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So whats up with our Secretary of State Kevin Shelley? Shelley, who was recently most well-known for making up the new alphabetical order for listing all those candidates for governor on the ballot, and for banning electronic voting machines that dont provide adequate backup information, is now in what looks like a world of hurt. Heres a handy-dandy guide to his woes of last week.
What were calling SunsetGate involves a $100,000 donation arranged by Julie Lee, a Shelley ally and the current president of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission. (Many of the details about this transaction are summarized from the Chron articles and from the links listed at SF Usual Suspects mad props). So a tax-exempt nonprofit called the San Francisco Neighbors Resource Center paid $108,000 to two individuals and two companies for construction, which then turned around and donated $100,000 of that money to Kevin Shelleys 2002 campaign for secretary of state. The $108,000 was taken from a $500,000 state grant (funded by you, the taxpayers) awarded to the Neighbors Resource Center, arranged in 2000 by Kevin Shelley! Conveeeeeenient!
Now, this appears to be illegal, for a number of reasons. One, youre not allowed to launder donations through third parties. Two, youre not allowed to use taxpayer funds for political campaigns. And three, tax-exempt nonprofits arent allowed to donate to political campaigns. Even more troublingly, the center does not actually appear to actually begun construction yet or offered any services to the community all its done is, well, give money to people who then donate money to Shelley. (Well, and around Christmas, they sold trees on the vacant lot where the center is set to be built.)
Ed. Note: SFist proudly brings you our first feature which explores the tangled web of transactions between Julie Lee and Kevin Shelley.
