Let’s see if this, Rep. Dave Reichert’s official Congressional biography, makes the front page of the Seattle Times:
REICHERT, David G., .a Representative from Washington; born in Detroit Lakes, Becker County, Minn., August 29, 1950; graduated, Kent Meridian High School, Renton, Wash., 1968; B.A., Concordia Lutheran College, Portland, Oreg., 1970; U.S. Air Force Reserve, 1971-1976; U.S. Air Force, 1976; police officer, King County, Wash., 1972-1977; sheriff, King County, Wash., 1997- 2004; elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Ninth Congress and to the succeeding Congress (January 3, 2005-present).
Problem is, Reichert never earned a B.A. from Concordia in 1970, because they didn’t even grant their first bachelors degree until 1980. In fact, the year Reichert started was Concordia’s first year as a Junior College; before then, it was merely a Lutheran high school.
What Reichert has is a two-year Associates degree from a small, Christian, Junior College. (And possibly, not even that; has Heffter bothered to ask Concordia’s registrar for Reichert’s records?) Thus Reichert’s official bio, which he has allowed to go uncorrected for four years, and which has been picked up by numerous news organizations and other web sites, is an undisputed lie. Gonna print that on your front page Mr. Blethen? I didn’t think so.
But more important than the parsing of the word “and” in Darcy Burner’s degree, or the substitution of the letter “B” for “A” in Reichert’s, should be their actual education, and how well that prepares the two candidates to deal with our nation’s unprecedented economic crisis. Reichert has a two-year degree from a small, ultra-conservative Christian school. (And by “ultra-conservative” I mean Missouri Synod Lutheran, whose positions on reproductive rights and the societal role of women leaves them far to the right of most fundamentalist Evangelicals.) Meanwhile, Darcy earned a B.A. in computer science and economics, in the process completing five courses in economics plus two related math courses at Harvard, one of the most prestigious and rigorous universities in the world.
Isn’t that what should really be important to voters instead of these stupid gotchas?
UPDATE:
Looks like somebody is covering their tracks. After four years of allowing an erroneous biographical entry on congress.gov tout a four-year B.A. degree when he only earned a two-year A.A., Reichert’s entry is miraculously updated, but only after being publicly scolded for his resume padding. Of course, the lie still lives on in the Google cache.
Holy fuck…
…ain’t THAT a fine kettle of fish.
Just as bad, Reichert’s own campaign site doesn’t specify the type of degree, leaving most readers probably thinking he got a 4 year degree.
http://www.davereichertforcong.....fault.aspx:
No wonder it took Sheriff Blowdry 20 years to catch Ridgway. Equipped with only an AA degree in superstition, he had to rely on a witching wand to find his killer.
Similarly, the Seattle Times bio for Reichert simply reads:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....chert.html
That’s seriously misleading.
The Seattle Times can’t admit their mistake no matter how many times we point out their obvious partisan hackery.
They rely on their far-right bonafides: their bosom buddies at the BIAW, the 486 Club, GOP circle jerks and lynchings, and the fine residents of Clyde Hill to stroke their ‘journalistic’ ego as the Newspaper of Record of the Northwest.
Like the story of the scorpion and the frog, you can’t expect the Times to act against its nature. You’ll lose every time.
Actual journalism is on life support and is the only patient Rossi and his ilk would allow I-1000 to assist.
Even though I majored in political science and journalism, I’m neither a political scholar nor an objective journalist. I’m a partisan hack.
My degrees say “Bachelor of Arts” and “Juris Doctor”. Nothing on those documents, or in my official transcripts, mentions “partisan hack.” But that doesn’t mean I’m not a partisan hack.
View the video. It’s not about the parsing of the word “and.” Burner claims to have a degree in economics, which is a flat-out misrepresentation.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....er23m.html
If Reichert misrepresented his credential, then let’s hold him accountable as well.
The only difference between Frank Blethen and Goldy is that Frank can afford to distribute his political blog on newsprint. That’s changing, though, and soon Frank will be exclusively an online blogger like Goldy.
