West Linn Mayor's Redding U Diploma

[Albert Hidel]

It sure is lucky they have no violent crime or theft in Oregon.  Otherwise they wouldn't have time to spend on this silly stuff.

Seeing door-smashing search warrant raids of someone's underwear drawer over a ten cent piece of paper does seem like a bit of overkill.  If we were talking about the usual "pol with an unaccredited degree" issue I'd be foursquare in agreement.  

But this is an elected official lying on her candidate form about even having a degree, then trying to cover her tracks with a backdated document.  

By signing this document, I hereby state:
...that all information provided by me on this form, including my occupation, educational and occupational background, and prior governmental experience, is true to the best of my knowledge.
...
Warning
Supplying false information on this form may result in conviction of a felony with a fine of up to $125,000 and/or prison for up to five years (ORS 260.715)...

She could have just left the educational background box on the form blank.  Instead she made a conscious choice to represent herself as "degreed" when she obviously was not.  She rolled the dice, figuring that as in most cases nobody would bother to check.  She lost.

These government slugs--who demand that the common citizen follow the most picayune details of their convoluted legislation or suffer the consequences--shouldn't be held to any lesser standard.  At least it creates the appearance of an impartial system when they get caught in the same wringer that pinches you for going 40 in a 35.  

If there's any door smashing to be done I like it when it's a lying politician's doors.  It doesn't happen often enough, and it rarely happens without an underlying political motive.  It sounds like there's a hidden agenda in this case too.  Whoever sicced the dogs on the Bologna lady better hope they can withstand the same scrutiny.

[RespectableGent]

Did Redding University have her compose and submit a resume, supply any information about herself, or mark any check boxes on her way to the order form?

If so, it sounds like "a little work" to me. We've seen that Thomas Edison State College (RA) gives out credit for the creation of a portfolio and no coursework. There's nothing illegal about a college like Redding this which gives out too many credits for portfolio review.

If I were this mayor I would have my lawyer harp on the fact that Redding University may in fact be operating legally, and this may in fact be a legally awarded college degree. Once it is established that Redding was operating legally in California's former unregulated climate at the time of the award, I would have my lawyer proceed to sue the crap out of my opponents and oppressors.

I haven't seen any federal law which states that a college degree cannot be backdated, or that a college cannot give an over abundance of credit for work experience. It's unethical for diploma mills to exist, perhaps. But illegal, no.

Mail order degrees have existed for a very long time. Diploma Mills were even around during the times of the Ancient Greeks. For hundreds of years diploma mills have blossomed and bloomed, awarding millions of degrees to people all over the world. They're legal because people want them to be legal. We just need to accept the fact that what Redding University is doing is perfectly fine in the eyes of the law, and such degrees are perfectly legal for use, nothing criminal about it in the least. Our own ugly human nature has ensured that college degrees have become a commodity to be bought and sold, like wheat and bread.

Thus, as they are legal to use, treating the possession of a diploma mill degree as a criminal offense is actionable. Oregon has zero ground to stand on when prosecuting these cases. It's only a matter of time until they target the wrong person or the wrong school and the ODA is annihilated by lawsuits.

[RespectableGent]

I just did a review of Redding's programs. They did, in fact, have me do a little work before awarding me a degree.

They asked me for a well composed resume, which was to act as my "learning portfolio."

Prior Learning Portfolio

A prior learning portfolio is a written record presented by the student requesting college credit for learning outside the classroom. Credit is given only for college-level learning, and the portfolio must be well documented and organized.

Now lets see what the typical RA portfolio requirements are...

