Kevin Shelley

The federal government on Friday ordered California to give back $536,000, saying that funds allocated to improve elections were misused by former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley. A federal audit found that Shelley either misspent or didn't properly account for more than $3 million of the $8 million reviewed. The federal government also ordered $2.5 million to be returned to state election coffers. Much of the $536,000 that federal elections officials ordered returned to the U.S.

When Secretary of State Bruce McPherson recently called on the state to sue his predecessor, he said disgraced Democrat Kevin Shelley's misdeeds would cost California taxpayers nearly $3 million in misspent federal election dollars. But in appeals from his office to a federal elections commission nearly a year ago, McPherson's staff argued that a third of that amount was properly spent. McPherson said his office at that time was trying to lower the amount the state would be forced to repay.

For the first time since the Capitol's "Shrimpgate" scandal more than a decade ago, California legislators open their session today knowing that the FBI is hovering not far away. By issuing subpoenas, conducting searches and convening grand juries in Oakland and Sacramento, the feds have made their presence unmistakable as they investigate dealings by the new state Senate leader, Don Perata, and Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, a former legislator. Both men are Democrats.

The head of a committee investigating California's handling of federal election funds threatened Monday to seek a subpoena for Secretary of State Kevin Shelley if he doesn't agree to testify. Shelley did not appear as the Joint Legislative Audit Committee opened its first hearing into a state audit that found last month that his office mismanaged $46 million allocated under the federal Help America Vote Act.

The head of a legislative committee investigating California's handling of federal election funds gave Secretary of State Kevin Shelley a two-day extension Tuesday to decide whether he will testify voluntarily. Assemblywoman Nicole Parra (D-Hanford) told Shelley she would seek a subpoena if he does not agree by 10 a.m. Thursday to testify before the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, which she leads.

With the threat of a subpoena looming, California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley agreed Thursday to testify voluntarily before a legislative committee examining what auditors concluded was Shelley's mismanagement of $46 million in federal election funds. Assemblywoman Nicole Parra (D-Hanford) was poised to seek a subpoena to compel the elections chief to testify before the Joint Legislative Audits Committee, which she heads. But five minutes before Parra's 10 a.m.

Pressure mounted for Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to resign as auditors announced Tuesday that they had requested a criminal investigation into his hiring practices and handling of employees' complaints. The financing of his 2002 campaign is already being investigated by state authorities and a federal grand jury, and legislators are examining his office's alleged mismanagement of $46 million in federal voting funds.

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."

Heaping yet another problem onto beleaguered California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, a federal watchdog agency Thursday ordered a special audit of the state's handling of millions of dollars in voting reform funds. The Election Assistance Commission agreed unanimously to examine whether Shelley's office improperly spent Help America Vote Act money, which Congress authorized to help avoid problems like those in Florida during the 2000 presidential election.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger raised more than $23 million in political donations in 2004, using the money for initiative campaigns, travel -- and fundraising, according to reports filed with the state Monday. He reported spending more than $300,000 raised earlier to help pay for lawyers to defend him against libel suits stemming from allegations of groping made against him in the final days of the 2003 recall campaign.