Luigi @7,
No, it is not a misrepresentation. Darcy has a degree in computer science and economics. By your logic, it would be “flat-out” misrepresentation if she described it merely as a degree in computer science, leaving out the word “economics.”
She has a degree in both, and has five econ classes plus two related math classes from one of the top business schools in the nation to her credit. And what does Reichert have… an AA from a glorified high school?
Jesus… have a little perspective.
This Is Interesting …
” … U.S. Air Force Reserve, 1971-1976; U.S. Air Force, 1976 …”
Usually you serve on active duty first, then in the Reserves. For example, I enlisted in the Army, volunteered for Vietnam, and after returning home from the war, volunteered for the Army Reserve, where I trained recruits and ROTC cadets to use the Army’s standard-issue infantry weapons at Fort Lewis’ firing ranges.
Reichert’s reserve service began where his student deferment ended while the Vietnam war was still going on. Then he served one year of active duty at the end of his reserve enlistment after the war was over.
This smells fishy. It’s extremely unusual for a person to serve a mere 1 year of active duty in the Air Force. The AF is normally a 4-year or 6-year hitch. That’s because it isn’t worthwhile to train people in the skills the AF needs if they’re going to give the AF only 1 year of active duty. What this looks like to me is that a friendly CO let Reichert serve a year of active duty so he could qualify for VA benefits, which reservists didn’t normally get in those days. You had to serve a minimum of 180 days of active duty to get V.A. benefits back then.
This sure looks like a sweetheart deal to me. Enlist in the Reserve so your ass won’t get drafted into the infantry and shipped to Nam, suck up to your CO for 5 years, then talk him into sending you off to a paper shuffling job on a stateside base for your final year so you can get the same benefits as Vietnam combat veterans. Sweet!
Someone should ask Reichert about this. Or, better yet, write a newspaper story about it.
The problem with partisans like you Goldie is that you’re just like Bush (who I vote for twice). You can’t seem to ever find fault and admit it on your side and you can never see anything right on the other side. And just like Bush, your glasses only let you see what you want to see…everything else gets screened out.
You wrote: Problem is, Reichert never earned a B.A. from Concordia in 1970, because they didn’t even grant their first bachelors degree until 1980. In fact, the year Reichert started was Concordia’s first year as a Junior College; before then, it was merely a Lutheran high school.
The WIKI you linked says: In 1962[1] Concordia achieved accreditation with the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. Fifteen years later, in 1977[1], Concordia separated from the high school and became a four year institution, graduating its first baccalaureate students in 1980[1].
The site noted in the WIKI says: 1950 The junior college department for men was introduced.
Based on this, you are correct in stating that Reichert did NOT receive a BA from Concordia, but you had to try and belittle his education further. Reichert graduated from high school in 1968 and the school’s website says that they started their junior college department in 1950, not the 1968/69 you seem to imply. Based on the facts, Concordia was both a junior college and a high school prior to Reichert enrolling.
For some reason you seem unable to admit that Burner misrepresented herself in the debate when she claimed she had a degree in Economics (with no mention of Computer Sciences).
Stop drinking the Kool-Aid and realize that one side of the political debate isn’t always right (or wrong). Be part of a solution for once!
My issue with this is that this is becoming a pattern of misrepresentations for Burner….
@7 – If you understand how it works at Harvard then you’d not be so quick to suggest there was any misrepresentation.
And it isn’t just a Harvard thing. I have a degree in computer science and math from Purdue. The math part is due to a similar amount of focus and overlap. I have no trouble saying I have a math degree when that’s the focus of a conversation. If people want to quibble they can go to Purdue or another university and get their own degrees. I know that what I have qualifies as having a CS and math degree. Similarly Burner has a CS and economics degree, from Harvard no less. More power to her!
David @ 9
David, but she doesn’t have a degree in computer science and economics. She has a degree in computer science, according to Harvard.
