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You Said "Progressive", not "Pretender"
Submitted by timwis on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 11:13pm.
As quoted from Catherine Lucey's article in the Philadelphia Daily News on 04 JUN 2007:
Click Here for the Full Article
Curtis Jones Jr. - who beat City Councilwoman Carol Ann Campbell in the May primary election - has been falsely claiming that he earned a master's degree from the University of Alabama.
In fact, that "degree" was a professional certification Jones received from a business nonprofit group after attending a series of training workshops.
On Friday, prompted by calls from the Daily News, Jones issued a statement saying he had improperly worded his official biography. He did not respond to a request for further comment.
His official biography - once listed on the PCDC Web site - reads:
"Mr. Jones has completed course study in Boston University's ACCA program. He has a Master's Degree in Contract Compliance from the University of Alabama. In addition, he attended the University of Pennsylvania's Fels School of Government."
But neither Boston University nor Alabama has any record of Jones as a student. In fact, B.U. doesn't have an ACCA program and Alabama does not offer a master's degree in "contract compliance."
Assuming we are past any idea that this was actually a "typo," I ask that you take a minute to reflect on how reading that makes you feel. Does the word "betrayed" come to mind? A more important question to ask yourself is if you voted for Curtis Jones last month, would you have reconsidered if you knew this before hand?
Well, it does not matter; The votes are in and he won, and there is nothing you can do about it. Now how does that make you feel?
We are letting candidates skate through our elections by tacking on the label of a "progressive," when all they turn out to be is a "pretender." Why are we so easily fooled? Just last month, Maria Quiñones-Sanchez won the primary election while claiming she was once a school principal; That requires a masters degree, which according to a recent news article she also claimed she had. (Neither of which are true.) She labeled herself as a "reformer," while the opposing candidate, incumbent Daniel J. Savage, had actual proof of reform within the City Council itself.
It comes down to a trust issue. Citizens will ignore documented proof of improvements from incumbent candidates because they "trust" that another candidate has earned a chance to represent them, only to find out they were lied to. But hey, election's over, right?
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Quinones-Sanchez
I didn't find a recent news article pertaining to a claim by Quinones-Sanchez that she received a masters degree. I certainly didn't find anything that indicated that she lied about her educational background, or about serving as a principal.
Here's what I did find:
An official campaign blog posting of the text from a February 19 speech in which Quinones-Sanchez described herself as "the founder and a principal" of Eugenio Maria de Hostos Bilingual Charter School.
A Philadelphia Tribune article which described Quinones-Sanchez as once serving as "acting principal" at Hostos.
An official campaign site bio which states that Quinones-Sanchez "completed the Masters in Human Services program at Lincoln University in 1992."
Act 22 of 1997, which added the "Charter Schools" article to the Pennsylvania School Code, and exempted charter schools from the state certification requirements for principals.
I'd like to know your basis for asserting that Quinones-Sanchez lied about her position at Hostos and about her academic background.
Oh, I have a new question, timwis
I know the election's over, but did you happen to be on the clock for the Savage campaign when you made that late night attack against Quinones-Sanchez?
Oh, SNAP.
Google. It's where you find stuff.
I love Maria, but good point
This is something thats consistently done, but really, does it even matter? Do you think she purposely lied??? Probably not, maybe just a overanxious staff member that wanted to make it sound as good as possible.
"purposely lied"?
How about first verifying whether Quinones-Sanchez even provided any false information. So far the only confirmed false information here was provided by the diarist, who also failed to disclose his role in the Savage campaign.
What's so bizarre about
What's so bizarre about claims about making up education is that very few politicians -- relatively speaking -- have higher education in Philly.
On City Council, there are a number of folks with just high school diplomas and most do not have advanced degrees. I don't know that fudging your resume is a big deal one way or the other in terms of elections in Philly -- I don't think you should lie about it, but I don't think people are crushed to learn that there was a material misstatement about his education.
But we do expect our elected officials to be candid -- even though there is a long history of some of them taking bribes and lying to cover it up.
