Back in January, the Daily Herald asked serious questions about the ethics of Illinois’ 10th District Congressional candidate, Dan Seals. Seals was representing himself as a Northwestern University professor when the truth was that he was hired as a lecturer for a one-night-per-week class for the spring quarter in the school of continuing studies. When confronted, Seals cavalierly said that was because he didn’t know the difference, but failed to revise his literature. Seals, who lives in the district in which Northwestern in located but not in the district in which he is running, and who appears to have no civic or religious ties to the community which he seeks to represent, is a newcomer to the North Shore area. For these reasons, it is likely that at the time “Professor-gate” first emerged, he was unaware of the deep emotions locals feel when the topic of Northwestern University is raised. Many of Seals potential voters are either alumni of the University, or closely tied through family or friendship to people who are.
Read More of Dan Seals, Northwestern University, and "Professor-Gate" off-site...Marilyn says:
What's wrong with you people? This is a made up pseudo-scandal that came directly from Mark Kirk's office. Try worrying about the dead in Iraq and the homeless here, families out on the street from foreclosures.
John Powers says:
OK,
I worried about the three aforementioned, then I stopped worrying for a few minutes, and I still wonder why I would ever vote for someone who lies on his resume to get elected.
In my opinion, Northwestern should not hire a person running for office during the election period, nor should Dan Seals be fictionalizing his background to appeal to voters.
He should run on his own merits, however limited they may be.
JBP
DK says:
Apart from campaigning full-time for the past two election cycles, has Seals ever had an occupation?
Northwestern looks as if the university is playing favorites by providing Seals with some needed resume' filler.
I am not positive that the voters are going to be thrilled with another out of district candidate. While permissible, it is becoming a trend.
Nancy says:
I completely agree with Marilyn. As a Northwestern alum, I would have been thrilled to have lecturers like Seals who, if DK did any research at all he would know, has worked many years in the private sector, most recently as a Director for GE Capital, AND has significant experience on Capitol Hill. I often wonder how people can vote for a hypocrite like Kirk, and then I read ridiculous comments like some of these.
Seals has a Masters degree in Public Policy from Johns Hopkins and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He was also Presidential Management Fellow during the Clinton administration. I'm guessing that's a more impressive resume than most of these comment posters.
John Powers says:
Though Dan Seals and his supporters man not like it, the 1st amendment guarantees us the right to publish and comment regardless of our resumes. No tests, qualifications, or resume padding is required.
Seals lied on his resume, which is pretty much the point of the syndicated story. He should probably stop it if he wants to build credibility for his campaign.
Northwestern should not be running a political campaign for any of the candidates. Shedding light on this is an obligation.
JBP
Nancy says:
I assume that you will hold Kirk to a standard of honesty, which would eliminate most of the content of his mailings and nearly all of his speeches and PR. The first thing he should do is stop positioning himself as a moderate and as a supporter of our troops, since his votes contradict both.
BTW, Seals has not lied. If you check Kirk's record you will find he does so fairly consistently.
Of course you have every right to voice your POV, regardless of it's accuracy or merit. I am just commenting on the lack of both, not your rights.
Team America says:
Nancy- love those Seals talking points. Seals' private sector experience is laughable. In the last 2 years, he's appeared to hold only a part-time job at Internet startup company http://ThePoint.com, which lasted all of three or four months. His 6 months on Capitol Hill was working for Lieberman as an Intern (not a Fellow). He was not a "Director" as in Member of the Board for GE Capital, he was a director of the marketing department. And, he couldn't even get his job back after the last election.
Seals' resume puffing on all of these fronts will bring him down, not to mention his over-stepping with his professorship claim six monthsbefore he ever taught a student at NU.
Conlaw says:
Very much the same controversy as Barack H. Obama misleading the public as to his status at the University of Chicago. Obama was another adjunct, but he was more than happy to allow people to believe that he was a full-time faculty member.