RDAs = crony capitalism.
Sacramento -- Two witnesses told federal prosecutors that they provided signed blank checks to people who later gave them to Kevin Shelley's 2002 secretary of state campaign, in return for reimbursement from a taxpayer- funded San Francisco nonprofit organization, according to sources familiar with the case.
At the time of the donations, neither Steve Chen nor Joseph Chen, the two witnesses who testified before a federal grand jury under grants of immunity, knew who Shelley was, according to a lawyer for one witness and another source familiar with the statements given to the government.
The grand jury is investigating whether Julie Lee -- founder of the San Francisco Neighbors Resource Center -- steered $125,000 from a state grant into Shelley's campaign account. The grant, which Shelley helped secure while he was in the state Assembly, was supposed to pay for construction of a community center in the Sunset District, but it has not been built.
Sources said Steve Chen and Joseph Chen, who are not related, testified that they did not perform any services for the center, despite receiving payments for "development fees" and "project management" from the nonprofit group.
Chris Moscone, a lawyer for Joseph Chen, said in an interview after his client 's testimony that Lee recently asked Chen to sign a false invoice purporting to show he did work on the center.
Moscone said the request was made after questions were being raised about how the center spent the state grant funds. He said his client refused to sign the document.