Julie Lee headed to prisonBy Steven T. Jones
Julie Lee, the one-time San Francisco housing commissioner and political power broker, was sentenced to a year in federal prison today on fraud and corruption charges. U. S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton ordered her to begin serving her sentence Nov. 4 and she faces even more prison time on state charges. The case, which involved laundering public funds into political contributions, also helped force the resignation of former SF-based legislator and then-Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, who received some of those contributions.
The fact that Lee is actually headed to the slammer should serve as a warning to other ambitious politicians and their benefactors, particularly in a city where the wealthy and powerful are always seeking creative ways to skirt strict campaign finance limits.
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Comments (5)
Use drugs, go to jail for decades, subvert democracy and you get one year, sabotage the economy, and the taxpayers will cover your losses.
-marc
Posted by marc salomon | September 24, 2008 07:16 AM
Screw your campaign manager's wife and...you might get to be Governor.
We're in the wrong business, Marc...:)
Posted by joewmorse![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/nav-commenters.gif)
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September 24, 2008 08:43 AM
And why is Kevin Shelley not in jail instead of or alongside Ms. Lee? This stinks.
Posted by sfmike | September 24, 2008 11:55 AM
Hey Marc, wasn't Lee one of Newsom's fundraisers?
Posted by joewmorse![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/nav-commenters.gif)
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September 24, 2008 04:35 PM
And the Steve Westly that Julie Lee laundered public funds for is now heading Westly Group which put an undisclosed amount of money into a company called China Energy Recovery. Mr. Westly said "China is the future". (Read SF Chronicle,The Bottom Line on C4.)
Chinese Julie Lee helped greedy American businessman/politician for the sake of China? And Westly is rumored to be up for a job in the Obama administration. I hope this is not the change the US is getting.
Posted by S. Deng | November 14, 2008 10:54 AM