"The core of our American democracy is the right to vote. . . . [W]e're encountering a pivotal moment in our democracy. . . ." --Kevin Shelley, CA Sec. of State
D-day is approaching for our heroic leader of the mandatory paper trails and de-certifier of Diebold, and if we Democrats were to get a grade on our support of this hero, it would be a D.
I know, I know, you're afraid that he might not be clean, and we're the clean party, it's true. But, we Democrats are quickly going the way of that dumb bird that used to start with a D, before it went extinct, and so we've got to get smart and strategic--right quick.
[Scroll to the end for Urgent Petition]
Many of us can see the blatant omissions and distortions in the way the mainstream media informs the public on the big issues, such as the Iraq War and election integrity, but what about local issues where there is very little first hand information available?
I first became loyal to California's Secretary of State Kevin Shelley when I attended a hearing back in December of 2003. I visibly witnessed how much courage it took to stand up to Diebold. And not only did Shelley decertify Diebold, he then led the charge for California to be the first state to mandate paper trails.
After witnessing how much havoc a lesser Secretary of State can wage upon election integrity (e.g., Harris and Blackwell), without a doubt we Californians can thank our Shelley for an election clean enough to re-elect our bold Barbara Boxer. Considering the post-election maelstroms elsewhere and, particularly, if you believe in exit polls, this is no small feat.
Yes, there are those sleazy charges and he probably is a hot head, but after following this matter from the beginning (a beginning that suspiciously started right after Shelley crossed the Diebold), and after my attending the California Audit Hearing in Sacramento on January 10, 2005, I see lots of smoke but NO fire. And the smoke is beginning to smell like nothing more than the "Ken Star treatment." And worse, if we don't support Shelley, he may soon cave to the increasing pressure for him to resign.
For those who want to support Shelley, it is important that everyone who can attend the next Sacramento audit hearing do so, as well as sign the Urgent Petition at the end of this Diary. Here are the meeting specifics:
POSTPONED from Thurs., Feb. 3, 2005 and
NOW SET FOR: Tues., Feb. 22, 2005
California State Capitol Building
1500-11th Street, Room 4202
Sacramento, CA
The hearing time is a little vague. It will be held "at the adjournment of the senate and assembly floor sessions," which last time was about 2:15 p.m. (BTW, no signs are permitted.) Upon arriving, please ask for the "sign-in sheet" if you want to get on the list to make a public comment upon the conclusion of the hearing.
For background information to support your commentary, you need not trust my word for analysis, please read the reports filed thus far: http://www.bsa.ca.gov/bsa/reports/q_z.html
So what if. . . .? If . . . Shelley is forced to resign, Gov. Schwarzenegger will select a replacement. Sounds harmless enough, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Yeah, I don't like it either. Did anyone read,"Schwarzenegger Met with Enron's Key Lay Before the California Recall"? Here's an interesting quote from it:
"...While California Governor Gray Davis and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante were taking direct action to re-regulate Califonia’s energy and get back the $9 billion that was vacuumed out of California by Enron and other energy companies, Schwarzenegger was being groomed to overthrow Davis in the recall. Thus canceling plans to re-regulate and recoup the $9 billion...."
For more see: http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/13.html
Then, again, perhaps the Governor will appoint a "non-partisan" Secretary of State, as that has been suggested by numerous republicans and democrats alike. (Call me cynical, but I trust self-professed "non-partisans" about as much as I trust self-professed "asexuals." While they no doubt do exist, they are a rare breed that are most difficult to identify from the outside.)
More Details on the Allegations: Clearly the unproved allegations against Shelley have been cherry picked from the larger context--the larger context of the tremendous good Shelley has done on behalf of voters. The California Auditor Elaine M. Howle, when asked if there was any prosecutable wrongdoing against Shelley, responded that it was more about the appearance of impropriety. For instance, about the well publicized charge that Shelley's people attended partisan events, did you know that the sum total of these events was a paltry six--over the course of an entire year? This figure of six was arrived at after auditing Shelley's entire staff and that some of the staff had also attended republican events?
Contrast this example of alleged wrongdoing by Shelley against the fact that we have a republican administration who have gone far beyond mere appearances of impropriety: Condoleeza Rice went on the campaign trail for Bush while acting as Secretary of Defense, $88M was spent on media propaganda, billions of dollars worth of no-bid contracts were given to Halliburton, and more locally, we have a self-confessed Gropinator. And why is there not the same level of government investigation into those Secretaries of States who have conducted their offices with such shameful maneuverings that the outcome of the entire 2004 Presidential election has been called into question for the first time since 1887?
