By JULIA SHUMWAY/Oregon Capital Chronicle
A supporter of incumbent Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, on Wednesday asked the secretary of state to investigate whether his opponent lied about her education on the state-issued Voters’ Pamphlet.
Newport restaurateur Celeste McEntee lists a “graduate degree” in conflict resolution from the University of Utah. Depoe Bay resident Monica Kirk’s complaint, a copy of which was shared with the Capital Chronicle, claims that the university only offers conflict resolution as a non-degree certificate program.
In an email, McEntee said she attended the year-long program to earn a “certified diploma” and that she never claimed she earned a master’s degree.
“Again, this is simply another attempt by Gomberg and his supporters to try and take a simple twisting of my words to the extreme to distract everyone from his negative scare-tactics and bullying throughout his campaign,” she said. “I’m proud of my post-graduate studies, and will even use this education to help build consensus in the Oregon House of Representatives.”
Lying about educational or career backgrounds in the Voters’ Pamphlet is a class C felony. In 2018 and 2020, the House Republicans’ PAC filed complaints against Democratic candidates who falsely claimed bachelor’s degrees; neither candidate was elected. And former Republican U.S. Rep. Wes Cooley was fined and ordered to do community service following a 1997 conviction for claiming he served in Korea during the Korean War when he never left the U.S.
A Yachats woman was convicted in Lincoln County Circuit Court earlier this year for lying about her education and work credentials in the county voters pamphlet after running successfully for the Yachats Rural Fire Protection Board in 2019.
McEntee’s Voters’ Pamphlet statement in the primary election said that she attended undergraduate and graduate programs at the University of Utah, but it didn’t specify whether she earned degrees. Her statement for the general election lists a bachelor’s degree in communications and a graduate degree in conflict resolution.
The University of Utah offers a two-semester, non-credit certificate program in conflict resolution. Students who pass the program don’t receive a degree, but it counts for an educational requirement for court-appointed mediators in Utah.
In her complaint, Kirk wrote that the university wouldn’t confirm whether McEntee completed her bachelor’s degree or the certificate, citing student privacy. Kirk, who recently published a letter to the editor in the Newport News-Times urging support for Gomberg, said in an email that McEntee repeated the claim that she had a graduate degree during a candidate forum Tuesday night in Depoe Bay.
McEntee previously claimed two erroneous endorsements on her submission for the Voters’ Pamphlet. State election officials fact-check endorsements before copies of the pamphlet are printed and mailed to voters, but those false endorsements made it onto a rough draft of the pamphlet shared with military and overseas voters.
McEntee last month didn’t return calls or emails from the Capital Chronicle and other news outlets about the false endorsements, but instead sent a press release two days later baselessly claiming that news organizations were aligned with her opponent and threatening litigation.
And in August, she received a written warning in lieu of a $1,500 fine from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission for failing to file required paperwork disclosing her sources of income, debts and investments before an April 15 deadline for legislative candidates. McEntee blamed that error, as well as the erroneous endorsements, on staff.
- Oregon Capital Chronicle is a nonprofit Salem-based news service that focuses its reporting on Oregon state government, politics and policy.
Shouldn’t Ms McEntee be able to resolve this issue promptly by laying it the feet of her campaign communications personnel or admitting to lacking English proficiency?