Curtis Jones was considered
Curtis Jones was considered a progressive?
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"yes adam gave some informative comments but he also seems to sprinkle a little adam dust on it." - merkin
Back On Topic...
Italian, the first link you provided states that Maria was a school principal, which requires a Masters Degree in Education (which is she what does not have).
I know for a fact that Maria publically stated that she graduated from Temple University, which is a lie. She lied to the City Paper reporter about it, which can be seen in this article.
By linking my name to a campaign report, you are simply pointing out that I felt this way before the election too. Stunning point. No matter what campaign I worked on, facts are facts.
My article is not about whether it is important that City Councilpeople have education, or whether most do or do not. My article is about candidates lying about their education.
Getting a name mixed up is not a big deal, but mixing it up with a name that everyone in Philadelphia associates with as a local university, less than one month before the election is a big deal.
I am not here to fight a battle between candidates; I am here to point out the fact that we, the voters of Philadelphia, were lied to by candidates, and voted based on the belief that these lies were true.
So are you saying Sanchez
So are you saying Sanchez had to have lied to the school district to have her principal job?
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"yes adam gave some informative comments but he also seems to sprinkle a little adam dust on it." - merkin
On topic... heh...
You've shifted from saying Quinones-Sanchez lied about having a masters degree, to saying that the principal position "requires a Masters Degree in Education." Again, I point out that, according to Article XVII-A, Section 1715-A(1) of the Public School Code (to which I linked above), the school where she said was a principal was exempt from state regulations regarding the credentials for principals. Do you have a copy of the Hostos charter indicating that its principal must have a Masters of Education degree? Because, as it stands, your evidence of a "lie" is worthless. It's time to come head-on, with some direct proof that Quinones-Sanchez didn't serve as principal at Hostos.
Also, you've slid over into a new allegation - that Quinones-Sanchez lied about graduating from Temple. Of course, your linked article has no direct quote from her. It's certainly plausible that Brian Hickey misread her bio, which says that she "attended Temple University," and reported that she was a "Temple grad" based on that. So again, let's see some specifics (time, place, etc.) regarding public statements by Quinones-Sanchez that she graduated from Temple.
I know you don't want the focus turning toward your direction. But you're guttersniping regarding something that could have easily been brought up during the campaign. Of course, during the campaign, there would have been more scrutiny, which wouldn't have been a good thing if your allegations were as bogus as they appear to be here. But the longer this goes on, the worse it looks for a certain ward leader. Savage just got his ass kicked in a primary, and now one of his campaign consultants (and by the way, if you have any more substantial ties, now's the time to come clean) is slinging mud at his opponent after the fact. Is this being done with his approval? I don't think he needs this aggravation.
"the worse it looks
for a certain ward leader" - How? Dan works hard as a ward leader. His committee people work hard and support him 100%. As councilman he has done nothing but great work while in office. Ask anyone in City Hall and in the 7th. You obviously don't know what he's been doing for the district. What aggravation could the above comment give him? He's too busy working. Dan ran a clean race. He could have put a lot of things out there during the campaign, but that's not what kind of person he is. Maybe he should have, it would have stirred up a lot of discussion on this web site. I can't say the same for Maria. I saw the piece Maria put out on Dan and it was wrong. Also, everyone knows Rendell contributed to Maria winning not her resume. Concerning the Brian Hickey article - I saw it and we know Maria read it since she put it on her web site. She could have informed the City Paper of the correction, but then again, why would she. It obviously looks better for her to be a Temple grad than not. That's the fact. It will be very interesting to she how "progressive" she is come January. I
Tick, tock
Over forty hours since the brick was thrown through the window. Yet evidence pertaining to the allegations against Quinones-Sanchez has yet to raise them above "full of crap" level. Looks like you don't have a problem with that. (And your only YPP posting activity in the last six weeks has consisted of pumping up Savage. Hmmm....)
