- Kevin Shelley
Infobox Officeholder
name = Kevin Shelley
caption =
order = 28thCalifornia Secretary of State
term_start =January 6 ,2003
term_end =March 4 ,2005
deputy =
predecessor =Bill Jones
successor =Cathy Mitchell
birth_date = Birth date and age|1955|11|16|mf=y
birth_place = San Francisco,California
death_date =
death_place =
constituency =
party = Democrat
spouse =
profession =
religion =
footnotes =Kevin Francis Shelley (born
November 16 ,1955 inSan Francisco, California ) is aCalifornia politician , who was the 28thCalifornia Secretary of State fromJanuary 6 ,2003 , until hisresignation onMarch 4 ,2005 .Early Life
Shelley was raised in San Francisco, the only son in a family of five. His father, Jack Shelley, was a State Senator, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and
Mayor ofSan Francisco .Shelley graduated from St. Ignatius High School in
1973 . He received his B.A. inpolitical science from theUniversity of California, Davis . He obtained hisJ.D. from University of California,Hastings College of the Law .He joined the staff of Congressman
Phillip Burton and continued in his position whenSala Burton assumed her husband's seat after his death.Political Career
In
1990 , Shelley was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In1996 , he won a seat in theCalifornia State Assembly . Term limits prevented Shelley from seeking a fourth term as an Assemblyman in2002 , so he sought election as California's Secretary of State, the state's chief elections official.Within weeks of taking office as Secretary of State, petitions were filed to recall
Governor Gray Davis , a fellow Democrat. Six months after taking office, Shelley had to certify that there were enough signatures on these petitions to mandate the 2003 gubernatorial recall election, the first such election in state history. As Secretary of State, Shelley was responsible for overseeing that statewide special election.Shelley was generally credited with good work on his handling of the 2003 recall election and on his handling of the controversy over the verifiability of electronic voting machines. He was the first state election official to decertify
DRE voting machine systems already in use, to require allDRE voting machine systems to contain an accessible paper copy of a person's vote, and to adopt standards for such systems. He also initiated an investigation into electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold Election Systems (nowPremier Election Solutions ).But after that, he became embroiled in a number of scandals. A number of former staffers and other associates came forward and accused Shelley of abusive behavior toward his underlings, including sexually explicit gestures and remarks. Other accusations surfaced charging that Shelley received allegedly laundered campaign funds during his race for Secretary of State. Shelley maintained that he did not know that the funds were illicitly transferred to his campaign treasury. On
October 29 ,2004 , Shelley replaced three of his top aides, including his trusted assistant state secretary of communications, with veteran civil servants, in an effort to bring more accountability to his office.Shelley announced his resignation on
February 4 ,2005 , to be effectiveMarch 1 [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-020405shelley_wr,0,2938818.story?coll=la-home-headlines] [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/05/MNGC2B6LOC1.DTL] although he did not leave office untilMarch 4 [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/03/04/state/n155546S40.DTL] [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/11054561.htm] . Chief Deputy Secretary of StateCathy Mitchell briefly served as Secretary of State untilBruce McPherson , a Republican appointee of GovernorArnold Schwarzenegger . Upon taking office, McPherson promptly reversed Shelley's actions. On March 10th. 2006, McPherson, a Republican, certified the DRE voting machines without verifiable, auditable paper trails. [ [http://www.cri-dove.org/cri_voting.htm cri_main ] ] {http://www.cri-dove.org/cri_voting.htm}California State Bar records indicate that Shelley resumed practicing law in April2005 . [http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member_detail.aspx?x=133872]Trivia
*Shelley once adjourned a session of the assembly in memoriam to "The West Wing" Character
Mrs. Landingham . [http://westwing.bewarne.com/memorial.html]References
External links
* [http://www.ss.ca.gov/executive/sec_shelley_bio.htm Biography from the State of California] dead link|date=January 2008|url=http://www.ss.ca.gov/executive/sec_shelley_bio.htm
* [http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/touchscreen.htm Key Documents on Electronic Voting] dead link|date=January 2008|url=http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/touchscreen.htm
* [http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html Shelley bans e-voting machines]sequence
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