SHELLEY TRIES TO DEFEND SELF LETTER DENIES VOTER-FUND MISMANAGEMENT AND BLAMES GOVERNOR, OTHERS.

Byline: David M. Drucker Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - Accused of mismanaging a federal voting-rights program, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley disputed the allegations on Monday and blamed some problems on the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials says Shelley, a San Francisco Democrat, has failed miserably in administering California's Help America Vote Act program. HAVA was passed by Congress in 2002 in the hope of preventing a repeat of Florida's 2000 presidential election debacle.

In a letter to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Shelley disputed the charges, though he made no mention of the group or its specific allegations.

The letter details how his office has satisfied each requirement, while admitting that some mandates have been partially or entirely delayed - including directives to improve voter access for the disabled and overseas military personnel.

But Shelley blamed those problems on decisions by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to withhold millions of dollars in HAVA funds from his office.

``Unfortunately, the state Department of Finance has denied us spending authority necessary to conduct a multifaceted voter education and poll worker training program with respect to the November election,'' Shelley wrote in an Oct. 22 letter to USEAC Chairman DeForest B. Soaries Jr.

Shelley has come under fire recently because individuals with whom he contracted to conduct nonpartisan voter-education and training activities, as mandated by HAVA, instead attended overtly partisan Democratic Party events. They also worked to bolster Democratic candidates and Democratic voter-registration numbers, and burnish Shelley's political standing.

Even though the Secretary of State's Office has acknowledged this publicly, Shelley's letter mentions six instances in which the administration, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee or both blocked the secretary of state's request to spend HAVA money without giving a reason.

Despite previous statements by Shelley spokesman John Pachtner that HAVA money was indeed misused and that corrective action was being taken, another spokesman for the secretary of state, Tony Miller, said Monday that such misuse of funds did not occur. And even if it did, he said, there would be no need to include such facts in Shelley's letter.

``You have to look at the worthiness of those programs and whether or not they should have been funded,'' Miller said. ``So I don't think it's misleading to advise the USEAC of what we did and what we'd like to do.''

Soaries declined to comment on the letter, but said in an interview last week that he is seriously concerned with Shelley's management of California's HAVA program and is monitoring the situation.

The Schwarzenegger administration dismissed Shelley's criticism, saying all requests for funding necessary to conduct a fair and secure election were granted.

``That money went out the door, and local elections officials have been using it to conduct voter education, train poll workers and make sure voting machines are accurate and reliable,'' said Schwarzenegger's chief budget spokesman, H.D. Palmer.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack, who is also president of the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials, continued to maintain that Shelley bungled the HAVA program, despite his claims.

``(The letter) is a cover-up that doesn't hold water when it comes to any microscopic evaluation of the facts.''

David M. Drucker, [phone]

david.drucker(at)dailybulletin.com