The first page of the portfolio contains:

    * Your name and Social Security Number
    * Phone number(s) and Fax number (s)
    * Mailing address
    * E-mail
    * Desired degree or certificate program(s)

Page two of the portfolio contains:

List of the courses and credits to be evaluated (on form provided)

Personal and Professional Goal Statement

The first section of your portfolio is a one-page statement of your personal and profession short and long-term goals. This may include your current career status as well as another career area for the future that you wish to attain. This information will serve several purposes in the course and in the prior learning that you wish to have evaluated for credit.
Autobiography

The third section of your portfolio is a 3-5 page autobiography outlining your educational, military, and employment background, beginning with your high school graduation. The autobiography will introduce you and establish the foundation for your credit petitions. The narrative is your concise account of the significant experiences in your life. You have the opportunity to highlight those events and ccurrences that contributed to your personal and professional growth and development.

Suggested categories include:

    * Education
    * Professional experiences (Include job titles and responsibilities.)
    * Military experience
    * Training experiences
    * Teaching experiences

Sounds a lot like creating a resume to me. Regionally Accredited colleges doling out college credits for a resume. Tisk tisk.

Next thing you know they'll be awarding entire degrees for under three hours of coursework.

[ham]

Thus, as they are legal to use, treating the possession of a diploma mill degree as a criminal offense is actionable. Oregon has zero ground to stand on when prosecuting these cases. It's only a matter of time until they target the wrong person or the wrong school and the ODA is annihilated by lawsuits.

Don't hold your breath.

These government slugs--who demand that the common citizen follow the most picayune details of their convoluted legislation or suffer the consequences--shouldn't be held to any lesser standard.  At least it creates the appearance of an impartial system when they get caught in the same wringer that pinches you for going 40 in a 35.  

I wonder whether miss mortadella (di Bologna ) would have cared to defend YOUR unaccredited degree...the hell with political hacks...

[Winston Smith]

West Linn Mayor Galle resigns

State investigation focused on college degree listed in voters’ pamphlet
Pamplin Media Group, Apr 16, 2010, Updated 7.9 hours ago

West Linn Mayor Patti Galle resigned Friday afternoon.

Galle has been under a state Department of Justice investigation since early April for allegedly providing inaccurate information about a college degree in the voters’ pamphlet.

The investigation included searching her Hillcrest Drive residence and seizing a computer from her former office in City Hall.

Galle has said the investigation is a matter of university accreditation and stood by her degree, which uses her maiden name, Patricia Bologna. She had claimed it came from Redding University in 1973. The California online school was not established until 2003 and is considered a diploma mill by Oregon standards.

Galle submitted her resignation to City Hall Friday afternoon. The City Council plans a special meeting Monday at 6 p.m. to decide on the city’s next steps.

"We will research and prepare information for the City Council to review on Monday, and at that time the council will decide how to address the vacancy," said City Manager Chris Jordan in a news release. The full text of Galle's resignation e-mail is below:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I believe that it is in the best interest of the City of West Linn and all concerned parties that I tender my resignation as Mayor, effective immediately.

"I do this with much regret but I am honored to have had the opportunity to serve the citizens of the city.

"Patti Galle

"Mayor

"Certified parcel containing signed copy of resignation, office keys and debit card have been sent to city hall."

She wishes it was about accreditation.  She could win if it was.  But as others have noted, its about representing she had a degree in 2008 when she didn't.  

Good luck with the "backdated" diploma; there just might be a few people in Oregon who haven't yet mastered the concept of linear time, but I wouldn't count on any of them being on a jury.  

As a critic of the accreditation cartel and its slimy lackeys like Contreras, I'd like to see another Benton-type challenge.  But this isn't it.  This is a stupid lie and a bad coverup, not an accreditation issue.

[WilliamW]

Oregon has zero ground to stand on when prosecuting these cases. It's only a matter of time until they target the wrong person or the wrong school and the ODA is annihilated by lawsuits.

I agree with your philosophical points and share your hope that ODA and the pervert Contreras will be annihilated.

The problem for the Baloney Gal is that she didn't have that Redding diploma back in 2008 when she said she was "degreed."   She also lied in 2009 when she told the investigator she had a San Jose State degree.  She didn't hook up with Redding until 2010.  Whether Redding or San Jose State is accredited or not accredited or legal or illegal really doesn't make a bit of difference.  In 2008 she didn't have any degree, so she lied in 2008 when she said she did.

