California Secretary Of State

Outgoing Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has extended his departure date, which was originally set for today, until the the end of the week, citing "purposes of administrative convenience." Shelley announced Feb. 4 that he was resigning at month's end. Federal and state officials are probing how his office spent federal funds intended to increase voting turnout, as well as whether his campaign received improper contributions. To replace Shelley, Gov.

Beleaguered Secretary of State Kevin Shelley does not plan to resign from office and is expected to testify before a legislative panel next week on charges he mishandled federal voter funds, a spokesman said Wednesday as the Legislature drew up rules for a lengthy investigation. "The secretary does not intend to resign," his campaign spokesman, Sam Singer, said. "He says there is much to be done in his office and he plans to carry out his duties."

A week after election day, the race for state controller is undecided, with 34,038 votes separating Democrat Steve Westly from Republican Tom McClintock. With thousands of provisional and absentee ballots to be counted, Westly holds a tissue-thin lead over McClintock, 3,010,419 votes to 2,976,381. Some races for the Legislature are also undecided, including the contest for a Senate seat in the San Joaquin and Salinas valleys between Republican Jeff Denham and Democrat Rusty Areias.

BILL JONES Jones is seeking reelection to a second term. In his first term, he concentrated on voter registration, cleansing the rolls of ineligible voters and launching online reform aimed at getting more information to the public faster. He supports California's new blanket primary law against a legal challenge by the Republican and Democratic parties.

Secretary of State Bill Jones predicted Wednesday that 62% of California's registered voters will cast ballots Nov. 3. That would be an increase of 1.5% over the last gubernatorial election, in 1994, and mark the highest turnout in a gubernatorial election year since 1982. That year, 69.7% of the state's registered voters went to the polls. Jones said the absence of an incumbent in the governor's race and a hotly contested campaign for a U.S.

Choosing a Republican ally whose politics mirror his own, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday nominated former state Sen. Bruce McPherson as California's chief elections officer. If his selection as secretary of state is not blocked in the Legislature, McPherson -- who edited his family's Santa Cruz newspaper for years before entering politics -- will replace Democrat Kevin Shelley, who was accused of bringing partisanship and ineptitude to the office.

The political jockeying over which party will benefit from Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's resignation intensified Sunday as Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez discouraged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from appointing any politician to serve out Shelley's term.

California lawmakers confirmed a new secretary of state Wednesday but delayed voting on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's nominee for the teachers retirement board. Bruce McPherson, a former Republican state senator from Santa Cruz, will fill out the term of Kevin Shelley, a Democrat who resigned amid questions about his fundraising and the distribution of money intended to improve elections. McPherson was unanimously approved by the Senate earlier this month and by the Assembly on Wednesday.

Pledging to work for campaign finance reform, Republican Assemblyman Bill Jones of Fresno announced Tuesday that he will seek the GOP nomination for secretary of state. Jones, a former Assembly minority leader, said if elected he will seek to establish realistic contribution limits, require contributions by check only, ban money transfers between officeholders and candidates, and require fuller public disclosure of expenditures.

THE OFFICE The Secretary of state is the state's chief elections officer, keeper of campaign and corporate records and a member of the state World Trade Commission. MAJOR PARTY CANDIDATES BILL JONES, Republican * Born: Dec.