Republican Party finds a creative way to reach a whole new low in 2018
During the primary season of each election cycle, it is common to see some individuals running to represent fringe interests. In some instances it is the more well known groups such as the Green Party or Libertarian Party, or as we have seen recently, candidates appearing to represent the Nazi Party but running on the Republican ticket. Some of these people are even winning their primaries and representing the “Grand Old Party” in the general election. When you consider there are white supremacists, pedophiles, pimps, and traitors running for elected office on the conservative ticket, I suppose it is not that terrible or surprising that some looking to clinch the Republican ticket are simply liars.
Melissa Howard, a Republican running for the Florida House of Representatives District 73, was accused of having lied about her education. Instead of admitting her lies, she doubled down and boarded a plane to fly to Ohio in order to convince her naysayers. Thinking it might end the debate about her education, Howard shared a photo on her Facebook account of her sitting next to what appeared to be a Miami University in Ohio diploma. Were her critics satisfied by this “proof”? Perhaps Howard was taking a play from Donald Trump’s political playbook of continually lying until it is no longer possible to figure out the truth. If that is the case, she was sadly mistaken.
While the photo was enough to originally force FLA News to rescind their original story, the investigative journalists continued to look into Howard’s education history. It was quickly determined, according to Miami University General Counsel Robin Parker, that the diploma in the photo was indeed fake. According to Miami University, Howard did attend the college but did not graduate in 1994 as she claimed, or in 1996 which she later claimed after the first date was proven false.
It appears that Howard went to great lengths to fabricate the diploma, while also failing to do some basic research into the school from which she claims to have graduated. The fake diploma shows the signatures of University President James C. Garland and Dean Robert C. Johnson. While Garland was indeed the President in 1996, Johnson was not the dean for the School of Business. Howard also claimed to have graduated with a degree that is not even offered at that school. The diploma in the photo lists Howard’s degree as a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. This is also impossible, as the school does not even offer this degree.
While we see the quality of Republicans running for office continually on the decline, this type of shameful deception is only made worse by the fact it is not enough to even convince Howard to drop out of the race when these lies were first discovered. Fortunately, after a full day of backlash, Howard has decided to end her campaign. While this is just another example of Republicans believing they can get away with anything, especially lies, in the age of Trump, at least investigative journalists were able to get to the truth and end the chance of another corrupt Republican obtaining a seat of power.
I’m a ceramic engineer living in Central New York, avid sports fan but find myself more interested in politics lately.