I don’t dispute that a degree in computer science from Harvard is more prestigious than a AA from some Christian college.
What’s a prestigious credential worth if you aren’t also honest and straightforward?
Warren Buffett looks for three simple character traits in a potential CEO: intelligence, integrity, and energy.
The perspective of the objective, disinterested reporter:
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsou.....egree.html
well, check this out –
Darcy Burner’s campaign has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Dave Reichert’s campaign. The complaint alleges that Reichert’s campaign has received an illegal corporate loan of between $500,000 and $1 million to purchase negative television ads.
Can you say “Slush fund“?
What is Reichert doing? I didn’t think he would stoop to this Rovian kind of crap, but now I wonder.
So… the Times’ policy is that when articles are contested, comments are forbidden?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....er23m.html
Let’s not be so harsh with Mr. Reichert. He is a Republican — and Republicans do not lie: They misspeak, misstate the facts, and, failing that, speak only to their ‘best recollection’.
Their ‘recollection’ must be pretty good, as the phrase ‘best recollection’ was last used in the California Gold Rush.
Reichert, I’m sure, got plenty of ‘book larnin’ at the Jr. College — and maybe even larned a bit o’ cipherin’.
David, see Heffter’s story above. Reichert may not have had anything to do with his congressional biography.
Goldy, maybe you should get your facts straight before you post. The link you portray as “Dave Reichert’s official Congressional biography” is a website from the Library of Congress. Members of Congress and their staffs do not control the content of this website. Reichert’s official Congressional website AND his campaign website (over which he DOES have control) accurately list his educational history. Believe me, if members of Congress could control everything written about them on the Internet, constituents would have insisted that Congress outlaw factually inaccurate blogs like HA long ago.
diamondshards said:
No they don’t! They completely leave out important information and consequently cover up the fact he only got an associates degree. Ask 10 people reading “He graduated from Concordia Lutheran College in Portland, Oregon” what type of degree he got and they’d probably all think it was a bachelors degree.
the fine residents of Clyde Hill
try to find the top of clyde hill the next 12 days. there are a lot of signs up there that i like and the seattle times brass hates.
Burner apparently has one slip of the tongue and doesn’t give the full account of her double degree since the oldest college in America uses different terms and systems than every other college in the US not founded in the 17th century.
While Reichert has probably made hundreds of votes to protect the well documented crimes of George W. Bush.
Who has the character flaw again?
Enough already.
Nixon, McCarthy, Lee Atwater, Rove. Enough with questioning subjective distorted concepts of “character”.
I would welcome a news story that examined BOTH candidates education, but badly researched partisan hit peices like this one just drive our political dialog lower.
@11 “The problem with partisans like you Goldie is that you’re just like Bush (who I vote for twice).”
Goldy isn’t “just like” anyone who voted for Bush twice. Trust me on this, he’s a whole lot smarter than anyone who voted for Bush even once! Since you admit voting for Bush, please post your address, so my process server can find you. I want to sue you for your share of the damages that Bush voters inflicted on my well-being. Asshole.
P.S., Is there some reason why you’re willing to nitpick how Burner describes her 4-year Harvard degree, but you don’t say anything about Reichert misleading voters into thinking he has a 4-year degree when all he’s got is an A.A.? At a minimum, you’re a hypocrite.
Daniel K @20 – I don’t have to ask 10 people – Reichert’s bio is accurate. Darcy’s tendency towards resume inflation is common knowledge. Remember ’06 when she tried to tell constituents she had been a ‘Microsoft executive”? Now she’s trying to fabricate an Econ degree because it fits current national issues.
Face it, her “Responsible Plan” fell flat and she had to scramble to find something else to make her appear relevant in this campaign. She STILL has no resume, no public service experience and she STILL wants to raise taxes (although she lies about that too).
re 20: …to their best recollection, no doubt.
When a newspaper distorts the news in an attempt to influence an election, isn’t that a corporate political contribution?
hahaha…
look at the math: graduated high school in ’68, graduated from Concordia in ’70. whatever his degree is, it most certainly is NOT a Bachelor of Arts. Not in two years.
