Untitled California Attorney General Opinion

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

On November 3, 2021, Wilma Chan, the Supervisor for District 3 on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, was struck by a car and ultimately died from her injuries, creating a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors. Shortly after, proposed defendant Brown, who was Supervisor Chan’s chief of staff, decided to seek appointment to serve the remainder of Chan’s term. At the time of Chan’s death, Brown was living in a house in the City of Walnut Creek, in Contra Costa County, with his wife and two minor children.

After Chan’s death, Brown began taking a series of steps to establish residency in the City of Oakland, in Alameda County’s District 3. According to his sworn statements, Brown moved into a friend’s apartment in Oakland on November 12, 2021. Approximately one month later, Brown moved into his own apartment in the same apartment complex. Brown also changed his voter registration and various mailing records to those Oakland addresses. Meanwhile, Brown’s wife and children continued to reside in their Walnut Creek home.

On November 16, 2021, the Board of Supervisors voted to appoint Brown to the vacancy created by Chan’s death. Brown’s appointment to…