Prisons Undersecretary Charged With DUI
Arrest Made In Rancho Cordova
RANCHO MURIETA, Calif. -- A high-ranking state corrections official has beenarrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in a state vehicle in Rancho Murieta...Scott Michael Kernan, who serves as undersecretary of operations for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, was taken into custody by the CHP at about 8:10 p.m...Kernan was driving a state vehicle at the time of his arrest, the CHP said.
After the arrest, Kernan immediately notified Secretary...Matthew Cate, and expressed regret during the call, the department said...
Kernan faces two misdemeanor counts -- one of driving under the influence of alcohol and one of driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher.
He is currently on personal paid leave...(Full text at KCRA.com)
As "tweeted" on the PacoVilablog twitter feed of Tuesday, 6/9/09, Scott Kernan was released from the Sacramento County Jail on Monday, 6/8/09. It was presumed the arrest was a DUI, however, since he had already been released, the charges were not posted--Releases are posted for 24 hours. I chose to hold off on blogging it until the facts were known. They are known now, thanks to KCRA.com.
In any case, I must confess I dislike writing this post because, frankly, Scott Kernan is the only one in HQ who gets it. He may not be "your guy," but he's the closest thing you'll find these days. Disagreements aside, there should be no doubt in any one's mind Kernan knows the profession and looks out for the troops. Should this incident be a career killer for Mr. Kernan, I suspect he will not be the only one to suffer.
Having said that, allow me to demonstrate consistency by repeating my earlier position on the subject: ANY state employee arrested for driving a state vehicle while intoxicated should be disciplined harshly. Whether that means Kernan must go is up to Cate. Parenthetically, despite press reports, Kernan is not subject to termination for the DUI. He may have his CEA pulled but he is safe as a state employee. So, it's not a career ender...not necessarily.
Putting Scott Kernan's arrest aside, I'd like to focus upon a larger concern highlighted by this incident:
Why are state cars still being doled out as PERKS?
People are being laid-off, entire agencies disbanded and CDCR is STILL issuing Crown Vics to the Chancellery? Not to mention HIRING WARDENS!
This is so ridiculous, so scandalous, so outrageous and...so what?
That, my friends, concerns me more than Mr. Kernan's current woe's.
Let the Court deal with him, just like anyone else.
2 comments:
I have been informed by a couple of people who keep an eye on such things that the last five CDCR employees busted for DUI in a state car have all been sacked. That does not bode well for Kernan as I suspect the Dept is not interested in backpeddling on some of those. I understand he is not old enough to retire.
I confess I am also bothered a bit by the fact that no one has bothered to say what official state business he might have been going to or from that would require the use of a state vehicle. I am guessing that he was not carrying a weapon as I suspect we would have heard about it if he was. I am also confident he has no priors, we would have heard of that by now also.
There is also the fact that Kernan is named in the Bess RICO legal action going through the courts in Sac County. Since there is no dead guy to blame Kernan is possibly going to be in the unenviable position of the next best thing, the "we already fired this guy already for something unrelated to this action" guy.
I don't know Kernan. He came up through custody so he has some been there/done that time. Since he had some serious family juice I doubt that he got too many really crappy jobs coming up, and the few he did get he probably did not get stuck with for too long, but at least he has some "feel" for custody and some appreciation for those who do the job. That should count for something.
The bottom line, I guess, is DON'T DRIVE DRUNK, AND DAMN SURE DON'T DRIVE DRUNK IN A STATE CAR. The possible downside is monumental.
If in fact there is past practice on terminations for this type of thing then Kernan is pretty much dead in the water. To do otherwise would stink of favoritism. Since Kernan is not old enough to retire his next best move may be to pull the plug, freeze his pension and go to work with Runnels in the receivers Office for $160,00 @ year.
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