Spare me the violins about a "clean race." Accusing a candidate of misrepresenting her professional credentials is provocative. But it's also highly relevant, and thus not "dirty."
Unless, of course, it's a false accusation.
Sorry, but gold star stickers don't get handed out for resisting the urge to make up shit during a campaign, especially if someone who was on the campaign payroll winds up doing it after the fact.
If Savage is too busy working hard on serving his ward or district or whatever, then having someone connected to him slandering the district council nominee in his ward (I know, I know, it was all about Rendell's push - just ask Supreme Court nominee Darnell Jones, State Rep Terry Graboyes, and Congressman Joe Torsella) should be even more of a liability. If he's interested in stopping such nonsense, I'd imagine it would take minimal effort.
The Question Remains- Degree or not
To my knowledge you do need a Masters Degree in Education and a certification to be a principle. If a Masters Degree in Education and a principle certification was not required to be a "principle" at the Maria De Hostos School, what kind of quality school are we talking about. In any case, I believe the minimum should require a Bachelor's Degree. The question remains does Maria Quinones-Sanchez have a Bachelor's Degree. If timwiz's claims are true that she does not have a Bachelor's Degree than I would have to say I am disappointed.
Get. Over. Yourself.
Get. Over. Yourself.
Or better yet, go over to Maria's website, and scroll down. There they have video from a forum, with answers on a bunch of different topics from the two candidates. Please watch it, and then tell me she is not eminently qualified to be a City Councilwoman.
Maria's your target???
Out of anyone to target you choose Maria??? I hope for the sake of your dignity and class that you are a Republican backing a republican movement in Philly and not just a bitter person from the Democratic Primary.
Snarky, but hey... it's a thread about education
I don't think there's any specific educational requirement to be a "principle" anywhere. Even in chemistry, a "principle" just needs to be a constituent of a substance.
A "principal" on the other hand (in the sense here of an educational administrator) in differing educational systems, requires different levels of certification and/or education. An "interim principal" often has a different set of criteria (or principles) entirely.
There is, in principle, a broader problem here, much more germane to the Curtis Jones situation, which is that we increasingly believe in educational credentials more but both understand and verify them less. I mean, when you look at the educational part of the Jones bio quoted above, the only part that actually speaks to credentialing is his claim that he has a master's degree from Alabama. The rest doesn't actually have much content ("completed course study"?) other than the vague associations with respected institutions: Penn, Alabama, BU. Even if they were true.
Enough
"The question remains..." - bunk. The question keeps changing as the BS gets called.
This started as an challenge to Quinones-Sanchez's honesty. Yet you've presented no evidence that she lied. (No, a campaign Web site linking to an article with an error in her favor is not a lie. What's your next idea... arresting people who don't drive back to the grocery store after unknowingly receiving an extra buck in change?) When shown something that debunks your line of reasoning, you pretend it doesn't exist.
But this "I am disappointed" sanctimony takes the cake. Now it's not just a garden-variety smear. It's wanting to tut-tut someone's so-called non-traditional professional development path, but masking it as an examination of integrity, due to lacking the courage to mock her directly. And that's snake belly low.
7TH District race is over.....Get over it
I say that kindly, it was a rough race, and I feel for you since you obviously have personal allegiance for Savage, and thats OK. I have nothing against Savage. However he was beaten, and beaten convincingly by Quinones who has been preparing 8 years for this. She did not get a major "BUMP" at any point from being a Temple Grad (or not a Temple Grad), she got in because she ran a good campaign and voters overwhelmingly chose her over Daniel.
I feel for you, any of us who have close peers who hold office and put our own sweat into their campaign knows the thrill of victory and the heartbreaking agony of defeat. I find it encouraging that one of the creators of this great website's own father ran and lost his city council bid, however he has not shown any signs of bitterness or used his large media tool to trash Donna Reed Miller......So let Maria have her victory.
Dans a young lawyer, a former city councilman, and still the Ward Leader. I'm sure he will have fine career after his councilmanic term is up.
Salud