Attempt to sue Kevin Shelley comes to end--California [View All]

[AlCzervik]

hmm, almost like there was never really a there--there.

McPherson drops his effort to recover funds cited in audit.

By Jim Sanders - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Secretary of State Bruce McPherson has dropped efforts to sue his predecessor, Kevin Shelley, for $3 million in federal funds that auditors claim were misspent or mismanaged.

McPherson, who lost to Democrat Debra Bowen in the Nov. 7 election, has decided not to hire private attorneys to sue on behalf of his agency in the final six weeks of his term.

"At this point, it's up to (Bowen) to recover the money," said Nghia Nguyen Demovic, a spokeswoman for McPherson, a Santa Cruz Republican and former state legislator.

Bowen has insisted that McPherson's push for a civil suit against Shelley, a Democrat, was a pre-election political stunt.

"She's focused on moving the office forward, and implementing a number of policies and programs she laid out during the campaign, not carrying out the grandstanding proposal of her predecessor," said Evan Goldberg, Bowen's spokesman.

Sam Singer, Shelley's spokesman, said he is pleased but not surprised that no lawsuit will be filed.

"We never believed it had any merit," Singer said.

Shelley never has been charged with criminal wrongdoing, but his actions remain under scrutiny as part of a criminal case against Julie Lee, who is suspected of illegally using portions of a state grant to funnel campaign contributions to Shelley in 2001 and 2002.

more at link
http://www.sacbee.com/111/v-print/story/84406.html