I've heard some stories about board members over the years, and on the scale of things that he could have done, this incident with a board member in Alief ISD is relatively minor. Apparently, he's been masquerading as an SMU alum at official events - like high school graduation ceremonies - when he actually has no college degree at all. Here's the news story.
He was convicted on a criminal offense because he used district money to rent the official SMU costume for these events.
I don't have any idea whether he was otherwise a good board member. But I do know that lying about your credentials is a breach of trust that can almost never be gotten over. Lena Guerrerro, the former Texas Railroad Commissioner who died of cancer this past year, was a rising star in Texas politics almost from the day she entered the legislature as a 27 year old freshman. She was a protege of Ann Richards, energetic, accomplished, and great at political strategy. Less than ten years after entering politics, she fell, hard, all because it was discovered she had written in her resume that she earned a degree from the University of Texas. She had attended the University, but she never graduated. She lost her re-election bid to the Railroad Commission because of it, and never again worked in elected politics.
People can forgive a lot in their elected officials. To err is human, mistakes are part of life, and weaknesses of the flesh can afflict anyone. But to deliberately create a lie and try to trick us is something else again.
Even greater, a lie about credentials bespeaks a doubt on the part of the official. A doubt about their qualification for the job they are asking us to entrust to them. And if a person has fundamental doubts about their own readiness for the job at hand, then we should doubt their ability as well.
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