I just spoke with Myla Grasso, public information officer for the district, who said that is his family vacation home, not his primary residence. He is there recovering from hip surgery. As mentioned in a previous discussion, Pat Kernan confirmed this information to me, as well as my editor Jeb Bing.

Well gee that clears that up!!!

The Pleasanton Unified School District is now on record as participating in this cover up.

When Pat Kernan sold their family home in Pleasanton they purchased the home in Camino, Ca. that was in 1996.

The California Attorney General states, " Domicile means, a place of physical presence coupled with the intention to make that place one's permanent home; a person may have only one domicile at a given time."

The address of the apartment that he claims to use is not where he intends to make his permanent home. I would be interested in seeing if he claims his Camino home as his primary residence on his tax return.

The California Attorney General also states that, "Both the public and the district have an interest in the integrity of public office and in the qualifications of their officials."

Integrity is one of the Community of Character traits. PUSD and the Board need to examine this closely.

Pat Kernan needs to resign his position on the Pleasanton school board or his fellow board members need to ask for his resignation.

Correction:
When Pat Kernan sold their family home in Pleasanton they purchased the home in Camino, Ca. that was in 2006 not 1996.

If it quacks like a duck.......it probably is a duck!

The internet makes it pretty easy to be an armchair detective. But then, the PW staff hasn't figured that out yet. Let's see what a few minutes of searching comes up with.
1. The Kernans sold their home on Tanglewood in April 2006. Pat lists an apartment address for Pleasanton. Cannot confirm if lease is in his name. But it appears that they no longer own property locally.
2. The Kernans subsequently purchased a home at 4515 Superior Dr, Camino, CA.
3. For a couple of years, Pat was a partner with a Sacramento law firm. In fall of 2007 he opened his own private practice in an office in Camino. He maintains a separate office there but only has a home based business license for the Pleasanton apartment.
4. Pat serves on the board for the El Dorado Community Foundation.
5. He has land phone lines serving his Camino law office as well as the residence there. Only cell numbers are listed for contact purposes for Pleasanton. He formerly had a land line for the Tanglewood house but did not have it transferred to the apartment.
6. Pat is recovering from major surgery at the Camino location. I am betting that the procedure was performed there too since I doubt a doctor would allow a 2 hour car ride this soon after.

Sure sounds like a duck to me! Is anyone else buying the "vacation" home excuse? I just don't go for the idea that PUSD officials believe this story which means they are looking the other way! It makes me flippin' angry that our key city and school leaders like to point to our Community of Character on one hand and then ignore the traits when it is inconvenient for them. That tells me that honesty and integrity really don't mean much to these "leaders" of our community.

I think it is still plausible. Owning a "vacation" home elsewhere and living at an apartment as a primary residence is possible. I used to work with a guy who lived at an apartment most days out of the week in Menlo Park while his family lived in Chico. He went home for three-day weekends. How old is Mr. Kernan? He's probably planning on retiring in Camino.

Stacey,

I am sure he is planning to retire there, his wife lives there full time. I am sure he has every intention of making Camino his permanent home. The evidence is overwhelmingly compelling that he has establish Camino as his long term home. That is the point, that is the criteria used in the opinion written by the California Attorney General to determine what address can be used for elected office.

The opinion states there can only be one permanent residence (domicile). The part time apartment would not meet the criteria over the home in Camino.

When a child registers for school, every year PUSD requires multiple forms of proof of residency to screen for non-resident children. Should our trustees be trying to use loopholes?

When we ask our children to demonstrate integrity, we must model integrity.

Opinion written by the California Attorney General:
Web Link

I was trying to say that perhaps the apartment is not a "part-time" residence. But significantly in the opinion posted, it details the idea of a domicile being the place where there is the intention for a long-term residence, which would definitely seem to be the Camino home. Another point the opinion mentions is that the statue doesn't specifically say that residence needs to be maintained for service of term, only that residence is required for election or appointment, but then goes on to say that generally this is interpreted to also mean for service of term. Perhaps it is this little quirk of the statue that Mr. Kernan is thinking he's following?

Mr. Kernan had already sold his home in Pleasanton and moved before his last reelection.
The opinion makes it clear that residency is required for the service of the term, as that is the question of the board member in that case.

Berkeley elected official Chris Kavanagh was sentenced today to five years probation, including six months in the Alameda County jail, for his conviction for one felony count of election code fraud.

Alameda County Superior Court also ordered Kavanagh to pay a $10,835 fine to the city of Berkeley for the monthly stipends and health insurance benefits he received while serving on the board.

The district attorney’s office investigated Kavanagh after Berkeley officials said he may have committed fraud when he was elected based on allegations that his primary residence was in Oakland.

The defense attorney said Kavanagh is “a pretty good guy who’s been involved in the Berkeley community and its politics for a good part of his life and loves the town but unfortunately he used poor judgment.”

He will serve 60 consecutive days between July 1 and Sept. 1 and then will serve his remaining time on weekends in the fall.

Web Link

I was at a party last night and did not believe when I was told that a Pleasanton School Board trustee does not live in Pleasanton. Why has the public not been given this information? It is upsetting.

This is indeed upsetting. Mr. Kernan moved BEFORE he ran for the board of trustees this last time-which appears to pretty clearly violate state education code. Not a sterling example of integrity or honesty to me.
One question is why did he risk a jail term to do this?
Could it have been to continue to pad a clearly iffy curriculum vitae?
By representing but not residing in this community (for three years!)he certainly hasn't been putting our "kids first." He seems to have acted only in his self interest. He needs to resign.

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act with integrity, bad people will find a way around the laws.

Plato

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