It's like saying you worked for the IRS in 2008.  After they check with the Internal Revenue Service and find out you didn't, in 2010 you run down the street to Irv's Restaurant Supply and get a job.  It doesn't matter that "IRS" could stand for Irv's Restaurant Supply, and that the Internal Revenue Service has no special rights to those initials.  The fact is that in 2008 you didn't work at either place.  

Same problem for Baloney Gal.  Redding may be the most legal and proper piece of work in non-traditional education, but she never met them until 2010.  In 2008 she was not "degreed" by anyone.

[Dickie Billericay]

"Doctor" Richard Clark applied to join Coopers Lybrand's consulting practice in Ottawa to head its management section. Coopers required professionals to have university degrees. In a resume provided to the firm and later sent out to potential clients, Clark purported to hold a BSc, MSc and PhD.

Two years later, Coopers Lybrand learned he held none of these degrees and immediately fired him. He sued for wrongful dismissal. Not only did he lose the case, which proceeded to the Ontario Court of Appeal, but he had to reimburse the firm $47,000 for lost work when clients discovered Clark was not who he said he was.

http://www.working.com/winnipeg/resource...story.html

Not known is whether the $47,000 reimbursement was gross or net Coopers' contributory negligence for not checking out his credentials in the first place.  But it seems like a similar situation to Mayor Bologna's.  

Using her logic, Clark could have saved the day if he just had hit the internet and bought himself a handful of Redding quickies.  FAIL!  She better hope somebody doesn't start thinking about reimbursement angles on her.

But this points out one (of many) reasons why these stalker "mill buster" idiots are so ridiculous.  If you are going to lie about a degree, why spend good money for a dodgy degree from someplace nobody ever heard of, that raises more issues than it solves?  Instead, you can lie (for free) and say you have a degree from a good school (like, say, San Jose State).  I would wager that there are far, far more people scamming with "real" degrees than with "fake" degrees.  That is, claiming nonexistent bachelor's degrees from well-known accredited schools like SJSU rather than associate's degrees from obscure unaccredited places like Redding.  

So if somebody was really interested in serving the public interest, wouldn't they be trying to raise employer awareness about making the minimal effort to verify degree claims (usually nothing more than an email to the registrar), rather than trying to run all the unaccredited schools out of business?  

Well, obviously the stalkers have no interest in helping the public.  They are more concerned with helping themselves (self-promotion), shilling for and protecting the wealthy higher education cartel (closing the market to startups and cut-rate competitors), and eliminating non-conforming doctrine (i.e., religion) from the marketplace.

[ham]

Same problem for Baloney Gal. Redding may be the most legal and proper piece of work in non-traditional education, but she never met them until 2010. In 2008 she was not "degreed" by anyone.

The problem with all the devil advocacy and hair splitting usually deployed in favor of non-accredited education is that it is also used to cover up for blatant degree mills and/or blatant con-people like this.
Face it...
Miss mortadella would not have given a damn about all the maggots crawling under the many rocks of the accreditation controversy.
She was in for the job, the power and the money.
And the system was behind her most of the time; the fact they used the degree issue as a payback to settle political matters Churchill-style means nothing.

[Virtual Bison]

I think this is all garbage. Are we to assume a person is fit to serve in an elected office just because Alan Contreras says so?

[RespectableGent]

I think this is all garbage. Are we to assume a person is fit to serve in an elected office just because Alan Contreras says so?

Contreras is a slanderer and a nincompoop. It doesn't matter where this mayor got her degree, or if she has a degree at all.

It has already been established that college degrees are meaningless, and holding one is irrelevant, especially since regionally accredited colleges are handing them out for under three hours of easy coursework.

She lied about when she graduated? So what. This mayor was elected by the public based on her character and charisma, just like Obama. Her education had nothing to do with her getting elected.

A degree in english isn't required to hold office as either mayor or president. Pretending that it takes an english major to run a city is petty frivolity. There is no such requirement.