One of the prominent charges against Shelley is that he didn't yet spend $35M slated by HAVA for e-voting equipment; and thereby, he deprived California voters of the benefit of HAVA. Doesn't that charge really get to the heart of Shelley's biggest crime! Shelley didn't funnel our HAVA money into republican beholden e-voting vendors.
Doug Chapin of Electionline.org (a non-profit group that compares how various states are implementing the HAVA mandate) spoke at the Audit Hearing on January 10, 2005. He said that the EAC (the "Election Advisory Commission") was behind schedule in providing its mandated protocols to provide Secretaries of State with clear guidelines on how to navigate the complexities of the new HAVA rules. Without this clear direction, Mr. Chapin said there were states, such as Georgia, that he characterized as "jaywalkers" who went out immediately and spent millions of dollars worth on paperless e-voting equipment that is now not acceptable. On the other extreme of the spectrum, New York, as of January 10, 2005, had adopted a "wait and see" position and had spent absolutely nothing. Chapin said that California, in terms of spending its HAVA money, was somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. Instead of castigating Shelley for his restraint, shouldn't we be commending his discretion by not wasting OUR federal funds?
Another charge was that Shelley used $661,000 of the HAVA money to hire a law firm to extricate California from their contract with Diebold. No one questioned if the work was done for the stated purpose. They only questioned if the HAVA money should have been used this way, and then they quibbled about which forms and protocols should have been used when the law firm went slightly over-budget. Don't law firms commonly go over budget? Again, don't we appreciate the fact that Shelley hired a law firm to break the contract with Diebold? Isn't that the larger context in which this charge should be viewed?
Our California Secretary of State, Kevin Shelley, stood up for us, but who stands up for Kevin Shelley?
If you support Shelley, please copy the following petition, insert your name and info., then send it to the email list that follows.
[NOTE: The following petition was revised (improved) slightly from the petition posted on this Diary on 1-31-05. Also, please not that the Diary name has been changed from "SOS: Save Our Shelley."]
PLEASE DO NOT RESIGN YOUR POSITION AS SECRETARY OF STATE
Dear Secretary of State Shelley:
I, [WRITE IN YOUR NAME], reside at [WRITE IN YOUR ADDRESS] and live in the County of [WRITE IN YOUR COUNTY]. I hereby respectfully petition that you do not resign from your position as California’s Secretary for State for the following reasons:
We who petition in the form of these individual e-mails do not believe you have misused your office in a partisan way.
Also, as beneficiaries of your leadership, we thank you for proactively implementing the requirement of a voter-verified, paper audit trail(“VVPAT”) for e-voting equipment by 2006.
We commend your handling of the Diebold fraud. Your leadership led to the decertification of an entire line of Diebold e-voting equipment when you learned that not one county, in the 17 counties audited, had made use of certified software. This responsible action in the public interest, by itself, more than outweighs the negative allegations made by those who oppose you.
We have seen nothing in the audit report that demonstrates a misuse of HAVA funds. On the contrary, we see that you have acted responsibly, whereas the Secretaries of State in Ohio and Florida indulged in rampant Republican partisanship. Their well documented actions were so egregious that, for the first time since 1887, our Senator (Barbara Boxer), as well as numerous House representatives, contested the ratification of the Presidential election. Ironically, these less competent Secretaries of State likely will be promoted.
We thereby urge all Californians to recognize that the effort to oust you is nothing more than a ruse to let the Governor (the same Governor who seeks to redistrict California) select a new Secretary of State, a Republican Secretary of State.
As voters in California, we reject this transparent attempt to usurp control of our California Secretary of State’s powers. We respectfully request that you refuse to resign your position as Secretary of State.
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, you stood up for California voters, and now we stand up for you.
Below are the email addresses for those who opt to petition on behalf of Shelley. Please copy the following email addresses into the bcc option of your email progam and send.
kshelley@ss.ca.gov, governor@governor.ca.gov,
joconnell@cde.ca.gov, senator.speier@sen.ca.gov,
senator.mcclintock@sen.ca.gov, tmiller@ss.ca.gov, senator.Morrow@sen.ca.gov, senator.Poochigian@sen.ca.gov, senator.Cedillo@sen.ca.gov, senator.Morrow@sen.ca.gov, senator.Murray@sen.ca.gov, senator.Romero@sen.ca.gov, senator.Morrow@sen.ca.gov, senator.Cox@sen.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Klehs@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Nava@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Parra@assembly.ca.gov,
Assemblymember.Cogdill@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Goldberg@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Leslie@assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.aghazarian@assembly.ca.gov, letters@pressdemo.com, csmith@pressdemocrat.com, sswartz@pressdemocrat.com, glebaron@pressdemocrat.com,
ccoursey@pressdemocrat.com, opinion@sacbee.com, letters@sfchronicle.com, letters@latimes.com