Mike Kernell

• Political Ads Hit Down, Dirtier -- Truth in Advertising Takes Beating in Late Campaigning

NASHVILLE - A campaign mailer attacking state Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis makes him sound like a coddler of criminals. In Knoxville, an ad says Rep. Stacey Campfield wants to let rapists carry guns. Ads in political campaigns have always made exaggerated or misleading claims based on a kernel of a fact. An incumbent who voted for the state budget is accused of voting himself a pay raise despite voting against the separate pay-raise bill.

• The Commercial Appeal (2007-Current)
• November 01, 2010

• Palin Hacker Reports to Prison Camp -- Kernell to Serve Yearlong Sentence in Ky.

Former University of Tennessee student David Kernell of Germantown has reported to an unfenced federal prison camp in Kentucky to begin a yearlong sentence that could end sooner if he behaves. Kernell, 23, son of longtime state Rep. Mike Kernell, D-Memphis, was convicted last year of hacking into Sarah Palin's e-mail account.

• The Commercial Appeal (2007-Current)
• January 14, 2011

• Republicans Driven, Hoping to Take Seats -- Results of Early Voting Making Democrats Edgy

Even Jeanne Richardson and Mike Kernell now acknowledge that the first week of early voting for their respective seats in the Tennessee state legislature produced turnout reports frightening to Democratic candidates. For their opponents, Republicans Clay Shelton (vs. Richardson in District 89) and Tim Cook (vs. Kernell in District 93, for a third time), the early apathy from Democrats in those central and East Memphis precincts just added energy and motivation to their longshot candidacies.

• The Commercial Appeal (2007-Current)
• November 01, 2010

• Palin E-Mail Case Off to Court -- Rep.'S Son On Trial for Alleged Account Misuse

Echoes of the heated 2008 presidential election may reverberate in a Knoxville courtroom this week as David Kernell goes on trial on charges stemming from the hacking of Sarah Palin's e-mail account two months before the election. Kernell, now 22, is a 2006 Germantown High School graduate, state championship chess player and the son of 36-year state Rep. Mike Kernell, D-Memphis. He was a University of Tennessee physics and engineering student when federal authorities allege he accessed a personal e-mail account of Palin, governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential nominee at the time.

• The Commercial Appeal (2007-Current)
• April 19, 2010

• Hacking of Palin's E-Mail Reveals How Easy It Is

As FBI agents close in on the computer hacker (said to be David Kernell, son of Democratic Tennessee state Rep. Mike Kernell) who broke into the private e-mail account of Republican vice- presidential nominee Sarah Palin, one startling aspect of the case has emerged - just how easy it was to compromise. Like many people, Mrs. Palin uses a "webmail" service to send and receive e-mail messages through the Internet.

• The Washington Times
• September 25, 2008

• Palin Hacker Could Have Memphis Tie -- Blogs Point to Lawmaker's Son; Fbi Confirms Referral

As Memphis FBI agents began to investigate the hacking of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account, state Rep. Mike Kernell declined Thursday to respond to online allegations his son was responsible. My son's the one in question, and I can't comment on him," said Kernell, a Memphis Democrat.

• The Commercial Appeal (2007-Current)
• September 19, 2008

• Kernell Son's Trial Set for Dec. -- Indictment Accuses Him of Hacking Palin E-Mail

NASHVILLE - The son of Democratic state Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis faces a December trial in Knoxville on a charge that he hacked into a personal e-mail account of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. David C. Kernell, 20, a 2006 Germantown High School graduate and now an economics major at the University of Tennessee, pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Wednesday in Knoxville.

• The Commercial Appeal (2007-Current)
• October 09, 2008

• Meaning of Id Theft Is Key to Palin Case -- Defense Says Hacking E- Mail Doesn't Count

KNOXVILLE - The case of a Democratic state senator's son accused of perusing the contents of a conservative Republican vice presidential candidate's e-mail account is making for strange political bedfellows. David C. Kernell, whose father, Mike Kernell, is a longtime Memphis Democrat, is citing conservative Republican ideology against big government in trying to persuade a Knoxville federal judge to toss out identity theft charges filed against him. The charges are in connection with the tapping into the personal e-mail account of Sarah Palin, then Alaska governor and running mate of Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

• The Commercial Appeal (2007-Current)
• December 21, 2009

• Election 2008: Tennessee House Dist. 93

The race for the District 93 seat pits Democratic Rep. Mike Kernell, first elected in 1974, against Republican challenger Tim Cook. The Commercial Appeal put a number of questions on the issues to those in contested races for the state House. Here are the questions and their answers. The college grade-point average required for lottery-funded Hope Scholarships has been lowered for college sophomores from 3.0 to 2.75. Would you support that for juniors and seniors? What other changes would you make?

• The Commercial Appeal (2007-Current)
• October 31, 2008

• Kernell's Retrial, Sentence Put Off -- Judge Delays Action in Palin Snoop Case

KNOXVILLE - Reckoning day for a University of Tennessee student convicted of taking an illegal snoop through former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's private e-mail account won't be coming anytime soon. S. Dist. Judge Thomas Phillips last week penned an order postponing a retrial for David C. Kernell, whose father is longtime Memphis state Rep. Mike Kernell, on an identity theft charge on which a jury deadlocked last month until Kernell has exhausted all appeals.

• The Commercial Appeal (2007-Current)
• May 21, 2010