Tiffany Briscoe, the presidential nominee of the Boston Tea Party (BTP) has responded to comments from former opponent Robert Milnes that she falsified her record. Milnes claims that he called Howard Community College and was told that Briscoe was not a member of the school’s Board of Trustees as she claims on her website.
In response to Milnes’s charge, Briscoe writes via e-mail:
What can I say? This is an ill comment that tries to take me down from someone that lost a nomination and is obviously paranoid. I respect Mr. Milnes a great deal, but I don’t know how to put it. I have opposed his ideas, but never disrespected him. He just wants to attack me, my credentials, and my friends.
After a search, the BTP’s founder and 2008 vice-presidential nominee Thomas Knapp commented on IPR:
I’ve found no evidence that Briscoe is “part of the Board of Trustees” (that’s how she phrases it on her site) at Howard Community College.
However, a search on Briscoe’s name at the college’s site, turns up a PDF of board minutes with the administration’s request of the board that her application to graduate (among many others) be accepted, with the word “approved” circled under the request. That would seem to be at evidence that she is in fact a graduate.
The PDF that Knapp refers to can be found here. And a list of the school’s Board of Trustees from July 2011, which does not include Briscoe, can be viewed here.
According to Briscoe campaign manager Pierre-Alexandre Crevaux, Briscoe is currently writing a book about her campaign platform. He advised her to not respond to the allegations.
Briscoe won the BTP nomination on December 23 with 13 of 20 votes. Kimberly Johnson-Barrick is her running mate.
Update: Briscoe has now responded to the substance of the allegation. She states via e-mail:
I don’t know if this is genuine to the Howard Community College or, in general, to community colleges, but the fact of the matter is that all graduates with a memorable mention at their graduation are offered a title as being part of the “Board of Trustees”. This is like a honorary title, if you want. I receive no pay, I get no voting rights, nor do I attend most meetings. But I do receive a newsletter, have a parking space, and get occasional e-mails on this address provided by HCC. It’s no big thing, as you can see. And I will proceed to the removal of this from my website since it is causing so much “controversy”.
New from Milnes:
1/12 see IPR Briscoe’s article and 2 articles about my accusation of Briscoe/Crevaux fraud.
No photo of Briscoe attached to article, is there? No new photo on her websites. No photo of Crevaux on his website. What ever happened to Briscoe’s interview on RT.com? Well, then we would actually SEE her talking, wouldn’t we? although Skype is of poor quality IMO. Has anyone from IPR or BTP or even LP MET, spoken with IN PERSON, or even seen or even heard of Briscoe and/or Crevaux? Who are these people? Crevaux says he has his candidate writing a book on her platform. BTP already has a platform. Is anybody SEEING her sitting around writing this unnecessary book? Why must we wait until Jan 24 for a photo of Briscoe? Just find a digital camera or cameraphone-they are all over the place. Download a picture to a computer-they also are all over the place. Then upload to the internet-oh, gee. That requires an IP, which are all over the place. What is the problem?
When is somebody going to do something about this? Darryl. When is somebody going to actually MEET Briscoe and/or Crevaux?
Much more in today’s update from Milnes..
Milnes’s response: “He’s a fricken liar-in the least.”
He can call me.
415-690-6352
Already had Milnes and some others spamblocked, but I liked the auto-reply. That was a nice touch.
Google, Yahoo & Microsoft (hotmail, etc.) all support simple filtering systems for email. This basic technology has been around for about a decade (atleast).
My own email accounts are set up by wizards (geeks) to protect me from emails from a certain insurance company that doesn’t know their own phone number with a law office that doesn’t know their own phone number and somehow don’t know how to spell their clients name correctly, but want to send me emails and ask me to do things for them like phone them.
Word-o-day: Automagically
Usage:
Emails from insurance company get fazered and automagically sent to trash (spam folder) and I am left unphased by trouble.
I told Bob over a week ago that all email he sends me will be reported as “spam”.
Indy @ 42: I must say that I’m surprised the school is giving out any information at all. The new privacy laws which most professionals try to follow are very, very strict. Ms. Briscoe would have needed to sign a document saying that it’s all right to release info about her. Perhaps schools don’t need to apply to the provisions, but I doubt it.
I just received an e-mail from Crevaux, who says he tried to call Milnes, but Milnes didn’t answer the phone.
Nice!
I’ll have to look into google labs….
@42,
“Today I sent an email to HCC, IPR, Tom K., Darryl titled Addendum.”
Mr. Milnes is one of a very few people whose emails to me are filtered at point of receipt. They’re sent to trash, and the following response is automagically sent:
—–
If you’re receiving this email, it’s a “canned response” (thank you, Google Labs!) created for people whose messages I don’t care to read. Your mail went immediately to my trash folder (thank you, Gmail Filters!). If you think you received this message in error, become someone I want to hear from and try again. Have a nice day.
