Paso Robles School Board candidate responds to complaint about residency
School board candidate Hunter Breese.
Hunter Breese says he’s done nothing wrong
– Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees candidate Hunter Breese, a 19-year-old Paso Robles High School graduate, was recently accused of not living in the district he is running in.
On Sept. 25, local resident Camille Katz filed a complaint with the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s office. She received the help of community members in preparing it, she says.
Allegations in complaint
Hunter Bresse is running for Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Trustee Area 3 against current Trustee and Board President Nathan Williams. In Jan. 2023, Bresse attended school board meetings and said he would be running in a different district.
On July 23 of this year, he changed his voter registration to an address in Trustee Area 3, reporting to reside on Red Cloud Road. The home on Red Cloud is owned by Sharon Johnson, the fianceé of Paso Robles School Board Trustee Kenney Enney, who is running for re-election in Trustee Area 7. Enney and Breese are political allies, campaigning for office together.
“It is unclear whether or not Bresse is actually living in the home at Red Cloud,” the complaint says. “Neighbors have not seen him there and have speculated that he does not actually live there with Johnson. I am requesting that the district attorney’s office investigate whether this is a case of voter fraud,” Katz wrote.
Hunter Breese’s response
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” Breese says. “I signed a two-year lease to live at the Red Cloud house [in Trustee Area 3] on May 30. “This was in the works since the beginning of the year.”
“I’m 19 and wanted to move out of my parents’ home. I’ve been living at the Red Cloud house 4-5 nights a week. I spend the other nights at my girlfriend’s family house, and sometimes with my parents.” His parent’s home is on White Tail Place in Trustee Area 5. Breese provided a copy of the lease to the Paso Robles Daily News.
“There are many times during the day when I’m at my family home because I work with my parents and that is where our office is.” The family owns a construction firm.
The Red Cloud home has security cameras, and they can confirm his residency, Breese says. He says he has not heard anything from the district attorney.
“I’m trying to help this community and make a difference,” he says. It’s unfortunate people want to try to smear me like this.” Breese made national news in 2022 when he led a student protest over the high school’s COVID-19 mask mandates.
In January, Breese wrote to San Luis Obispo County Schools Superintendent Jim Brescia seeking clarification on residency requirements. Brescia replied, “I had confirmation from both legal and the clerk’s office regarding your question. Basically, no length of time is needed to establish residency.”
San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano wrote to Brescia, “I am not aware of a length of residency requirement. Per Education Code section 35107 states, (a) Any person, regardless of sex, who is 18 years of age or older, a citizen of the state, a resident of the school district, a registered voter, and who is not disqualified by the Constitution or laws of the state from holding a civil office, is eligible to be elected or appointed a member of a governing board of a school district without further qualifications.”
Kenney Enney’s response
“He hasn’t done anything wrong,” Paso Robles School Board Trustee Kenney Enney says of Breese. “He followed the letter of the law in the county handbook.”
Kenny Enney
Enney says he and Sharon Johnson are engaged and will wed in May. Johnson owns the house on Red Cloud Road, and often stays with Enney at his San Miguel ranch, he says.
Enney also questions the timing of allegations, first published Oct. 10 in the San Luis Obispo Tribune from an anonymous source. On Oct. 4, Trustee Nathan Williams’ truck was parked along the side of the Red Cloud house on Navajo Road for about 30 minutes around 5 p.m., according to security camera photos Enney provided. A couple of days later, Breese says he was contacted by the Tribune asking about an investigation into potential voter fraud.
“It is too much of a coincidence that 48 hours before the Tribune contacted Hunter based on an ‘anonymous tip’, Nathan just happened to park next to the house,” observing the property and walking to neighboring houses, Enney says.
Images from Johnson’s home on Red Cloud Road on Oct. 4. Click her for full-size image.
Nathan Williams’s response
“The simple answer to me parking on Navajo that day was that I was canvassing,” Williams says. “I have walked almost my entire district by myself putting out over 1,200 door hangers.”
“This is sadly part of the ugliness of campaign season and politics with those that feel a need to distract from the real work that needs to be done, one of the very reasons I steer clear of it,” he says.
“Playing games with or against Hunter is the absolute last desire I would ever have,” he says. “I wish him the best of luck in his endeavors and while I don’t think being a recent graduate of high school as he says gives him the experience needed to effectively make decisions on the school board I do commend him for getting involved.”
District attorney response
The district attorney’s office confirmed via email to Katz that the complaint was received.
The text of the complaint filed against Hunter Breese by Camille Katz.
Nanci Lovelace with the district attorney’s office says, “The San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office takes all complaints seriously, and when received, all election-related complaints are referred to the proper division of this office for consideration. The office does not provide status updates regarding complaints received, nor do we confirm or deny to a third party the receipt of a complaint or the existence of an investigation, unless and until a criminal case is filed in court.”
County elections office response
“I am not investigating Hunter Breese’s residency complaint,” says San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano.
“If need be during any investigation that the D.A. is conducting, they need information from my office, I will cooperate with them accordingly. As for this complaint, I have never seen that before.”
Trustee Jim Cogan’s comment
“It looks like Enney and Breese have gone to great lengths to set Breese up to run in Trustee Area 3 at Enney’s fiancée’s house,” says Paso Robles School Board Area 1 Trustee Jim Cogan. “I don’t know if it’s election fraud, but it’s definitely weird.”
“If Breese wants to be on the school board so badly and he lives in Trustee Area 5, then why not just run for that seat?” he says. “Why engage in all this questionable behavior to run for a different seat that’s up at the same time? That’s one question for voters, the second is can people willing to skirt the line or actually commit election fraud be trusted with our students’ future?”
