took check in his office, donor says
(9/30)
Stellar past at odds with tales of bad temper and tainted funds
(8/29)
Audit panel to probe Shelley funds
(8/27)
Shelley denies wrongdoing
(8/26)
Shelley received dubious donations
(8/
Kevin Shelley resigned as California's secretary of state Friday, admitting that the growing scrutiny over his questionable campaign fund-raising, possible misuse of federal voting funds and admittedly volcanic temper left him unable to do the job he assumed two years ago.

"It has become clear to me that the tides of this storm are overtaking this office's ability to function effectively,'' Shelley told reporters in front of his Glen Park home shortly after 4 p.m. "Therefore, it is with my deepest personal regret that I resign the office of secretary of state, effective March 1.''

The decision to resign "is the hardest I have ever faced,'' the 49-year-old Shelley said. While he argued that he had done nothing wrong "in the eyes of the law,'' he conceded that it could be months or even years before federal, state and local investigations into his dealings are completed.

"I do not go lightly,'' he said, his lip quivering with emotion. "If I could have anything right now, it would be the ability to continue as secretary of state.''

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he spoke with Shelley Friday and promised to quickly appoint a replacement to the position, which pays $131,250 a year.

The intense scrutiny of Shelley began in August when The Chronicle reported that $125,000 from a state grant appeared to have been illegally diverted into his 2002 campaign account. Since then, state investigations have concluded that he mismanaged federal voting act funds and that Shelley's explosive temper created a hostile work environment for subordinates.

Standing ramrod straight in front of the bank of television cameras, Shelley didn't give an inch when it came to the corruption charges.

"While I have made errors that I deeply regret, I have never, ever done so with the intent of subverting the law or of benefiting myself,'' he said. "Throughout my life, I have always tried to do what is right.''

Shelley did apologize for what he described as his intensity and impatience, traits that often led him into angry and profane verbal attacks on the people who worked for him.

"I have no one to blame for this but myself,'' he said. "I personally apologize to any person who felt anything less than respected and valued by myself.''

The former assemblyman and San Francisco supervisor tried to keep a tight rein on his emotions, losing control only briefly when he thanked his family, including his mother, for standing by him "during this difficult period in my career and in my life.''

Shelley bit back tears as he stood with his wife, Dominque, in the driveway of the home where he grew up, the son of a San Francisco mayor and owner of a golden name in city politics. He read his prepared statement as a chill breeze shook the trees and bushes, then pivoted and quickly went back inside his house, declining to answer any questions.

The San Francisco Democrat wanted to avoid testifying in front of a legislative committee and faced spiraling legal bills with little means of paying them. He was also distraught over the health of his 84-year-old mother, Thelma, who collapsed with pneumonia Wednesday night and remains in the hospital.

The resignation was a coda to a 15-year political career that until the past six months appeared destined to place him among San Francisco's political elite. As the son of former San Francisco mayor and congressman Jack Shelley, he was often talked about as a potential senator, mayor or governor.

As recently as 2003, he won widespread admiration for his evenhanded management of the gubernatorial recall election and for developing tough standards to ensure the accuracy of a new generation of voting-systems technology.

Though his mercurial temper and abusive treatment of subordinates had brought criticism in the past, the real downturn in his political fortunes began last summer, when The Chronicle reported that a state grant for a San Francisco nonprofit group apparently had been diverted to his 2002 campaign account. Shelley had helped secure the grant while serving in the Assembly.

By September, eight federal, state and local agencies were looking into questionable campaign contributions linked to Julie Lee, the San Francisco community activist and Shelley fund-raiser who co-founded the San Francisco Neighbors Resource Center. With Shelley's help, the nonprofit organization received a $500,000 state grant for construction of a community center. The center was never built, and some of the money appeared to have been funneled to Shelley's campaign account.

Shelley said he did not know the contributions were tainted and returned the money to the state's general fund.

More details later emerged about questionable donations and fund-raising practices. And questions also surfaced about his oversight of the Help America Vote Act program in California when it was learned that more than $500,000 -- and possibly as much a $1.5 million -- allegedly had been misspent, much of it paid to some of his close associates with Democratic Party ties.

Some of the funds were used to pay for speechwriters with little connection to the program's goal of improving voting systems and increasing voter participation. And paid contractors in the program spent at least part of their time attending Democratic rallies and fund-raisers on Shelley's behalf.

The State Personnel Board concluded last month that Shelley fostered an "abusive working environment," and the head of the agency said Shelley's office had changed the failing civil-service examination score of Julie Lee's son -- at the center of the investigation into alleged diversion of taxpayer money into his campaign -- to get him a promotion.

Shelley's departure from office came long before all the evidence was in. The legislative committee investigating the use of voter funds had demanded his testimony, which Shelley was said by close associates to have been dreading. He would have had to answer under oath the precise extent of his involvement in the decisions that were made.

In the end, he was overtaken by the ensuing political storm and his legal bills, which stood at more than $256,000 at the end of the year. Shelley took out a $500,000 home loan to pay for them and received virtually no donations to a defense fund he had set up to help defray costs.

Shelley reportedly had been seeking a deal under which he would resign in exchange for not having to testify in front of the legislative committee. While Republican legislative leaders ultimately did not agree to such a deal, the agreement of Democratic leaders -- who do not need Republican support to control the committee's actions -- was enough. Republicans continue to press for Shelley's testimony, though Democrats won't insist on it. However, both parties say they will continue looking into the handling of the federal voting act money regardless of whether Shelley testifies.

Shelley also hoped to have a new job before he left office, but indications Friday were that he still had no firm offers.

In recent weeks, he has been seeking the counsel of close political associates and advisers, as well as his lawyers. John Burton, the former Democratic state Senate president, assumed particular prominence in recent days; Burton said he urged Shelley to remain in the position, but Shelley expressed a desire to be done with the matter. Other sources have said Shelley's lawyers urged him to resign.

Shelley got his start in politics working as an aide to the late Rep. Phil Burton, and he was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1990. After two terms as supervisor, he was elected to the Assembly in 1996, where he became the majority leader and gained a reputation as an effective liberal legislator who pushed through tough consumer and environmental laws.

Even his opponents agreed that the newly elected secretary of state showed his political savvy -- and his nose for the future -- by playing the recall campaign straight down the middle.

"If secretary of state is the highest rung on the political ladder to which Kevin Shelley aspires, then he probably plays a pretty hard, partisan line,'' Dan Schnur, a veteran GOP consultant, said at the time. "But if he's got aspirations of holding other statewide office, then it's important for him to be as balanced as possible.''

But cracks already were beginning to appear in Shelley's glittering facade. A reputation as a mercurial, intimidating and verbally abusive boss followed him from San Francisco to Sacramento.

Shelley has variously blamed his personnel problems on his intensity, his background in San Francisco politics, his hot temper and a painful neck injury he suffered in a Russian River diving accident years ago.

"I've always been a hothead and had a temper, and I'm trying better to control it,'' Shelley said in a 1998 Chronicle interview.

While few political observers believed Shelley could have been removed from office without either a criminal indictment or hard evidence linking him directly to the misuse of state or federal funds, his resignation showed that even Shelley finally realized his political career was ended, regardless of the outcome of the investigations.

I don't know BernalGirl, I don't think they have one yet, but if they do we were kept out of it...weren't we?

MC