Source: Independent Political Report

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”.

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