Shelley 'Angry' About Money Inquiry
SAN FRANCISCO — Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, California's custodian of election integrity, said Friday that he was blindsided by $200,000 in questionable campaign contributions allegedly arranged by a major fundraiser and ally.
"I am feeling on one hand besieged and angry, frustrated, but I am always confident the truth will out," he said. "It is totally ironic. I've had people call me a tough guy, but not unethical."
Over the last two weeks, the elections chief was hit by a string of disclosures about the alleged fundraising activities of Julie Lee, a San Francisco real estate agent and community activist who maintained close political ties to Shelley for the last seven years.
Shelley, 49, a former San Francisco supervisor and state Assembly majority leader, was elected secretary of state in 2002.
In a telephone interview, Shelley tried to distance himself from Lee's fundraising and revealed that the lawyers who handle his campaign finance have hired investigators to look into each of his approximately 2,000 campaign contributions, including 84 of $10,000 or more.
"Clearly, a group of supporters did something that was very wrong and very inappropriate. I had no knowledge of any of their actions and don't condone it," he said, adding that he wants to find out if there are any more questionable contributions.
The scandal is rooted in the local political fabric of San Francisco, but involves state money and has proven a costly political embarrassment to Shelley, the son of a former mayor and a rising star in the state Democratic Party.
His problems come after he successfully ran last fall's historic gubernatorial recall election and moved to strengthen the security of electronic voting machines that counties want to use in the upcoming presidential election.
Investigations by the FBI, state attorney general's office and others arose after the San Francisco Chronicle reported Aug. 8 that more than $100,000 in state grant money for construction of Lee's nonprofit neighborhood center was channeled into Shelley's statewide campaign. Later, questions were raised about $80,000 in contributions by two people who had real estate dealings with Lee.
Shelley called for state investigations into his own donations, returned $125,000 to the state general fund and put $80,000 in escrow pending an investigation of the real estate transactions.
