Heroic Act
I'll never forget it. I gasped and held my breath. . . . I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
I heard the man sitting behind me whisper, "Just an announcement and he's got two bodyguards!"
I looked up to the balcony of the auditorium. Was he right? I saw two men standing next to our California Secretary of State, Kevin Shelley, one dressed as a guard, but the other was wearing plain clothes.
More below the fold. . . .
I had accompanied a few other e-voting activists to the Voting Security Panel ("VSP") hearing in Sacramento. As the result of an audit called for by SoS Shelley, the VSP had reviewed 17 counties using Diebold electronic voting equipment. The VSP convened that day to review the results of the audit.
And what were the results? Out of 17 counties, ZERO had the state certified software. A representative of Diebold at one point came to the stand to testify that, in the County of Los Angeles, the software had merely been updated to fix a spelling error in the word "Los Angeles." Jim March (currently of Blackboxvoting.org fame) then took the stand and incredulously said, something to the effect of, that's interesting, but why then is it ONE MEGABYTE larger? Later he got a big chuckle when he advised that Diebold must be voted off the island!
It was unprecedented for the Secretary of State to come to the VSP panel hearing, but there he was up in the balcony looking visibly nervous and flushed. He had arrived toward the end of the hearing, walked down the stairs and took the microphone at the desk facing the panelists. He then gave such an impassioned speech that the room was stunned into reverent silence. Shelley said, while he, at that time, was not advising the de-certification of Diebold as a vendor for the computer voting machines in Califiornia, that he also would NOT stand in the way of the VSP to do so--nothing less than democracy itself was as stake. . . .
I thought, did he just do that? He just threw down the gauntlet at Diebold--he's going to get whacked. Shelley just committed political suicide in crossing the republican beholden Diebold--his days are numbered. The thugish looking guy behind me, I was later told, used to be on the VSP but then got a job with ES&S, a competing company to Diebold. On the other hand, how much of a true competitor can you be when both of these companies are run by brothers.
Though the VSP did not de-certify Diebold on the day of that hearing, ultimately, Shelley did de-certify Diebold and enacted legislation that would eventually lead to mandatory paper trails on all evoting equipment in California. Shelley was the first to take this unprecedented stance that led the charge for other states to follow suit.
The Scandal
Soon my dark prophecy came true. The San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee started a series of FRONT PAGE HEADLINE stories on the Shelley scandal! If people didn't bother to read them, they may have had the impression of something equivalent to WaterGate had just broken. Shelley was being investigated by no less than five federal and state agencies for misconduct crimes equivalent to Tom DeLay blowing his nose:
- Shelley was accused of using his post for political gain and to promote democrats! Huh? Katherine Harris (SoS of Florida) and Kenneth Blackwell (SoS of Ohio) were both CHAIRS of the Bush/Cheney campaign while acting as Secretaries of State.
- He accepted a campaign contribution check in his office instead of off the State premises (a misdemeanor).
- He was a hot head and had rebuked employees very rudely
- He hired contractors who might have attended a political event while possibly on the State's time clock
- He received a campaign contribution from an organization whose leadership received a State loan to build a building, but as of yet the building was not built. (What does this have to do with Shelley?)
Paul Krugman's Opinion
About a week after the "scandal" broke, I happened to see Paul Krugman speak at a local bookstore. He mentioned an odd pattern that he has noticed: Courageous Bush whistle blowers start out with a roar, but then are silent. Also, he expressed his fears that this administration might not be above dirty tricks to stay in power.
During the Q&A session, I asked Krugman whether he was concerned that our courageous Secretary of State, Kevin Shelley, might be the victim of a smear campaign, because he led California's maverick decision to decertify Diebold's questionable electronic voting machinery and mandated paper trails for all future equipment?
Krugman concurred that he would not be surprised if something nefarious was going on, and then recited a couple of examples where Karl Rove has orchestrated smear campaigns. The lesson learned is that the truth is never clear until after the election.
The Verdict's In
Now, surprise, surprise, post-election, many of these charges have fallen by the way side. Mr. Krugman, I believe the verdict is now in:
Pre-Election: At least 37 articles on Kevin Shelley appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle over the course of three months (August through to the November 2 election). Note that many these 37 articles were front page headline news.
Post-Election: Since November 2nd, the San Francisco Chronicle has run only 2 major articles on this "hot story:" :  :
1. One asking for Kevin Shelley to step down because we shouldn't have partisan Secretaries of State. (Did you hear that Blackwell and Harris!)
2. The other appeared yesterday as another front page HEADLINE. See link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/12/16/state1238EST0051.DTL
Unbelievably, the primary charge is blaming Shelley for unlawfully holding up the distribution of the Help American Vote Act (HAVA) funds. This is ludicrous!
When all these trumped up charges first came up against Shelley, I made a few phone calls and discovered that Shelley was frustrated by the fact that federal and state agencies were holding hostage (in escrow) the release of Calfiornia's rightful share of the remainng balance of HAVA funds pending the outcome of the investigation of Shelley.
I immediately shot off several letters to the editor asking for the logic behind punishing Californians by denying us OUR rightful share of HAVA funds based on the outcome of an investigation of our Secretary of State. Needless to say, the San Francisco Chronicle did not publish any of my letters.
The truth is Shelley had earmarked the balance of the HAVA funds for public education, poll watchers, voter education. . . . Why did the San Francisco Chronicle write an article yesterday charging that it was Shelley's decision to hold up the funds? What a lie! What is more accurate is that the funds were pulled away from Shelley's discretion when it became clear that he had no intention of funneling that money into republican beholden evoting vendors.
Shelley Stood Up for Us, BUT
Who Stands Up for Shelley?
So now, what about Shelley? Even if Shelley does indeed have Lilliputian skeletons in his closet, and yet he still was brave enough to cross Diebold (and others) knowing full well that his career would be scrutinized with a Ken Star-style zealotry to find fault, then he is a true hero; he sacrificed his career for nothing less than preserving democracy.
Why do our democrats not stand up for SoS Kevin Shelley? Are they afraid they'll be scrutinized with the same fervor Shelley was if they dare to take a stand. That is what I suspect. Where is our Attorney General Lockyer in assisting Shelley? (Oh, yeah, he's trying to prosecute Shelley on this bunk.) Where is the DNC?
Please write your comments if you believe I got any of my facts wrong.
If you agree that Shelley is our democracy's hero and should be supported, please tell me how you think we can do that.
[UPDATE: Today's San Francisco Chronicle headline reads:
"GOVERNOR SETS SIGHTS ON VOTING ACT FUNDS
SCHWARZENEGGER CONSIDERS TAKING POWER FROM SHELLEY"]
To contact Gov. Schwarzenegger:
http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_contacts.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0500002824.1103414004@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccadddgeheifhcfngcfkmdffidfog.0
To Write a LTE to the SF Chronicle: letters@sfchronicle.com
To Wrtie a LTE to the LA Times: letters@latimes.com
To Write a LTE to the Sacramento Bee: opinion@sacbee.com
To find a California Legislator: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
Please share your letters--if you write any