Degree of Doubt

Ron Holly won't be charged with voter fraud.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Former county treasurer candidate Ron Holly isn't a lawyer, as he claimed in the voters' pamphlet, and probably never possessed a valid law degree. But the county District Attorney's office won't be a pressing voter fraud charge against him, according to a June 29 press release.

Holly told the DA's investigator that a friend edited his original candidate statement to state that he is a lawyer, rather than possesses a law degree. Although Holly OK'd the statement, he said he didn't read the edits carefully.

But even the claim of having a law degree is suspect: Holly claimed he earned his degree by correspondance with Bryn Mawr Legal Studies College of the Law in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1984. "An investigation…produced no evidence that such an institution ever existed," the DA's press release states.

"Mr. Holly indicated he did receive a diploma but did not know where he had stored that document…When the investigator asked Mr. Holly about his statement to a local newspaper that the school had defrauded a few people and was out of business, Mr. Holly replied that he was one of the persons defrauded."

The DA's Office decided not to press charges because

1) The issue was debated in the media in advance of the election, so voters were not actually misled; and

2) The infraction is punishable by a fine of no more than $1,000 - not enough to justify the taxpayer expense of bringing in out-of-state witnesses.