Today’s news: Fact checking
Unless notes, all links are via the Peoria Jounal Star:
- The
Journal Star is now going overAlicia Butler ’s resume with a magnifying glass. They found people at two former places of employment to cast doubt on the dates she claimed to work, the titles she claimed to have and her responsibilities. Not mentioned anywhere is whether or not any of the other candidates for school board are being investigated in this detail.Phil Luciano also adds his snarky comments, but not much in the way of insight. My two cents: Any claim Butler may have about the timing and fairness of this special attention is being drowned out by rising tide of bad news about what is being found. She’s got to address this now. The rapid pace at which this story is developing suggests to me that people knew about the problems in her resume for a long time, but waited for the right moment to start whispering in journalists ears. Which is pretty much politics as usual. Speaking about school board members and their places of employment, did anyone ever figure out what happened toSean Matheson at Knox College? Did the JS ever dispatch reporters to Galesburg to interview his students and colleagues to find out what he resigned so suddenly, so close to the beginning of the term and without another job lined up? Just curious. - The
Peoria City Council will possibly approve increases in fines for offenses light getting caught skateboarding or being underage with tobacco. My two cents: Fines should be reasonable for the offense and designed not to raise money, but to stop behaviors. Some of these increases are huge jumps. My advice to the council. Wait until the new council takes over, then make your first priority to sit down and completely re-examine how the city taxes its citizens. The result should be something more rational that the miss-mash of taxes, fines and fees the city now uses. - Got some money burning a hole in your pocket? How about helping out a family who deserves our help.
- A candidate for
Peoria Park Board president wants the district to team up with the Peoria Public Library district on facilities along theKeller Branch trail once it’s built. My two cents: You’ve got to hand it to the guy. There is virtually no chance of the rail being torn out, and he’s already making plans for construction alongside of it. - After 39 years,
Eileen Frye is out as general manager of the Heart of Illinois Fair. The board voted to replace her, effective after the upcoming event. My two cents: Virtually no one is happy about the way attendance is down in general and at grandstand events. Of course, county fairs (of which the HOI Fair is, basically, like it or not). Music fans who remember the days when some fairly big acts used to play the fair are unhappy with the current spate of acts being hired. They’ve even booked tribute bands at recent events. It’s probably time for some new thinking at the top, as well as some quality control. - Peoria School District 150 is buying land to build a new
Harrison Primary School , avoiding a land swap with the Peoria Housing Authority that neighborhood activists were fearful would be used to insert even more public housing into neighborhoods. My two cents: I’m not going to argue against the need to replace Harrison. I’m just glad that the school district isn’t going to try to rip the cuts out of a neighborhood park to do it. 
(AFP) Illinois Sen. Barrack Obama has raised nearly $20 million for his presidential campaign, short of the $26 million raised by Sen.Hillary Clinton . My two cents: First, it’s sick that the viability of a presidential campaign is measured by how many dollars the have in their pockets. Second, this does shoot down the concept that Sen. Clinton’s campaign is a juggernaut that will destroy all competition. Obviously, there are a lot of people supporting Obama, despite the legendary campaign prowess of the Clinton Machine. No doubt the Clintons are nervous, having spent the past eight years assuming they owned the Democratic Party and now discovering that an impossible to run against black man is stealing what is rightfully theirs.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Billy, doesn’t it seem logical for a reporter to keep digging after one lie seemingly has been found. If the other candidates were found to have misrepresented themselves, I’m sure Clare would dig there, too. (Maybe she is doing that anyway, and just hasn’t reported it.) I think the public needs to know about her integrity.
I’d like to know how this originated. Was a whisper, which would be unfortunate but typical, or was she caught up in the JS’s sweep of verification. But even if it were a whisper, if she in fact lied (which seems more and more likely), isn’t it better that this come out now rather than once elected. The degree doesn’t matter for the job (at least two of the other candidates, I think, don’t have degrees); lying about having one does.
Were this a candidate for office whom you didn’t like (Thetford?), I doubt you’d be pulling your punches.
Billy, doesn’t it seem logical for a reporter to keep digging after one lie seemingly has been found. If the other candidates were found to have misrepresented themselves, I’m sure Clare would dig there, too. (Maybe she is doing that anyway, and just hasn’t reported it.) I think the public needs to know about her integrity.
I’d like to know how this originated. Was a whisper, which would be unfortunate but typical, or was she caught up in the JS’s sweep of verification. But even if it were a whisper, if she in fact lied (which seems more and more likely), isn’t it better that this come out now rather than once elected. The degree doesn’t matter for the job (at least two of the other candidates, I think, don’t have degrees); lying about having one does.
Were this a candidate for office whom you didn’t like (Thetford?), I doubt you’d be pulling your punches.
Damn double-post.
Does anyone remember the PJS ever looking into school board candidates’ backgrounds before? I don’t. And why stop with the candidates – why not look into the incumbent board members and perhaps some of the former board members. Some of those people have made some equally interesting claims – claims of doctorates, the “wunderkind” syndrome, etc., etc.
Maybe they do this every year and there has never been anything to report. Headline: “Journal Star finds all candidates are who they say they are.” Didn’t one of the first articles on this say they always do this? I think they did it to the city council candidates, too (Gary Sandberg, if you are listening, did they check you out?).
