He misled us about his educational credentials. Why?
John Thurston’s rise to power has been shrouded in mystery, with only vague stories of humble beginnings. A quick search through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive shows multiple versions of the same bio page touting a shifting picture of his education: a diploma in biblical studies from Agape College, a degree in Christian Ministries, a bachelor’s degree in economics. Are any of these real?
Thurston attended Agape School of World Evangelism, a “school” started by his televangelist pastor that brought in other televangelists like Kenneth Copeland as “educators.” His only “diploma” was from high school. Fast forward to the present, he justfinished a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at UALR—not Economics as his bio would suggest. But how did he do it?
While he was supposed to be managing the integrity and security of our elections, John Thurston enrolled in University of Arkansas at Little Rock. What parent of five children has the time to pursue a college degree while holding down a full-time job? What role did he neglect to find the time?
Being Secretary of State and a college student at the same brings an enormous conflict of interest. As the fifth in line for the governor’s seat, how were his professors supposed to honestly grade his work? Did they feel obligated or pressured to pass him knowing the power he holds over their jobs? And why is John Thurston calling his management degree a degree in “economics.” Seems a bit of a stretch, unless you want to become State Treasurer.
Can we trust him to manage our money if he is still lying about his education?
People from our own party have accused John Thurston of being lazy and taking “an absentee approach to the job.” Of course he was absent from his job, he was in class! Is this distracted, multi-tasking approach really what we want from the person controlling our state’s money?
John Thurston simply lacks the experience to be State Treasurer. Who in their right mind would hire someone just out of college, with no financial background or experience, to manage a 12-billion dollar budget? And did he go after this degree while in office, knowing his term limit was approaching, just so he could stay in power? Uneducated, inexperienced, untested, and power hungry? What could go wrong?!
Can we trust John Thurston, who for years falsely called his “school” a college and his certificate of completion a “diploma,” to manage our money? His “school’s” favorite “educator,” televangelist Kenneth Copeland, has an estimated net worth of $750 million dollars and decades of financial misconduct allegations. Will John Thurston follow the footsteps of his mentor?
If he’s comfortable falsely inflating his educational credentials, what else might he be comfortable falsely inflating? Do we really want to find out?
