Joseph James: MBA

There's been a lot of gnashing of teeth by Republicans in the 17th Legislative District on what to do about their Jim Dunn problem. You see, he has this bad habit of being the sole vote against common sense legislation, like dealing with gang violence, or saving the puppies. That's not to mention Dunn's bizarro behavior late last year that caused him to be removed from all committee assignments, as detailed in Kathie Durbin's profile from today.

So along comes candidate Joseph James, who on paper, is a strong candidate. A small business owner, even Businessman of the Year 2006, at least as voted by the National Republican Campaign Committee. Youthful, but with what appears to be a wealth of experience and membership on boards such as the Shriners Childrens Hospital. Kathie Durbin writes up a favorable profile, indicating endorsements from local party officials:

"Even though Joseph may be young, he has shown leadership experience in his private businesses that will serve the citizens of the 17th District," Boldt said in a statement.

Clark County Republican Chairwoman Anna Miller said she supports a challenge in the primary, which will occur­ Aug. 19.

Looking around further, the Daily Insider piece from February 5th indicates that:

He graduated and earned a masters in business administration from Alameda University.

I actually had relatives in Alameda, California, that I visited quite a bit, but the institute of higher learner known as "Alameda University" didn't strike a bell. There's the perfectly fine College of Alameda of course, but that's a two-year institution. The fantastic Google search engine kept returning an "Almeda University".

Prior to publishing this post, I wanted to be absolutely accurate in my hunch that there was simply a misspelling in the Daily Insider article, so I contacted Joseph James directly to clear up the confusion between "Alameda" and "Almeda", and sure enough, Mr. James indicated that the press release was misspelled and that it was in fact "Almeda".

Who's Almeda University? Almeda, a website with a post office box located in Boise, Idaho, offers online distance learning and confers degrees based on "life experience". And there's the slight issue of accreditation, in other words, there is none from any recognizable accreditation organization:

The applicant understands that Almeda University is not accredited by any of the seven regional accrediting bodies recognized by the CHEA (The Council for Higher Education Accreditation). The applicant understands that, while Almeda degrees are widely accepted, accreditation by the AOAEX does not guarantee or imply that your degree will be accepted by everyone.

Further, there's specific disclaimers by Almeda for Washington residents, and especially for those in public sector employment:

The applicant understands that Almeda University degrees are not legal for academic or business use in the following states: FL, IL, OR, NJ, ND, WA, and ID. While Almeda is not aware of these states dictating hiring requirements to private businesses, the Almeda degree should not be used in these states for satisfying educational requirements in public sector jobs. Therefore residents of these states should consider the Almeda degree a novelty item only. [emphasis added]

What's also clear is that public sector employees looking to make some extra bucks by having a degree from Almeda have run into trouble:

NAPLES: Two Naples Police Officers have been fired after an internal affairs investigation showed they bought diplomas through an online degree mill called Almeda University. Sergeant Joe Popka, an eighteen year veteran and Master Officer Drew McGregor, an eight year veteran, were both fired on Friday.

Admittedly, being in the state legislature might not rise to the educational levels needed to work on a police force (Jim Dunn is proof positive of that), but being a state legislator is a sworn public official. And what's not clear is if a candidate can use diploma mill degrees in pursuance of public office as part of their campaign. I guess we'll see.