Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Pinocchio Pants-On-Fire Hall of Shame. On this special tour, we are going to skip our main gallery exhibits on Richard Nixon, Pete Rose, Martha Stewart, Bill Clinton, and Jayson Blair. Please step right this way for the wing dedicated to resumes.
For those of you from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, you might be interested in our newest arrival:
"As per Richard Woldow's Nov 3 column, crying about John Norvaisas going to chef school for a year, whoop-di-doo. Only in the weird wacky world of Woldow would going to a chef school be considered a sin." (Mike Zowniriw letter to The Free Press, 11/11/04) Weird Wacky Woldow Note: "chef school" was actually one class for 3 months, and publicized on Norvaisas' recent campaign resume as "1993 Graduate Boston University".
Now, please feel free to browse among the displays of our other honorees, as reported by their local media...
The Sterling Heights, Michigan, City Council voted unanimously to fire City Manager Steve Duchane after he admitted to lying on his resume. Duchane tearfully admitted at a press conference that he lied about his educational background when applying for his position. (Local4News Detroit, 10/21/03)
Former Augusta Fire Chief Ronnie Few resigned from the District of Columbia's fire department amid controversy over allegations he lied on his resume. The news followed weeks of speculation that Chief Few would resign or be fired after reports in both The Washington Post and The Washington Times that he had inflated his resume, listing a false award and a college degree he does not have. (Augusta Chronicle, 5/30/02)
If you studied any Latin, you'll recall that Veritas -- the name of the software company that just gave Kenneth Lonchar the boot -- means truth. Veritas removed its former CFO because he lied on his resume, claiming a Stanford MBA he doesn't have. (CNN Money, 11/03/02)
In 2002, the D.C. Office of Inspector General expressed concern about the qualifications of the election board's chief technology officer Vialetta Graham. She reported having a computer-science degree from American University in 1983, but city investigators later learned that she only completed one year of undergraduate work. "I think this raises a serious question about ethics and ethical behavior," said D.C. Council member Jim Graham (no relation). "For an agency that is trusted as the guardian of ethical behavior of political officials, well, this is just astounding to me." (The Washington Times 9/16/04)
Glynn Cyprien was fired two months after becoming basketball coach at Louisiana-Lafayette because he did not have a degree from a university listed on his resume. Cyprien attended Texas-San Antonio but did not earn a diploma there. (Associated Press, 7/16/04)
After admitting that he lied on his resume about earning a college degree, University of California San Diego literature professor Quincy Troupe resigned as state poet laureate nominee. (UCSD Guardian Online 10/24/02)
George O'Leary resigned as Notre Dame football coach five days after being hired, admitting he lied about his academic and athletic background. O'Leary claimed to have a master's degree in education and to have played college football for three years, but checks into his background showed it wasn't true. O'Leary's resume stated he received a master's degree from New York University in 1972. O'Leary was a student there but did not receive a degree. (Associated Press, 12/14/01)
A 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning author and history professor, Joseph Ellis, was suspended for a year from Mt. Holyoke College after he admitted fabricating Vietnam War roles. Toronto Blue Jays manager Tim Johnson was fired in 1999 over combat lies. In the mid-'90s, former U.S. Rep. Wes Cooley was convicted of lying in Oregon voters' pamphlets after claiming he fought in the Korean War. Federal Judge James Ware's nomination to a higher court was tripped up by the discovery that he lied repeatedly about being the brother of a black teen-ager killed by whites in 1963. "Most of these cheaters act as if it's a victimless crime, and it never is. If you lied on your resume and got the job, then a qualified candidate didn't get it," said Michael Josephson, a Southern California ethics consultant. (Dallas Morning News, 1/31/02)
Chicago officials fired a building inspector who allegedly embellished his resume. Brian Kelly, 36, became the fourth member of the local to lose his $49,000-a-year position with the Buildings Department after city officials accused him of lying about his work experience. (Chicago Tribune, 9/24/04)
Vermillion Catholic High (Louisiana) will not have to forfeit any games this year, nor their 2003 state title. There was speculation that because former coach Charlie Cryer was fired for lying on his resume, the Eagles might have to forfeit their wins from this year and last. (Louisiana Advertiser, 11/4/04)
Says Ed Pendergast, president of Symbus Technology, a software company in Waltham, Mass.: "We've had a number of applicants who claimed they had advanced degrees and they didn't, and if they lie about this, what else are they lying about?" (Nation's Business, September, 1997)
Angelina Dvorak, the Vice President at The University of Southern Mississippi, claimed to have been a tenured professor at the University of Kentucky, while she was actually president of a junior college in another part of the state. She boasted in a 1994 email of pursuing a law degree in order to "pump my resume." Indeed, she claimed to be a faculty member at Michigan State while working there as a low-level administrator. In my experience, people who lie on their resume usually end up lying about more than one thing. (Robert L. Campbell, History News Network, 11/15/04)
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our tour for today. As you leave, please take note of our motto above the exit door:
"Executives with character flaws like this shouldn't be entrusted with leadership roles that affect thousands of lives," says Sandra Davis, CEO of MDA Leadership Consulting in Minneapolis. (USA Today 8/29/04)
To absolutely no one's surprise, Pinocchio Mike Zowniriw has not responded to my challenge issued last week: I would resign if my journalistic credentials are false, as he charged, but he must resign if they are true.
Images of all of the awards are now on this website. Click "Awards Images" in the left box.
This is the second incorrect, slanderous claim that Zowniriw has made, and then failed to stand behind. Just two weeks ago, Special Counsel Thomas Wenger found that Z lied in accusing Richland's other supervisors, and staff, of "illegal spot zoning".
Such behavior is despicable for an elected official. And these vengeful acts are in addition to his prior shameful record: trying to force his wife and campaign manager onto an unwilling township board; calling for the resignation of the chairman of that board; publicly asking fellow supervisors to illegally change zoning; sending a secret, unethical letter to a judge. All in less than 11 months.
Pinocchio Pants-On-Fire indeed.