Editor's note: Kerrville voters are being asked to choose their best candidates for mayor and two city council seats in the May 5 election. Last week, issues related to mayoral candidate Roman Garcia came to light. We believe this issue should be made public to all Kerrville residents before early voting begins on April 22nd. The media's duty is to inform and educate voters about the candidates, and we continue to do so. to that task.
—
Last week, on his campaign website (https://roman4kerrville.com), Kerrville mayoral candidate Roman Garcia described himself in a post as a “dedicated public servant for the people of Kerrville.” and lists most of the activities in which he has been involved. For the past eight years, many of them are from when he was in high school, and he also listed his educational background.
On Wednesday, Kerr County principal owner Luis Amestoy confirmed the post, which listed Garcia as having a “bachelor's degree in political science” with minors in law and finance from Texas Tech University. I paid attention to that.
Amestoy decided to check the information and contacted Texas Tech University, where he was told “there is no record of that degree.”
“One of the things candidates get misleading is their academic background,” Amestoy said.
Mr. Amestoy emailed Mr. Garcia on Thursday, asking him to verify his claim that he earned a bachelor's degree from Tech, but it took 10 hours for a response to be sent. Meanwhile, that night, his website post was updated to read, “Studying at Texas Tech University.”
In an email to The Lead, Garcia said he did not intend to provide misleading information.
During his re-election campaign last year, Garcia told Community Journal that he enrolled in online classes at Texas Tech University and was working toward a bachelor's degree.
“I am currently attending Texas Tech University. It was never my intention to mislead or mislead the public regarding my education. As you know, I am committed to the utmost transparency and honesty. “To that end, my website has been updated to reflect my current academic status,” Garcia wrote in an email to Amestoy last Friday.
“While it is unclear how Mr. Garcia's unforced error will affect the campaign in a high-stakes election, it raises sufficient questions about the accuracy of Mr. Garcia's resume,” Amestoy said. added.
Both The Lead and the Hill Country Community Journal received numerous inquiries regarding Garcia and his incorrect listing of his educational background on his website.
Asked by Community Journal at Friday's meeting, Garcia denied the post was posted in error and denied changing anything on the website. When told that we had downloaded both posts, Garcia quickly ended the conversation and left.
After being asked to provide further details about his educational background, Garcia updated his campaign website information on Monday, saying he had completed 30 percent of the required hours for a bachelor's degree (36 hours completed online). He said there was. You can see that you are enrolled as a full-time student (13 hours or more) as of November 2023.
Texas Tech University and all other state universities in Texas require a minimum of 120 hours of coursework to earn a bachelor's degree. If you do the math, Garcia is currently in the first semester of her sophomore year. Asked how many hours he currently has, Garcia was unable to respond.
Garcia was first elected to the Kerrville City Council's 1st seat in May 2021 at the age of 19. He was re-elected in May 2023. He is recognized as one of the youngest elected representatives in Texas and Texas. Nation.
His opponent in the mayoral race, current Place 3 City Councilman and former Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr., declined to comment for this story.
