School board member resigns after conviction

‘I accept responsibility for the charges brought against me’

SAN JOSE >> Longtime Franklin-McKinley School District board member John Lindner has resigned from his position effective Wednesday following his conviction last week of stealing nearly $30,000 in bond campaign funds and spending the money on travel and personal expenses.

Lindner, 55, pleaded nocontest Feb. 20 to one felony count of grand theft of personal property of a value over $950), two felony counts of perjury and five misdemeanor counts of filing nonconforming campaign statements, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. In a criminal case, pleading no contest has the same effect as a guilty plea.

“I accept responsibility for the charges brought against me and apologize to the Franklin-McKinley School District community for the actions I took in regards to use of leftover bond campaign funds,” Lindner said in a statement. “I appreciate the consideration the Court has given in regards to my thirty years of public service in reaching a sentence. I am committed to fulfilling its terms.”

Lindner also thanked “the staff of the

Lindner

District for its support over the years and specifically apologize to them for violating their trust and expectations in me as a board member.”

Lindner is scheduled to be sentenced April 10. The judge in the case indicated Lindner could be sentenced to 60 days in county jail; however, Lindner may be eligible to serve his time in the sheriff’s weekend work program, according to prosecutors.

In a resignation letter dated Feb. 21 to Mary Ann Dewan, Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools, and the FranklinMcKinley

superintendent and board president, Lindner simply wrote “effective Feb. 28, 2018, I hereby resign the position of Governing Board Member of Franklin-McKinley School District.”

“I’m happy that he’s resigning,” said Omar Torres, a school board member. “I think it’s time for Franklin-McKinley to move on and rebuild our reputation where the community trusts our school board and its members.”

Lindner’s four-year term on the board was set to expire in 2020. There was a school board meeting scheduled Tuesday night, which would be Lindner’s last. Board members were expected to discuss options for filling the vacant

seat, according to a spokeswoman with the school district.

One idea that was expected to be discussed by the board was appointing someone to replace Lindner. In that scenario, Superintendent Juan Cruz could create a community advisory board to interview potential candidates and determine a select group of finalists.

“Transparency is important, and having our community involved is even more important,” Torres said of the selection process for Lindner’s replacement.

Lindner has long been a public face of the district, which serves more than 10,000 elementary and middle school students in

some of San Jose’s poorest neighborhoods. Lindner retired last spring as an elementary teacher in the neighboring Oak Grove School District.

Lindner, 55, turned himself in to authorities in December on felony charges of grand theft and perjury, and misdemeanor violations of the Political Reform Act. The criminal charges followed an investigation in 2017 by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission into Lindner’s management of funds for the “FranklinMcKinley for Our Kids — Yes on Measure J 2010” campaign. In October, he agreed with the commission to pay a $18,500 fine to the state.

The FPPC report found

that Lindner, while serving as the campaign’s treasurer, used unspent funds to “make personal purchases of lumber and travel” and “withdrew cash and transferred money to his personal bank account,” prosecutors said.

Chase previously called the case “textbook corruption”and pointed out that Lindner was not just an ordinary community volunteer. Chase noted that Lindner was in a place of public trust with decision-making power over how contracts would be awarded. Most of the funds for the bond campaign came from contractors and others hoping to do business with the district. Voters ultimately approved the $50 million bond measure in November 2010.

According to prosecutors, Lindner “had bled the account almost dry,” but “continued to file periodic disclosure forms reporting that the fund had $13,000.”

Lindner had declared in a filing that he was terminating the bond campaign committee. He also claimed he distributed remaining funds in amounts less than $100 to “unnamed civic donation recipients,” according to the FPPC.

An alert employee in the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voter’s office notified the FPPC of that unusual claim.