Facebook Executive May Run for CA Attorney General

The chief privacy officer of Facebook is considering a campaign for Attorney General of California in 2010. Wednesday, Chris Kelly announced the formation of a committee to explore a potential run for the position. With two hundred million active members, Facebook provides Kelly with an excellent base of contacts to begin a campaign—though many of them are not in California — or of voting age.

Political aspirations are not new for Kelly. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1997 and worked on Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. Then, he served as policy adviser to the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he helped launch AmeriCorps. Currently, as Face book’s chief privacy officer, he oversees the privacy, security and safety of its users—and plans to continue that job for the time being.

Kelly expresses his reasons for considering a run for the office of AG, “California’s justice system, and our political system as a whole, needs radical change to serve our citizens more effectively. Politics as usual won’t cut it anymore.” Further, he explains that his involvement in technology stems from his desire to inspire change.