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Friday, September 21, 2007

Did Jane Hague Dupe the County for 7 Years?

posted by on September 21 at 16:26 PM

The Seattle Times busts Republican King County Council Member Jane Hague today.

Hague, who it turns out never had a bachelor’s degree, says she’s never misled anyone about that. Whoooops. The Seattle Times found that she misled the municipal league on her 1993 candidate questionnaire when she was first running for her spot on the Council. Goldy’s on the story too.

But there’s something else people should start looking into to see if Hague has been truthful on this matter.

Hague was the manager of KC Elections from 1986-1993 (right before she got elected to the Council and when she filled out the Municipal League questionnaire.)

I don’t know what the requirement for that job was in 1986, but today, you’ve got to have a bachelor’s degree.

I just looked at the “minimum qualifications” on the current posting for the job and it says: “He/She must possess a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration or in a related field, and a history of continuing education…”

Perhaps Hague didn’t correct the record in 93 because she didn’t want KC Elections to know the truth.

Her bio started changing in recent years (since being on Council where there’s no requirement about a college degree) to simply say she attended a four-year institution of higher learning.

RSS icon Comments

1

"Are you trying to call me a liar?"

Yes. Yes, Mrs. Hag, we're calling you a liar.

"I have made every effort to represent my educational background exactly as it is, that I have attended a four-year institution of higher learning, Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Somehow if there have been erroneous publications, then I have to accept the full responsibility."

Oh, we know you will. You will.

Hague's campaign ran into trouble last month when news broke that she had been arrested June 2 on suspicion of drunken driving. Hague apologized earlier this month for her sarcastic and profane comments to a sheriff's deputy and two state troopers involved in her arrest under her married name, Jane Hague Springman.

Wow. She sounds like a total fucking bitch.

Posted by Mr. Poe | September 21, 2007 4:51 PM
2

I am shocked.

Shocked that a GOP elected would LIE.

Oh, wait, no that's normal for those God-hating scum hypocrites.

Posted by Will in Seattle | September 21, 2007 5:00 PM
3

I like your thinking here, Josh. That'd explain why she continued to list her bachelor's and approve it as part of her candidate questionnaires. I think researching whether or not it was part of the qualifications is part of your job, as well as if she listed it in her job application.

I also think the D's really screwed up by not having an actual Democrat file for her seat. This is one of those snowball stories that's still got a way to grow, and I don't think she'd win if the D's had someone to oppose her. Oh well, there's always Richard Pope.

Posted by Ebenezer | September 21, 2007 5:17 PM
4

Nobody bothered to question her qualifications because she's an (upper middle class?) suburban white female. She's assumed to legitimate and investigation is unnecessary.

Posted by neo-realist | September 21, 2007 5:48 PM
5

Josh, I realize that a district on the Eastside doesn't fit the scope of your normal coverage. However, you're a reporter allegedly. As Dan would say, get off your ass and get busy.

Posted by Luigi Giovanni | September 21, 2007 7:16 PM
6

Maybe Richard Pope will finally get elected due to Jane Hague's incessant lying blame-others bullshit. I used to think Richard Pope being elected something would be a joke but then W. was appointed president. I also used to think the Pope (not Richard, the one in Rome) was the antichrist but he has clearly ceded that role to W. All the things I used to think keep changing, mostly thanks to Slog . . . .

Posted by kk | September 21, 2007 9:04 PM
7

I don't think this exactly helps JH, but Dean Logan didn't have a college degree. Far as I know, he never even went.

Posted by Beavis | September 21, 2007 10:51 PM
8

Is Richard related to Alexander? Alexander said:

"He who tells a lie is not sensible of how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one."

Perhaps Jane has more lies waiting to be discovered.

Posted by Ebenezer | September 22, 2007 12:08 AM
9

Maybe the public intern could run as a write-in candidate so the folks in the district would have a more palatable choice. I suppose he'd have to move to Bellevue, or wherever it is Hague's seat is, but hey, it would be for the public good! Jane Hague certainly shouldn't be in a job where she might have to drive somewhere, and Richard Pope? Ug. Public Intern for County Council!

Posted by Emily G | September 22, 2007 7:22 AM
10

Hague's behavior in the DUI situation and misrepresentation of her qualifications are inexcusable. However, there is one unfortunate underlying circumstance in all this: Sharp, competent people who for whatever reason left college early, feeling they have to lie because they will not be accepted without a degree. If you are a hiring manager, you know that a degree doesn't necessarily turn a person into a competent potential employee. I hire in a highly skilled white-collar discipline and have met high-school graduates with more talent and industriousness than most of the master's-degree holders who have sent their resumes in. There are a few careers in the world where you do need all the higher education you can get -- doctor comes to mind. But for many disciplines, you also can learn in independent study and on the job. Or just through your own smarts. Look at the world's richest man, in our own backyard, degreeless. Looking strictly at the "should they have had a degree" aspect in the case of Hague and others who recently have been "exposed" as degreeless -- if you get to your 40s or later and you have proven yourself talented and competent despite your degreelessness, what you did or did not do in college 20 or more years earlier becomes utterly irrelevant. Providing, of course, you don't lie about it. Ever.

Posted by CC | September 22, 2007 3:03 PM
11

Hague likely didn't fill out an application for the Records/Elections Manager position -- she was a political appointment. Also, Dean Logan, KC's former R/E manager didn't have a college degree. I think the County Council added that requirement when they also required that the Executive's R/E manager be confirmed by the Council.

Posted by ec | September 24, 2007 8:08 AM
12

I have read a lot of resumes. Tons of people put down college attendance even though they did not complete the degree. You can put it down without claiming to have completed a degree.

It is even more common in Master's Degrees because people will complete all of the required course work and fail to complete their thesis. As long as you don't claim that you received the degree there is absolutely no harm done in stating that you attended and even completed the coursework.

In many instances experience can be substituted for education. I think that's totally valid.

Posted by Pedigree Police | September 24, 2007 1:23 PM
13

Question: Before Jane was elected to King County
council she served for 4 years on the Bellevue City council. What educatioal information did she then claim ?

Posted by dandy | September 25, 2007 8:49 AM

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