I just checked-out Reichert’s official bio (via the link at the top of this article), and it does NOT say “B.A., Concordia…” but rather “A.A., Concordia…”
Is this an error, or did Reichart’s team change the text since this story was posted? (If the latter, does anyone have a cached version for the record?)
For reference, here’s the link: http://bioguide.congress.gov/s.....ex=R000578
…and here’s the text (as of 12:53pm PST 10/23/08)
REICHERT, David G., .a Representative from Washington; born in Detroit Lakes, Becker County, Minn., August 29, 1950; graduated, Kent Meridian High School, Renton, Wash., 1968; A.A., Concordia Lutheran College, Portland, Oreg., 1970; U.S. Air Force Reserve, 1971-1976; U.S. Air Force, 1976; police officer, King County, Wash., 1972-1977; sheriff, King County, Wash., 1997- 2004; elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Ninth Congress and to the succeeding Congress (January 3, 2005-present).
re 24: Reichert occupying a congressional office for four years doesn’t make him an experienced congressman any more than standing in a garage for four years would make him a car.
Move over, Rover, and let Darcy take over. You know what I’m talking about? Yeah!
As a point of interest, there are 10 Concordia’s in LCMS’s university system. I graduated from the Nebraska Concordia, which churns out half of all the teachers for the LCMS school system. I can’t speak for the Portland Concordia, but my college experience wasn’t a degree in superstition. I’m currently a PhD candidate in a Big 12 university.
The LCMS may be 80% conservative, but one thing the LCMS doesn’t do, is bother with politics like the Falwells and Dobsons of this world. Lutheranism is all about church-state separation. Last Sunday’s sermon was all about the separation.
So please, remember not to malign a synod which provides a lot (such as education, charity, missionary work, etc.) to the world. Whatever Reichert’s claims, any reporter can call the Registrar and inquire as to hypothetical claims of a 1970 degree.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.....ity_System
That’s the generic wiki on the CUS.
Reichert Is A Liar
The central theme of Reichert’s ad blitz is that “Darcy Burner will raise your taxes.” This is a lie. Burner advocates tax cuts for the middle class. Assuming she would support Obama’s tax policy in Congress, that would let the Bush tax cuts expire for people making over $250,000. This isn’t even a “tax increase” but simply the lapse of a temporary tax cut, and this tax cut was sunseted by the Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress, not Democrats, who had no say in tax policy at the time.
But let’s say, arguendo, that letting a temporary tax cut expire is a “tax increase” on people making over $250,000. In that case, when Reichert says Burner will “raise your taxes,” he’s talking to only 1% of the population.
What Reichert has done in Congress is vote to raise taxes for the rest of us. Inflation is a tax. When he voted to cut taxes for the rich without cutting spending, he raised the inflation tax. High earners don’t pay the inflation tax because their incomes go up equal to or faster than inflation. The inflation tax falls on the lowest paid and least powerful members of society. So, Reichert voted to raise taxes on the poor and working class.
He promises to “cut your taxes” when in fact he has voted to raise the inflation tax you pay at the grocery store and gas pump. Reichert is a liar coming and going. He lies about Burner’s position on taxes, and he lies about what he has done to you by voting to raise the inflation tax.
diamondshards spews:
No it isn’t. It is patently misleading. He fails to quantify his education, and he doesn’t even say what his degree was in (Social Work). Why not?
Accurate would be to state clearly he graduated with a AA degree in Social Work. What you don’t say in such a circumstance is a good as being dishonest or lying.
This Year’s Lamest Campaign Ad
I just saw a TV ad my Larry Ishmael, who is running against Democratic incumbent Jay Inslee. The ad is very amateurish. Ishmael rambles haltingly, with several pauses — as if he’s struggling to pull words out of a slow brain — about federal funding of local transportation projects. He never mentions Inslee’s name but seems to be saying we should be getting more federal money for these projects. In other words, he wants us to vote for him because Inslee isn’t bringing home enough earmarks.