—–
Milnes is continuing to dig into Briscoe’s claims…
From Milnes site
1/11 Today I sent an email to HCC, IPR, Tom K., Darryl titled Addendum.
I asked HCC again for information on Briscoe particularly if she graduated and more info about the “memorable mention” program she mentioned in IPR comments. I also asked for a photo of Briscoe, if they have one. Also her birth certificate, if they have it.
I have decided to check out Pierre Alexandre Crevaux next. When I realized today that there is no photo of him available to BTP voters either. Evidently Darryl has talked with Crevaux, Briscoe & Crevaux called me yesterday. He asked me if I called HCC like how dare I. I said yes. He then said because there is so much dispute, he would like me to take the vp position in certain states. I said I had planned on proposing that we not do that because that would concede defeat for the ticket. I checked out frliberty.com, the website he linked to. Liberty Cares. Archives back to August 2011. No photo of Crevaux but he has a facebook. I didn’t check that. There might be a photo there. It said it was a libertarian website but it seemed vague to me. I could not determine much there. Maybe it is me.
Why is it photos of Briscoe & Crevaux are such a problem & nobody associated with BTP or IPR has met them?
jcj,
Real “Who’s Who” publications — which in the US pretty much means the version by Marquis, published since 1899 and not a “vanity pub” — are probably an excellent source for Wikipedia and so forth.
Cambridge, on the other hand, is a PR firm. My guess is that their pitch is like the one a month or so I get from other “vanity” pubs of the type.
They congratulate you on your accomplishments (which they may or may not have scraped from a web search), tell you you’ve been selected for the honor of inclusion in their Who’s Who, and then try to sell you a copy of the book and/or some assortment of products and services that someone who’s just discovered he or she is newly prominent might want.
I’m running in 2016 and implementing the Milnes strategy.
Knapp @26,
I think you are correct. She probably meets notability guidelines for Wikipedia inclusion. The article itself, with no sourced information, is a poor one, though. My point was, I don’t think “‘Who’s Who”s are strong enough “sources” for anything, not even Wikipedia. Yet all her information is based on that.
Ahhhh, Milnes. His crazy ass is probably the main reason I ever came to this blog in the first place. LOL.
That being said, I’m mildly impressed with some of the research he’s done. Briscoe was definitely not being clear as to her qualifications, intentionally or not.
From the story above, Briscoe says
I don’t know if this is genuine to the Howard Community College or, in general, to community colleges, but the fact of the matter is that all graduates with a memorable mention at their graduation are offered a title as being part of the “Board of Trustees”. This is like a honorary title, if you want. I receive no pay, I get no voting rights, nor do I attend most meetings. But I do receive a newsletter, have a parking space, and get occasional e-mails on this address provided by HCC.
Sounds like she is in fact saying she has graduated.
@33,
“This begs the question, if Briscoe had an associates degree in general studies from HCC on or before February 4, 2011, why would she apply again in August then again in November?”
I think he means “raises the question.”
I’m not in the business of conducting Ms. Briscoe’s defense, but based on the documents in question, I suspect I know the answer.
The PDFs (one from August and one from December, IIRC) are requests from staff to the board to approve “requests to graduate.”
Ms. Briscoe doesn’t say she “graduated” from HCC. She says she “earned an associate degree” from HCC. There’s a difference.
It is entirely possible to earn a degree, to be recommended to the board for graduation, and to have that request not approved.
One circumstance I can think of in which that might happen is if there are still monies owed to the college that haven’t been paid.
Another might be that the student fulfilled the degree course requirements, but had some number of elective credit hours from a previous institution, for which a transcript for verification has not yet been received.
There are probably others.
If he gets Briscoe disqualified (if that is even possible), he still won’t win the nomination IMO – regardless of whether the replacement would be by committee or member vote. The only difference is that if it is by member vote he’ll get one vote rather than zero.
It may be that he could be thinking that, but it’s more likely to be a simple case of sour grapes.
Nevertheless, he gets some kudos for unearthing what looks to be a likely problem. Too bad he didn’t do it before 12/22.
I think Milnes sees this as his chance to implement his PLAS strategy, since Kimberly Johnson Barrick is the VP nominee…am I the only one thinking that Milnes is trying to get Briscoe disqualified from the ballot so he can take over with his ridiculous PLAS thing?
It won’t work anyway.
Milnes has another update today:
1/10 I suspect Tiffany Briscoe is actually not a graduate of HCC. On her Cambridge Who’s Who press release website dated February 4, 2011 http://www.cambridgepublicrelations.com/tiffany-briscoe is stated “Ms. Briscoe earned an associate degree in general studies from Howard Community College.”
