Reichert's College Education Now Under Fire

According to Manuel Valdes of the AP, Harvard officials say Burner's degree doesn't "indicate anything for economics."

Um... why'd the dean say otherwise?

Great reporting published by the Times!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008303976_apwacongress8thdistrict2ndldwritethru.html

And can anyone find the Times' bio for Reichert? I cant's

Jeremy - Don't get sidetracked about whether he lied directly. That's a red herring concern. I think my points above are troubling enough.

You can get an associate's degree in something? Really? I always thought AA's were just gen ed degrees.

Look, there's no question he's less educated than Burner and deserves to be spanked, lengthily and publicly, for playing semantic games regarding whether she had a major or a minor in economics from Harvard when he got a two-year degree from a po-dunk college no one's ever heard of. And yes, he may be guilty of lying by omission or failure to correct misstatements. But the point is, I haven't seen any evidence where he lied about it directly as some Burner supporters are suggesting. The bios and CVs that listed a BA were not supplied by his campaign, and in prominent campaign materials (such as the bio submitted to the voter's guide) he did explicitly state that he received an AA.

Reichert's misrepresentation of his degree is more than a mistake, as his campaign would like us to believe.

In a committee hearing transcript from April this year, he is introduced by Virginia Congressman, and House Committee on the Judiciary subcommittee chairman Robert Scott as having a bachelors degree:

"Our second witness will be the gentleman from Washington, Congressman David Reichert, who currently is in his second term in Congress. In addition to his notable work on the Green River task force, he has over 35 years of public service to the people of Washington. He has a bachelor's degree from Concordia Lutheran College."

When Reichert speaks he does not correct the introduction, thus allowing it into the public record.

On his own campaign bio page, Reichert's failure to be specific about his degree was patently misleading.

"He graduated from Concordia Lutheran College in Portland, Oregon where he played football"

He failed to quantify his education, and he didn’t even say what his degree was in (social work). Why not? What you don’t say in such a circumstance is a good as being dishonest or lying.

That information only got corrected today, less than two weeks before election day and after many people have already voted, but his campaign site bio still doesn't say what his degree is in. Come on Reichert, cough up the full truth and get your bio's updated everywhere, including the Seattle Times, which will have printed what you provided them. Until you do it will continue to look like you're hiding something. Yet the fact you've allowed people in Congress to believe you have a degree that you don't have is damning, and indicates a clear intent to deceive and confuse the public.

Yeah, and good luck with that. Looks like the old Dean of Harvard made an ad.

And then let's talk about how he "caught" the Green River killer. Because he didn't. He really, really, really didn't. Growing up, watching the case stallout repeatedly, I knew he was a total dork. And I should know, I watched a lot of TV Detective shows.

Well, the Times reporter appears to have done a bang-up job phoning it in. Damn it, I miss Postman! Whatever the case, I totally agree--a smear campaign is a smear campaign. That's why I don't feel comfortable fully trashing Reichert for it. The upside is that if he wants to have a conversation about candidates' education, he now has to defend an associate's degree against a Harvard grad.

Jeremy,

Fair is fair. However, a good campaign checks under the rugs before complaining about the neighbors at the block party.

I miss block parties.

My main concern is, I heard a rumor that the Reichert campaign already had ads in the can about this degree issue and were looking for media quotes to add validity to their charges.

This is only a significant issue for me due to the "free" advertising they're receiving.

True, and to be fair (and I'm tired of having to be fair to Reichert, but there you go--apparently I have journalists ethics or something), no one noticed over the last five years. In other words, it wasn't until he dropped the bomb on Burner that a host of bloggers started looking over his info with a fine tooth comb and noticed the discrepancy, which at this point we know is repeated in at least five different web locations but was not repeated in some crucial materials put out by the campaign, such as the voter's guide. Under those circumstances, it's not entirely unfair to suggest that he and his campaign and staff may simply have never noticed. No one else did.

Moreover, he could easily have corrected the bio on file for congress. The error is most likely caused on of three ways:

1. Clerical error.

2. A lie from the Congressman.

3. Omission led to a normal assumption.

This is true, but it is different from explicitly misstating his education. It's one thing to pussyfoot around the issue while maintaining plausible deniability, and another to outright lie. What's more to the point is that a poorly educated former-sheriff is currently attacking a Harvard grad for her description (rather than the substance) of her education. Burner is clearly better educated and Reichert's attach is deceitful.

The fact that Reichert's own campaign site, and even the Seattle Times bio, doesn't specify the degree leaves one to assume he got a 4 year degree. That can be construed as being purposely misleading through lack of full disclosure.

The Reichert for Congress site vaguely says, "He graduated from Concordia Lutheran College in Portland, Oregon where he played football" (http://www.davereichertforcong...

The Seattle Times bio simply states: "Education: Concordia Lutheran College, Portland, 1970" (http://seattletimes.nwsource.c...

Both of these can be construed as misrepresenting his education as being a 4 year degree as that's the norm, not an Associates degree.

These public figures that lie about their resumes just have to know that some day, someone is going to out them, don't they?

Who else has great memories about that college?

My mother's mini-van broke down in PDX and I was asked to take a train down, get it fixed and drive it back.

Luckily, my lady at the time went to school there, so I, at 17, got to play college-house. Sure, it involved sneaking around the girls dorms after hours, but I do look pretty feminine.

I totally made out in the rec room. High five, Dave!