Sec. of State Shelley to testify on his own behalf

Shelley made the commitment in a letter and telephone call to Parra, aides said.

"He looks forward to participating," said his spokeswoman Caren Daniels-Meade.

Parra described a "cordial conversation" with Shelley, saying he agreed to testify with no conditions or limits on what questions he would take or answers he would provide.

Parra said she wants Shelley to testify under oath, and Shelley agreed later Thursday.

"If that's what the committee wants, yes," said Daniels-Meade.

The committee, which is investigating Shelley's use of federal Help America Vote Act funds, met 7 1/2 hours Monday to consider a December state audit that charged his office with mishandling millions of dollars.

State Auditor Elaine Howle told the committee that Shelley's office poorly managed portions of $46 million in election funds with "disregard for proper controls and poor oversight."

The auditor alleged numerous instances of money steered to consultants who attended partisan political events and to contractors without competitive bidding. Many performed services that had little relationship to the election funds' purpose, the audit said.

The audit also revealed late payments to counties to upgrade their voting systems, costing them thousands of dollars in lost interest income.

California is expected to receive approximately $350 million of the nearly $4 billion in funds earmarked by Congress in 2002 to modernize U.S. voting systems in the wake of the 2000 presidential election debacle in Florida. The money is intended to replace paper and lever voting with electronic voting systems and improve voter turnout with education and outreach.

Shelley's special counsel, Tony Miller, told committee members under oath Monday that the problems with handling the money were "old news."

Miller said the secretary of state's office had hired a Florida management consultant, MGT of America, to tighten internal controls and has established new procedures to monitor how it spends the money. Miller said Shelley aims to make California a model for the nation in spending the federal funds.

Parra said Miller's testimony led to new questions that committee members want to ask Shelley.

Shelley also faces a federal and state investigation over $125,000 contributed to his 2002 campaign from recipients of $168,000 in state funds he steered as a state assemblyman toward a San Francisco neighborhood center that was never built.

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On the Net:

Secretary of State: http://www.ss.ca.gov

Background information at Joint Legislative Audit Committee: http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/newcomframeset.asp?committee208