was once involved in a race where the opponent of my client claimed to have earned two degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy. He’d held public office for years, and no one ever questioned that claim–until he ran for Congress. When I contacted the Naval Academy to check the veracity of his bio, I learned that he had never graduated, and had left the academy after his first semester. That Masters degree in Computer Science he claimed to have earned? The Naval Academy offers no such degree. Needless to say, his campaign blew up and he never made it to Congress.
It would seem to be a dumb mistake and it was. It would seem to be a dumb mistake that a veteran political figure would know not to make. But he did.
And this is why. It is very difficult for would be candidates to resist the temptation to inflate, embellish or exaggerate their record or accomplishments. We hear about it all the time. Candidates claiming degrees they never earned. Candidates claiming to have led organizations they didn’t. Members of Congress claiming credit for bills they never wrote, or passage of legislation they have never seen.
Sometimes it is not an outright lie, but a pattern of embellishment that will snag a candidate. In 2009 there was a young candidate for Congress who claimed to have been a high-ranking Pentagon official during the Iraq War. A Google search revealed her tweets to a one time boyfriend in which she described the position as an unpaid internship. That alone did not end her campaign, but it did make me suspicious of other claims she was making about her background and accomplishments. Upon further investigation I found that it was indeed a pattern, to which I alerted a local reporter. During his first interview, it did not take the reporter long to catch the pattern, which he dutifully covered in his story. Her campaign crashed before she got to the starting gate.
Don’t assume your opponent’s biography is error free or absent of embellishment. Check the veracity of everything they say, every degree they claimed to have earned and every organization they claim to have led. Read their position statements and look for inconsistencies, or factual mistakes. Know them better than they know themselves. That does not require a private investigator– just a little time on Google and a few phone calls.
Have Questions? Call me at 845-458-1210. Or email me at Jay@JayTownsend.com.
Last Week’s Video: Running for Office? Preparing for the Campaign: Constructing Your Press List