Sep 18, 2006 Filed in:
OC Register
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The Orange County
Board of Supervisors has seemed reluctant to
tackle a potentially serious problem in one of the
most important offices in the county: the
Registrar of Voters. If the registrar is not
operating efficiently or fairly, the public could
start to question the validity of the entire
election process. It would be troubling to head
down that road ... Rather than deal with the
problem directly, the Board of Supervisors hired
... the Houston-based Elections Center, to review
the specific allegations regarding the Orange
County registrar's behavior in the Capo recall
fracas."
Tags: BOS Investigation, OC ROV, Elections Center
Sep 18, 2006 Filed in:
OC Register
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The Elections Center
is a trade group that represents registrars and
election workers. Its Web site is filled with
information about how hard they work, etc., so the
skeptic in us thought it unlikely that the center
would be too harsh with one of its own. We weren't
surprised, then, by the tone or conclusions of the
investigation. It confirmed problems that have
been printed in the newspapers, but excused Mr.
Kelley's behavior: Yes, he made mistakes, but he
didn't mean to."
Tags: Elections Center, Conflicts, Neil Kelley
Sep 18, 2006 Filed in:
OC Register
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "David Smollar, the
former district spokesman who blew the whistle on
the wrongdoing, told the Register that he was told
by an elections official and by a colleague in his
district that Mr. Kelley was bending the rules to
allow them to see the petitions. Yet Mr. Smollar
said that the Elections Center never tried to
contact him, despite claims by the center that it
did leave messages."
Tags: Whistleblowers, David Smollar, Neil Kelley, Confidential Records, Elections Center, OC ROV