As for your other suggestions, that is pretty ludicrous. Why check out former candidates now? Stupid. Existing candidates – might be interesting, but there isn’t a real remedy for proving them a fake. I guess there could be a recall.
Methinks you are shilling for Butler. This is too bad, in my opinion, because I think she was a good board member. I was likely going to vote for her, but now I’ll see where this goes.
If they do this every year, then Butler would’ve been outed the first time she ran for office.
Good point. Hadn’t thought of that. Is there a way to find out the JS policy? I know some council candidates read Billy’s blog… I’d be interested to hear if they have been vetted this time or 2 years ago.
Bill, thanks for linking to my post about the HOI Fair last week. Seems they might have made a good move here. I understand it’s pretty late in the game for this year, and I wonder why they didn’t make this decision a few months ago?
Sorry, but I’m no one’s shill. Just think the PJS coverage is overkill and that the incumbent’s credentials are equally as important as the candidates’ credentials.
Am I wrong or have their been just two articles? That’s not overkill. The second story followed up on the first. (And it looks like she “embellished” her work experience, too, but I don’t think that is as bad as lying about your degrees.) And maybe the incumbents degrees would be a good next story. But this is the one they are going with now. Had this been about Matheson, I doubt you’d be bothered because you obviously don’t like him (and from your posts here and on CJ’s site, you obviously have some connection with the education system.)
There were two articles in today’s paper and one in Saturday’s. It is not that I do not like Matheson; the issue is more about respect – after observing his behavior in public over the past several years, I find very little there to respect. Regardless of who the object of the stories is or may have been, I still find the articles bordering on tabloid journalism. If I want to read that, they sell the Enquirer and Star at the supermarket checkout.
“The rapid pace at which this story is developing suggests to me that people knew about the problems in her resume for a long time, but waited for the right moment to start whispering in journalists ears. Which is pretty much politics as usual.”
Well, that’s all well and good, but it doesn’t change the facts. This whole fiasco could’ve been avoided if someone would’ve just told the truth. Frankly, I see it as a public service (provided that the validity of all candidates’ credentials are being checked, as well).
The real shame in all of this is that somebody (or, more likely, several somebodies) probably lost out in a job or career advancement opportunity because of this. It’s not like you walk into a job interview, resume in hand, and refute everything it says.
(All comments above are based on the assumption that the resume in question is bogus.)
Billy: glad you brought up Sean Matheson – a lot of people would like to know the answer to that question. Can understand Knox College officials not divulging the details – too much risk of litigation – but surely some of the students know and have probably discussed it, just not with any of the Peoria media. And what about his doctorate, was it conferred when he claimed or was it conferred later? That would be news, too, so why isn’t the PJS looking at that?
Even now if Alicia Butler provides all the documentation about her degrees and Bradley admits a mistake, you can’t unring a bell. The Journal Star doesn’t want her to be able to defend herself because then they may be wrong. If she is correct and there is an error I hope she sues them for defamation. If she is right I bet she gets one of those tiny little correction squares that no one ever notices instead of a full story! The Journal Star is just proving that they have an agenda.
Would she be able to sue the Journal Star or Bradley. It was the registrar that said she didn’t have the degrees. The JS just reported it.
If they misrepresented the facts, she might, but that is probably a question for an attorney.
Since she’s a public figure, she’d have to prove “actual malice” or reckless disregard for the truth on the part of anyone she sued for libel.
As long as the Journal Star did some reasonable fact-checking, they’re pretty safe.
The only “reckless disregard for the truth” is what is coming from Ms. Butler herself.
A word to the wise… get a copy of your ‘FINAL’ transcript. Review it for accuracy. Be certain it says you graduated, it should if you did. File it away in a very safe place.
Universities can and do lose documents.
Why would you even hire someone, who put that they graduated in 97 or 98? Huh? Why would you put both dates on the resume, narrow it down..and put the correct date, like they require at McDonalds
The Difference is that the Enquirer and Star stories usually aren’t true…in this case, all facts seem to point to accurate reporting by the PJS. I don’t think they’ve reached the point of overkill yet … in fact the followup story was more than reasonable given her lack of directness or openness regarding the initial story. Her attempt to blow it off, only made it a bigger story.
However, I will say that I thought the comments by the employers, especially Bonnie Noble, were a little bit much. More in that I think that Bonnie is walking a fine legal line about what she should and should not be discussing in public regarding prior employment. Any missteps in her statements and she’s accepted some legal liability. That’s why most employers stick to a position title and dates of employment verification!
Your right, there were two stories today, though one was a column. You had to know Phil would write something about this — same old crap.
I disagree with the “tabloid journalism” comment. If you were Jellick and either 1) someone told you about Butler’s situation or 2) she was caught up in some sort of verification sweep, how would you have gone about it? Having confirmed (from Bradley) that she didn’t have the degrees she claimed, as a reporter would you have left it at that or dug a little deeper. If tomorrow we get a report that she’s been sleeping with Dave Ransburg, then we can start thinking this is a tabloid.
So did I – also thought Dynamic Graphics/Jupitermedia also said more than was prudent. Most employers stick to the dates of employment and positions held when answering employment verifications from other employers. It is pretty unusual (in our litigious times) for an employer to speak so openly with the press.