Panel Warns Shelley to Testify or Face Subpoena

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.

A representative of Shelley’s office, Tony Miller, testified about a series of reforms to improve the state’s handling of $350 million that the state anticipates from the federal government. “Our job is to get it back on track,” Miller told the committee.

State Auditor Elaine Howle concluded last month that Shelley was slow to distribute federal money to counties for the purchase of new voting machines. The audit also found that he exercised lax control of contractors who attended partisan political events and wrote speeches for Shelley.

“We have concerns about the appearance” of partisan activity, Howle told the committee.

Miller said there “has never been any authorization for any employee or consultant to engage in political or partisan activity. There were some questionable activities.”

Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), a committee member, said he wanted to know Shelley’s involvement in decisions “that were clearly partisan in nature and intended to affect the outcome of the election process.”

It is rare for legislative hearings to focus so directly on a constitutional officer such as Shelley The Help America Vote Act was designed to improve voter outreach and voting technology to make elections fairer and more accurate. Congress passed the law to avoid problems like those in Florida during the 2000 presidential election.

According to the audit, dozens of contracts were awarded without competitive bids, many to individuals and companies with ties to Shelley.

Testifying under oath, Miller said that the office will ensure that contracts will be monitored more closely and will adhere to state contracting law.

He also said he believes that the state will be able to meet one of the main requirements of the federal act, creation of a statewide voter registration database, by modifying an existing system called Cal Voter. Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters Conny B. McCormack recently criticized Shelley for planning to spend at least $40 million on a new system.

Immediately after the audit was released, the new head of the audit committee, Assemblywoman Nicole Parra (D-Hanford) announced the hearings and said that “no stone would be left unturned.”

But the timing of the first hearing, on the day the governor released his budget, prompted Republicans and other critics to allege that Shelley’s fellow Democrats were trying to shield him from scrutiny and public exposure.

The hearing originally was scheduled for Tuesday, but Democratic leaders said that date conflicted with scheduled training for legislators.

Critics seized on the fact that the agenda called for testimony from Shelley or a representative, allowing Shelley to avoid direct testimony. “Given the fact that he has been hiding behind his staff for six months, I think it is time he spoke on his own behalf,” said Karen Hanretty, California Republican Party spokeswoman.

At the opening of the hearing, Parra said that she would call Shelley and if that if he didn’t agree before noon today to appear, she would seek a subpoena requiring him to do so.

Shelley spokeswoman Caren Daniels-Meade said the secretary of state sent Miller to testify because he was most knowledgeable about spending of the federal funds.

Separately, a federal grand jury in Sacramento is examining Shelley’s campaign finances. It is looking into circumstances surrounding more than $100,000 in donations he received from people and companies who earlier received money from a San Francisco community center awarded a state grant with help from Shelley when he served in the state Assembly.