Josh Carter Pulled a Loweree Before Loweree...

Are you mad as hell that Mickey Loweree appears to have lied to you about her education?

Do you agree with what the El Paso Times Editorial Board said in their recent endorsements of EPISD candidates when they said:

"Transparency should never be a luxury in public service. We should demand that those who choose such a role and take on the responsibility of guiding the education of our children meet the basic standards for transparency and accountability?"

Because I do.

I think that part of the editorial in particular spoke to a basic expectation that we should all have for elected officials that has been absent in EPISD lately.

Well it also appears to have been absent in SISD Trustee candidate Josh Carter Guerra.

I've made no secret that I'm not a fan of the guy, and this is just yet another example of why.

While Josh Carter is running for the SISD Board of Trustees for the Montwood area in this cycle, he recently ran for the EPCC Board of Trustees in the 2017 cycle and was defeated by Bonnie Najera.

Why is that relevant?

Because in that cycle, he did EXACTLY what Mickey Loweree is allegedly doing now...he claimed on a website to have a degree that it turns out, he doesn't have.

This is a screenshot of Josh Carter's LinkIn page. As you can see, its updated with his current campaign photo. He took the time to update the content to ensure his campaign photo is included.

If you see the highlighted line, he says he has "a Bachelor's degree focused in Political Science and Government from The University of Texas at El Paso."

If you look at this screenshot, in the education portion of his LinkedIn profile, he again lists a Bachelor's Degree from UTEP.

He also listed his previous campaign for EPCC Trustee in his experience.

So he updated the LinkedIn profile with his campaign photo, which is the same photo used on his campaign Facebook page and several of his campaign materials also posted on the campaign Facebook page.

In fact, he updated his profile at least as recently as 3 weeks ago as you can see in this screenshot.

Why on earth is this relevant?

Well because of a recent Facebook post showing his campaign lit, it had a phrase in there that caught my attention...

The lit said he was "finishing his degree in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Texas at El Paso..."

Previously he stated he had a degree in Political Science and Government - and on his campaign material it was says he's finishing a degree in Political Science and International Relations, which would be a different concentration of study.

As you can see in this separate fundraising page - in which the LinkedIn Page photo is also used for his current campaign's fundraising efforts - He again says he's working on a Poli-Sci Degree and International Relations.

My point about the timing of the posts is that he's claiming (twice) to have a degree that he later says he doesn't have but is working towards. And the concentration changes from Government to International Relations.

He made sure he used his campaign photo on the LinkedIn Page. He updated it as recently as 3 weeks ago and he never made the effort to clarify the record about his education. And the picture of his lit, which is how I found out that he didn't actually have a degree in was 3 weeks and 4 days ago.

Like I said, he pulled a Loweree before she pulled a Loweree.

Socorro has a decent board. They don't have controversy and they don't have a controversial Super. They have teachers that are well compensated and very experienced. All you have to do is read their annual report and you'll see that they are in pretty good shape.

The last thing you want to do is EPISD-up Socorro ISD.

He's had plenty of time to set the record straight. Its not an old page he's never updated. He was on there as recently as three weeks ago - after he posted a picture of his lit that showed he didn't have a degree.

It wasn't an oversight. It wasn't a little boo-boo.

He updated his picture with his current campaign picture, he updated the page with a campaign-related article...but he didn't update his education.

Which, he shouldn't have to do if he actually had the degree that he was purporting to have in the first place!

He not only lied about having a degree from UTEP, but he is inconsistent about what the concentration was in - Government or International Relations?

And this is what is telling about Carter and Loweree...when faced with the decision to tell the truth or make the conscious decision to say something they know to not be true, they choose the latter.

That is bad for this community and there's no getting around that.

Carter doesn't deserve any brownie points for saying he's working on a degree in some places while simultaneously saying that he has a degree he doesn't have.

And I'll conclude with probably the most obviously evidence that Carter knew that he was perpetrating a fraud...

Look at this campaign post from just the other day...Carter posts part of an El Paso Times article in which it shows the incumbent who didn't respond to the El Paso Times, a FedEx drive, and Carter. Compared to them, he looks good.

But the what the Times REALLY said was this:

As you can see, Carter again took the opportunity to be deceptive - which is clearly a pattern. He purposely left out his opponent that unlike Carter, has an actual degree. Multiple degrees actually. She has a doctorate in teaching.

So don't think that claiming to have a degree that you (allegedly) don't have is something that only school board candidates from the westside do - eastsiders do it too...