Sharon Vanorny
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes broke some news in our Aug. 8 cover story, “Barnestorming.” In the profile, Barnes voluntarily revealed that he had not graduated from Alabama A&M University because of one incomplete class.
“Honestly, it would have never come up if I never said anything,” Barnes told Isthmus. “Nobody would have ever known.”
However, one reporter knew something was amiss months ago.
Since the story was published, Isthmus has learned that Steven Potter, a contributor to Isthmus, sought to confirm Barnes’ graduation status while fact-checking a yet-to-be published article for a different Wisconsin publication. He first contacted Alabama A&M in January. After months of back-and-forth with the university, Potter wasn’t provided a definitive answer on the lieutenant governor’s graduation status. He was eventually told he would need written authorization from Barnes in order to be granted this information.
Potter attempted to do just that on July 10 at the lieutenant governor’s Capitol office. When he presented a one-sentence release for Barnes to sign, the lieutenant governor asked his chief-of-staff Fred Ludwig, “You want me to sign it?”
“We might want to run that by legal,” Ludwig replied, according to Potter.
Barnes didn’t sign the release and Potter was rebuffed by his staff when he subsequently followed up. When asked about the release, Earl Arms — a spokesperson for the lieutenant governor — says Barnes is focused on working with the university to get his college diploma.
“In light of numerous inquiries into his personal life, Lt. Gov. Barnes decided to take initiative and disclose his misunderstanding with Alabama A&M to Isthmus, which the school also acknowledges,” Arms wrote in an Aug. 12 email. “The lieutenant governor maintains he has finished all his coursework.”
Barnes told Isthmus he “absolutely” did the work to earn a degree.
“It’s not something I’m ashamed of,” Barnes said. “Now, if I got kicked out of school or flunked [out], that would be totally different.”
After Isthmus’ story ran, Alabama A&M spokesperson Jerome Saintjones confirmed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Barnes attended the university for 10 semesters but didn’t graduate. He said Alabama A&M is working with Barnes to “resolve the matter which resulted in the incomplete grade."
Barnes’ admission to Isthmus was picked up by a number of media outlets that reported that the lieutenant governor had misled the public.
During a November 2018 interview, Barnes twice told the Journal Sentinel that he “finished” college in 2008, leading the paper to report he was a graduate of Alabama A&M — an error many other media outlets, including Essence, al.com and the Milwaukee Press Club, have made in the past year. An Associated Press story on Aug. 8 — “A year after telling public otherwise, Mandela Barnes says he hasn't completed college degree” — prompted a “BREAKING” alert on madison.com.
In August 2018, Barnes returned a Wisconsin State Journal candidate survey that said the lieutenant governor held a “B.A. in broadcast journalism.” Arms says the response was an error made by a former campaign staffer and the lieutenant governor regrets “the oversight.”
“Lt. Gov. Barnes has always been transparent when asked about his graduation status,” Arms told the Associated Press. “From his time as a state representative through now, Lt. Gov. Barnes has stated that he attended Alabama A&M, not graduated.”
Conservative talk radio, predictably, had a field day at the lieutenant governor’s expense.
Dan O’Donnell, WISN AM 1130 talk show host, claimed the lieutenant governor has “been lying about his college degree for his entire career.”
“The issue, obviously, is not whether Mandela Barnes graduated from college. For goodness sake, Gov. [Scott] Walker didn’t graduate from college,” O’Donnell said during his Aug. 9 broadcast. “It’s the dishonesty and quite frankly the lame excuse-making…. It’s a silly story but it reveals quite a bit about the man’s character.”
After making a series of false claims about Barnes, WISN talk show host Vicki McKenna addressed the latest headlines about the lieutenant governor. She dubbed him “the lesser Mandela.”
“I’m surprised he’s not suggesting that the reason he was a victim of a technicality is because of racism,” McKenna said on her Aug. 8 broadcast. “Let’s give him some time to ponder how he might conjure that excuse for his lie.”
McKenna also belittled Barnes for studying broadcast journalism.
“You know what Mandela. I promise I will set my snark aside. If you would like me to help you complete your lame, mail-it-in, basket-weaving major, as a personal tutor I will offer my services for free,” said McKenna. “You and I will get through your major in, I don’t know, a weekend?”