Now, when you type Tiffany Briscoe into HCC’s search engine you get 3 results. The first says Board of Trustees-Howard Community College then the name Tiffany Briscoe followed by several others with a date 11-30-11 and refers inside to a December graduation date.
The second result is irrelevant in that it does not refer to Tiffany Briscoe.
The third is another document Titled Board of Trustees-Howard Community College followed by the name Tiffany Briscoe followed by several other names with a 08-24-11 August graduation date.
This begs the question, if Briscoe had an associates degree in general studies from HCC on or before February 4, 2011, why would she apply again in August then again in November?
BTW, Tom K., remember you asking Pierre Alexandre Crevaux for a URL for the 2 references to Briscoe as BoT member? THIS IS IT!!!!!!!! He saw 2 results saying BoT-HCC followed by Briscoe’s name followed by other names which he thought were fellow BoT members!!!!!!!!!!!! He just didn’t bother to open & read the document! What a colossal blunder!!!!!! Campaign manager????????
I’m surprised he hasn’t tried calling Tiffany’s Gifts yet.
@Paulie – not to my knowledge – though I’m sure someone will.
@Tom – thanks, will look into that!
@dwp
Has anyone called to check?
DWP@28,
It’s not listed with their degrees that you (theoretically) study for.
Dr. of Letters is just an honorary degree even when issued by American universities; ULC sells it under “titles” rather than “degrees.”
I’m thinking about adding Dervish or Pope to my I Love Me Wall, too.
@Tom,
I’m not seeing that ULC offers a $5 Dr. of Letters degree anymore.
As far as the business, I did find a business called
Tiffany’s Gifts & Beauty Supplies located at
13338 Laurel Bowie Road, Laurel, MD 20708-1508
ph: (301) 498-6093
not sure it’s the same business or not.
Her wikipedia entry is currently up for deletion.
jcj@25,
“Even her Wikipedia ( which shouldn’t exist) ”
I suspect that Wikipedia notability guidelines encompass likely-to-be-balloted presidential nominees.
So no one caught on from the beginning that her official bio and the “source” for her unverified accomplishments was her self-submitted “Who’s Who” bio? And that was offered by someone else as the “proof” of her membership on the Board of Trustees.. and that if you Google any of her positions, companies mentioned in her Bio, the only results are Who’s Who listings.
Even her Wikipedia ( which shouldn’t exist) uses the Who’s Who as the source for all the information in the entry.
This is to funny, Mr. Knapp. She actually showed up in Who’s Who.
http://www.cambridgepublicrelations.com/tiffany-briscoe
If you show up in Who’s Who, you’re not much of a Who….something Ms. Briscoe will learn when she does not get the 3,000 votes that Charles Jay got back in 2008.
America wants to take third parties seriously…the problem is they can’t take the people in third parties seriously….
Actually, I was referring to 16, and I was thinking of a different libertarian political party.
But thank you for the clarification.
Paulie @21,
Yes, six years ago was 2006. The BTP was founded in the summer of that year.
6 years ago was 2006.
GP@19,
I think you’re referring to @18, not @17, and no, I’m not referring to the wrong year.
In 2008, the BTP’s national VP nominee (me) had a Doctor of Letters from the Universal Life Church (just like Hunter S. Thompson’s doctorate! Price — $5).
In 2004, the Libertarian Party’s VP nominee had a much more expensive doctorate from a much less well-known diploma mill.
Regards,
Rev. Thomas L. Knapp, Litt.D.
@17 I think you meant a different year for the VP.
Red@17,
“It reminds me of the person who pads his resume by listing one of those meaningless Who’s Who”
What, like this?
“bush league”
Wow. The BTP has gone from tee-ball to bush league in only six years? That’s pretty fast!
At worst this is dishonest, a deliberate attempt to mislead. At best it is lame, and makes me wonder if she is really ready for prime time. (My inclination is that it is the latter.) It reminds me of the person who pads his resume by listing one of those meaningless Who’s Who that you pay $50 bucks to get in.
Her platform strikes me as generally libertarian but intentionally practical and not alarming. It would be a good thing for the liberty movement (I am deliberately using vague terminology) to have a youngish African American female, especially an ex-Democrat, promoting the cause, so I don’t think it is a good idea to hoot her down, but it strikes me as presumptuous to attempt to start at the top. This is a bush league mistake that would have been sorted out with runs for office and/or other types of exposure at a lower level.
@10,
“the BTP bylaws do not provide for removal of a Presidential nominee”
Yes, they do. See Article 4c:
That isn’t applicable to this issue, of course.
“nor does it provide for filling a potential vacancy in case of death, resignation, disqualification or suspension of the nominee.”
I wondered when someone would notice that.
