Karyn Pulley

Incumbent Karyn Pulley will not serve a fourth term on the Cotati-Rohnert Park School Board after coming in a distant fourth in a race for two seats.

Readers may remember Pulley as the target of at least two so-called robo-calls that urged voters not to vote for her, citing three votes Pulley allegedly made in her third term. The calls were supported by a group called “Parents For Better Schools” but no candidate or group has claimed responsibility for the calls.

A group does not have to identify itself if it spends less than $1,000, according to Gloria Colter, Sonoma County’s assistant registrar of voters.

Other candidates said the use of robo-calls – targeting a candidate rather than supporting a contender – is unprecedented in a local school board race.

“It makes you think, ‘Where is the honesty?’” Pulley said Wednesday afternoon. “I have absolutely no regrets for doing what I did. I have no regrets for giving my Tuesday nights or my special board meetings or missing family things or anything that evolved around this.”

Pulley maintained that she believed none of her competitors were behind the anonymous calls.

Newcomer Jennifer Wiltermood was the top vote getter with 28.5 percent of the vote. Incumbent Ed Gilardi got 26.4 percent and Mike Bowcut got 24.7 percent.

“Is it too early to find a positive? I don’t know,” Pulley said. “I guess I would say is that I have no regrets. I believe I have given a good amount of my patience, my understanding, my caring, my honesty to this process.”

To read about the robo-calls, click here: http://bit.ly/U9OAU1