Middletown Candidate's False Claim of Ivy League MBA

News Release

For immediate Release

MIDDLETOWN - Candidate for Middletown Township Supervisor Andrew Kreiling may be confused about his alleged alma mater, or he may simply be misrepresenting it.

On several publications paid for by the Middletown Republican Committee and distributed by Kreiling himself, he lists his education as having earned an MBA from Columbia University. In addition, two Middletown Republican Web sites list the same credential, with one stating that Kreiling is a “Former union contractor with an MBA from Columbia University who understands job creation at every level.”

While Kreiling’s job-creation skills are unclear, his problem with telling the truth is long-documented. In a March, 2003 application for appointment to the Middletown Board of Supervisors, Kreiling submitted a résumé indicating that he was working to complete his “M.B.A.—Columbia University (Fall 2004).” However, an April, 2009 brochure lists “*MBA—Columbia University (2009 Spring)”. Columbia, like most universities, limits post-graduate programs of study to a five-year completion window. By Kreiling’s own statements, he has been in Columbia’s MBA program for nearly seven years.

Whatever Kreiling’s education, honesty and ethics must not have been part of the curriculum. On the business networking Web site Linked In, Kreiling’s profile lists Columbia Southern University under Education. On May 17th, his profile published by the League of Women Voters Web site listed; “Enrolled working on my MBA Columbia Southern (working),” which also calls into question the “2009 Spring” completion that he listed on his more recent brochure.

Columbia University is a world-renowned Ivy League institution that graduated four U.S. Presidents and eight Supreme Court Justices. Columbia Southern University is an unaccredited, online correspondence school in Alabama. Companies like Columbia Southern are commonly referred to as “degree mills,” where one can purchase a degree in just about any discipline. Andrew Kreiling’s repeated claims of an Ivy League education from Columbia University are an attempt to deceive the voters of Middletown Township into believing that he is something he is not – by a long-shot.

“It makes you wonder what else he is being dishonest about,” remarked incumbent Supervisor Chuck Thompson. “Is anything on his résumé true, or is the entire thing fabricated?” Thompson’s running-mate Harry Arnold found the revelation more dubious. “If someone will go so far as to lie to secure elected office, it kind of makes you wary of what he will do if he gets there.”

Kreiling and his running mates, Chuck Benhayon, Ray Chapman, Tom Gallagher, Pat Mallon and Kathleen Passaretti refer to themselves as The Team that Will Restore Integrity and Pride to Middletown. “They may want to re-think that slogan,” said Supervisor candidate Julie Sauerbry-Smith. “I think it’s kind of sad, really.”