I wonder if Ishmael cleared that message with his party’s presidential candidate?
Here’s how Darcy lies about taxes: The $4000 tax savings figure she touts in her flashy color “Darcy” magazine mailer is a baldface lie. To reach that number, a taxpayer would need to itemize deductions on their Fed. Income Tax return (to get the sales tax deduction) and would have to file 1040EZ without itemizing to get the increased standard deduction. It is ILLEGAL to file both ways. Darcy is lying. When confronted with this illegal paradox, her campaign’s reply is “oh – well, we’ll change that tax law too.” Incredibly naive but then, that’s Darcy.
@19. Members of Congress and their staffs do not control the content of this website.
Do you know how stupid it sounds to say that Congress does not control the Library of Congress?
Anyway, it’s not published by the LOC, but the U.S. Congress’ Joint Committee on Printing.
From the intro to the print version of the Biographical Directory:
“The public is invited to participate in this project, and we welcome any information that will make the publication more accurate and complete”
I should run for office as a Republican with a Phd. Never mind that I dropped out of college before receiving a B.A. and spent more time fly fishing and pheasant hunting than I did in the classroom.
If it’s good enough for sheriff Dave, it’s good enough for me!
@34 I understand it is hard to believe, given how ineffective Reichert has been, but it is possible for Congress to change how a child deduction can be taken so as not to penalize people who don’t itemized.
That’s being a leader, not being naive.
Think outside the box just a little bit dude.
The latest polling has Burner up by 4.
Whether she wins or not, Burner has turned what was a safe seat for the Republicans that funneled money into the RNCC into a hotly challenged seat that takes money from the RNCC. It’s a win/win situation for those of us on the left.
Seven complete course would be 21 credit hours+ which would be enough to count for a minor in economics, and thus cede her degree as a major in computer science and a minor in economics.
Just as I have a major in political science, and minor in psychology [with 165+ credits total in undergraduate.] I had to write a thesis for my minor, and it is my understanding she had to do the same for economics.
She is within her rights to claim a degree specialization in economics under her education.
A Republican lied? I thought they were the party of family values and I’ve never been taught lying was valuable for a family.
Don’t care one way or another, but the site you link to the first line, as well as the Congressional Directory for the 110th Congress that I’m looking at right now, says “A.A., Concordia Lutheran College, Portland, Oreg.”
Shit, Michael @ 41…
I’ll join ya…I got two years in as well…they’re lookin’ for rethuglicants to run for ANYTHING now.
The manchurian candidates…I love it!!!
Lying Republicans?
Ho-hum…old story.
S.O.P. anymore.
They can’t win straight up.
Bunny at 39: At Harvard, and at any of the Ivy League universities I am familiar with, credits do not exist. Harvard does not count credits, it counts courses. Undergraduates must complete 16 full courses to earn a bachelor’s degree. (Some Ivies, like Yale and Brown, count as full courses what Harvard calls “half-courses,” so their graduate requirements are typically 28-32 courses.)
Burner, if she had seven half-courses in economics, would have devoted over 20 percent of her education to that subject. State universities also on the semester system normally require 20 out of 120 credits for a minor, or about 16 percent. For a student with two majors, such as computer science and economics, the requirement might be 50-60 credits (with overlaps for common math requirements).
It is not accurate to assert that Burner had the equivalent of a minor in economics. In Harvard lingo, she got a bachelor’s degree with concentrations in computer science and economics, just as she claims. Her degree is “in economics” just as it is “in computer science.”
Click the link in the last paragraph.
“Halligan said the Reichert campaign plans to contact the Secretary of State’s office to see if Burner’s information about her degree on voter pamphlets is a violation of policy.
In the voter pamphlet Burner says: “Darcy attended public schools and worked numerous jobs to put herself through college at Harvard, earning a degree in computer science and economics.”
In contrast, Reichert’s information says he obtained an associates degree.
