Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah (AP) -- Mayor Brian Olsen said he falsely claimed to have master's degree in public administration, but he had not meant to and will not resign.
"I misrepresented; it's a lie," Olsen said at City Hall on Thursday night. "I apologize to the citizens for representing that I had one when I don't."
In interviews on Wednesday and earlier Thursday, Olsen denied having lied about the degree. He said he had completed a 45-week public management course while working as a Utah Highway Patrol trooper in 2003, and a campaign volunteer had mistakenly called the course a master's degree in a campaign ad last fall.
At no other time had he claimed to have a master's degree, he said. He later took that back.
However, City Councilmen Vincent Liddiard and David Blackburn said Olsen told them in both public and private forums that he had a master's degree.
Liddiard said the mayor had breached the trust and integrity of his office.
Blackburn said he now questions Olsen's integrity and his decision in March to fire city manager Chris Hillman, who has a master's in public administration. Blackburn said Olsen also lied about the degree on his application for City Council.
On the application, dated Dec. 30, 2004, Olsen wrote, "I have a background which ideally suits the needs of our city. I have a master's degree in public administration."
Confronted with that information and the comments of councilmen Liddiard and Blackburn, Olsen admitted to lying.
"This is the darkest moment of my life," he said.
Olsen has an associate's degree in science from Snow College and a bachelor's degree in international relations from Brigham Young.
"I got in the habit of telling people that I had this certified public manager's certificate, and it's like a master's degree," he said Thursday. "Basically, it got old continually repeating" what the course was. "Over time, obviously it made it just easier to say it was a master's.
"My intention was not to mislead," he said. "I'm very proud of the certificate I got. I worked hard for it. But I should have corrected this a long time ago."
Olsen said he was not elected for his academic qualifications, and can regain the public trust.
"For the good of the city, I want to keep going," he said.
Council members Linn Strouse and David Lifferth expressed support for Olsen. Strouse called it a "minor blip on the radar screen." Lifferth said it "was no big deal."
Liddiard said, "If he were employed in the corporate world, he would be fired," but he also said, "I like the guy, and I'm willing to forgive him."
Former Eagle Mountain Mayor Kelvin Bailey resigned last June 30 -- just more than one year after pleading no contest to providing false information to police for his faked kidnapping. He paid more than $900 in restitution.
Bailey had failed to return from a pheasant hunting trip in 2003. He later phoned his wife and said he had been carjacked, abducted and forced to drive to California, but had escaped. He eventually told Utah County sheriff's officers and the FBI that he had made up the incident due to the "stress and challenges" of running a city, a business, and helping his wife, who had had a stroke.
He said he had intended the story only for his wife, and he had not expected her to call police.
Lifferth was appointed to succeed Bailey and served four months before resigning and turning over the mayoral cell phone to Olsen, who was mayor-elect.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