My rough draft of the initial bylaws provided that in the case of death, resignation, disqualification or suspension of the nominee, the nominee would be replaced by NOTA.
Then I decided it would be more interesting to just leave that out and see what the members came up with — maybe a bullfight or something!
Then I forgot about it until an incident in 2008 had the potential to make it an issue. Then I forgot about it again until now.
When this came up, I wondered if perhaps the Board of Trustees reference might be an alumni donor program or something of the sort, which is apparently the case.
Not a big deal, IMO. In 2008, nobody discovered, or at least nobody got riled up about, the fact that the national vice-presidential nominee’s doctorate came from a $5 diploma mill.
BTP: “The Boston Tea Party supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose.”
Briscoe: “we need to find new sources of revenue to put up with the loss [of Social Security payroll taxes], such as a taxation on all local and state licenses by 10%, a taxation on state budgets by 5%, and federal excise taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, and legalized drugs”.
Briscoe: “Decriminalize all other illegal drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, but impose federal fines on users.”
Despite these inconsistencies with the BTP platform, Briscoe’s positions on her campaign site are more detailed, and perhaps more libertarian, than those on Gary Johnson’s campaign site.
Google “Tiffany of Elegance”
“Interesting that the tiny BTP is already fielding candidates who engage in Clintonesque tortured phrasing.”
If that’s true, the internet will ultimately give her a free lesson or two in “hilarity ensues.”
is it ‘padding’ a resume? Yeah. Is it a lie? No.
I disagree. It crosses the line sufficiently to constitute a “lie.”
To be “on the Board of Trustees” has a specific meaning in most people’s minds. If you substitute “on” for “part,” expecting that most people won’t notice and will assume you mean the usual meaning, yeah, it’s a lie.
Slick Willie might disagree. “It all depends on how you define ‘is’.” But that’s not how most normal people think.
Interesting that the tiny BTP is already fielding candidates who engage in Clintonesque tortured phrasing.
Ms. Briscoe,
I think you should link the text of to this post. As a candidate that would speak volumes about your dedication to transparency in campaign statements. I myself find your response is adequate and even a little humorous, even if you don’t want to admit it was indeed a bit of minor controversy to your credibility.
@8 – the BTP bylaws do not provide for removal of a Presidential nominee, nor does it provide for filling a potential vacancy in case of death, resignation, disqualification or suspension of the nominee.
Perhaps I am being a little overly lawyer-like but since I have absolutely no ‘dog in this hunt’ maybe I can toss in an observation. When I first read the phrase “part of the Board of Trustees” it struck me a little odd. Not because I didn’t believe her but because of the phrasing. She didn’t say she was “on” the BOT which is how it would usually be phrased. Now that I have read Ms. Briscoe’s response it makes more sense. I went to an elementary school which does a similar thing a few years after graduating (presumably because the graduate now has a job and some money). It really is just a way to try to make one feel more tied to the school community and inspire a donation. Gimmicky for sure but it is what it is.
In other words, is it ‘padding’ a resume? Yeah. Is it a lie? No.
If Tiffany’s campaign is destroyed over this, Milnes should definitely be allowed back on IPR. And Phil Davison given the BTP nomination. That’s my opinion, as Priest of all believers!
The update doesn’t speak well of the sense of perspective and perception of the BTP nominee. I guess one could claim to be a priest using the “priesthood of all believers” dogma as well. Doesn’t pass the sniff test to me.
I’m not trying to stir up anything, but I read some of her bios and tried finding out more info about her. I didn’t find much evidence of a lot of her claims. For example, I didn’t find anything on her businesses, no mention of her stores ( even if they don’t have websites, most businesses have various online listings, ratings, reviews), and so on. I have run several very small businesses- I’m talking about non-public companies with no public presence, no dedicated space, no communications, and 1 private client- and there is a lot of evidence of them online through various records.
I’m not saying her info is falsified, just not easy to verify. I have no particular interest in spending much time on it. I was just curious to learn more about her.
Her lack of addressing the issues is quite concerning to me. I’m not favorably impressed.
I must have missed it as well, Jill. The email response didn’t seem to answer anything as far as I could see.
Am I missing something? Did Ms. Briscoe respond to Mr. Milnes’ charges?
@1 – Knapp won the party nomination and urged other States to list a “favorite son/daughter” VP nominee.
My comment on the original thread on the issue:
As Chair of the BTP National Committee, I must say that I am not pleased to learn that the Presidential nominee may not be telling the truth about her background. Had this information been brought up prior to the nominating convention, the results may have been different.
That said, Tiffany Briscoe is the BTP nominee and I respectfully request she provide documentation to support her claim or admit that she misrepresented herself in this claim.
BTP’s vice-presidential nominee Thomas Knapp
2008, in one state, iirc