“This is really a desperate attempt by the Burner campaign to shift attention away from the lies the candidate has told,” Halligan said. She added that the information on the congressional Web site is not under their control.
At last Sunday’s even with Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden, Burner addressed the crowd as well.
“In 1989, I got a scholarship from ConAgra to go to college, and I remember sitting down over lunch with the CEO from ConAgra and having him lean forward and say to me, the only thing we ask of you is that you take a course in economics,” Burner said. “That was the best advice I ever took. I went to Harvard, took not only a course in economics, but got a degree in computer science and economics.”“
But Darcy said this too: “I loved economics so much that I got a degree in it from Harvard”.
Isn’t this similar to her claim in 2006 as a “former Microsoft executive” when that also was not true?
No…the puddybitch is wrong…as usual.
Nope…he’s just the chicken votin’ for Col. Sanders.
Reichstag got a BS for bullshit. And the only AA he received was for his DUI.
The bio in that link has already been changed to AA instead of BA. They work fast to clean up their mess. Hope you took a screenshot.
Also, if you google “dave reichert bio ba” up pops a LegiStorm (a Congressional watchdog site) result that says:
“Representative David Reichert (Washington) – Biography from LegiStorm
David Reichert ( Republican – Washington, 8th) In Office. Bio; Salaries · Trips … Renton, Wash., 1968; B.A., Concordia Lutheran College, Portland, Oreg., …
http://www.legistorm.com/membe.....chert.html – 19k – ”
Note that it says “B.A.” However, when you click through, it’s already been changed to AA.
They are cleaning it up all over the web!
Take screen shots to document these changes!
I posted earlier that Reichert had a BA from concordia – I was fooled too. That is deceptive: and it was from his website and the congressional record.
Great catch, Goldy. Keep after the ST news editor until they publish this. The allegation against Darcy was pretty trivial, but this is serious, and classic, resume padding.
Let’s stop knocking the LCMS university system as “Christian colleges”. At least in the sense of “Christian” somehow being derogatory. The LCMS universities are every bit as academically sound and rational based as those run by the Methodists, Catholics, and other religious groups.
As for the conservative religious philosophy of the LCMS, I would say that the Roman Catholic Church is even more conservative on social issues. For example, the LCMS is NOT opposed to contraception. By contrast, the Roman Catholic Church opposes ALL forms of contraception, and even believes that they should be OUTLAWED (as opposed to merely being a “sin”).
So should we condemn Christine Gregoire because she has a law degree from a Roman Catholic university and also practices that same faith? (Ditto for Dino Rossi with his undergraduate degree and faith.)
Let’s instead focus on Dave Reichert’s inferior degree, his lying about his resume’, and his attempts to obfuscate the issue by simply saying he has a “degree”, instead of an AA degree.
I got pretty much the same dismissive email that a lot of other people did, I’m guessing:
Gotta love that “reasonable” and “I hope that’s helpful.”
In the context of our national journalism crisis, and the way Heffter characterizes her expertise in these matters, this isn’t helpful. I never said that she had a degree in econ or that she didn’t misspeak. I’d love to see a so-called journalist (what’s it take to get that degree these days?) bend over backwards to clarify a misstatement like CNN did for Sarah Palin:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c.....239490.php
Gotcha word-processing is only bad if it bothers Republicans.
…I’ll probably cross-post this in an annoying number of places.
Problem is, Reichert never earned a B.A. from Concordia in 1970, because they didn’t even grant their first bachelors degree until 1980. In fact, the year Reichert started was Concordia’s first year as a Junior College; before then, it was merely a Lutheran high school.
Actually, Concordia became a Junior College in 1950, which was the same year Reichert was born. Reichert started attending Concordia in 1968 (which was the same year girls first started being admitted to its high school).
obviously, anyone who has five courses in economics from harvard under her belt knows a lot of economics.
but emily heffter has no interest in whether darcy burner’s can legitimately claim expertise in economics, not when there is mud to sling, muck to rake.
heffter is a disgrace as a journalist.