Eric Hammer has found himself with some explaining to do as the 5th District supervisor race winds up.
On an application to the County of Santa Cruz Treasury Oversight Commission from 2011, current Fifth District Supervisor candidate Eric Hammer listed a Bachelor’s of Science degree from San Francisco State in 2000 as one of his credentials, in addition to an Associate’s from Cabrillo College.
The only problem? He doesn’t have a Bachelor’s of Science degree from San Francisco State. The same untruth was also listed on his construction company’s website, under the heading, “About Eric.”
When queried by Lompico resident Paula Gee recently about the matter, Hammer played dumb: “I have been very clear that I have the credits and I did attend SFSU, but have yet to receive a diploma,” he wrote. “I have not stated anywhere that I have a Bachelor’s degree.”
But, of course, he had. Hammer’s construction company website was suddenly taken down for “maintenance.” As of press time, the site is still down.
Clearly, the stonewalling had begun. Unfortunately for the Hammer campaign, County Treasurer Fred Keeley, a key supporter of Hammer’s opponent Bruce McPherson in this campaign, wasn’t having it. Between this and the recent controversy over whether Hammer knew a supporter who vandalized McPherson’s signs, Keeley sees a pattern of lying.
“It’s not quite like saying, ‘I was co-captain of the JV soccer team in 6th grade.’ This is a substantial issue…That’s a pattern of resorting to lying as your first response,” says Keeley. “I don’t know a voter who, if the call is relatively close, if they knew a candidate whose first reaction on fundamental issues is to lie, that they would then say, ‘Gee, all other things being equal, I’ll go with the liar.”
It quickly got worse. In a phone interview with the Weekly, Hammer’s campaign manager Amanda Robinson at first insisted no diploma has been mentioned in any of Hammer’s campaign for supervisor literature. She mentioned the numerous awards Hammer won at SF State and then tried to steer the conversation into a bigger picture look at the woes of community college students who transfer to four-year institutions: “Lots of students are struggling with getting their courses transferred, that’s really the issue here,” she says.
Mmm, maybe. Or maybe the issue is that Hammer lied about a diploma and then tried to cover it up.
Finally, Hammer came clean, maintaining that “I’ve earned all the credits and then some! But I should have done a better job representing myself—instead of calling it a BS, I should have said that I earned all the credits for a BS. I look forward to working through the process and getting the final paperwork.”
To be sure, the position of county supervisor doesn’t require a college degree. But no one would argue with the assertion that it demands integrity. While McPherson himself is staying above the fray, his supporters are turning this last week of the campaign into a referendum on character. They’re out to prove the issue with Hammer is no longer just inexperience, but that he’s flat out too immature for the office. Unfortunately for the Hammer campaign, their candidate suddenly seems intent on helping them.
