Posted on 05/20/2006 11:32:57 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who is running for state attorney general, has stopped claiming he won a football scholarship to Harvard University and an Academic All-American award while there.
However, he still claims "a brief stint" as a professional football player even though a Canadian team has no record of him, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Delgadillo has touted his athletic and university accomplishments in speeches and campaign ads over the past few years, along with his legal and political experience.
However, the city attorney acknowledged earlier this month that he never played in a professional football game and that he received financial aid from Harvard but not in the form of an athletic scholarship.
"The Ivy League does not permit" athletic scholarships, said Robert Mitchell, a Harvard spokesman.
As for the All-American honor, Delgadillo actually received an honorable mention for the award.
City attorney spokesman Jonathan Diamond said the words "honorable mention" inadvertently were left off Delgadillo's city Web site.
"It was pointed out. It was corrected," Diamond said.
The campaign of Jerry Brown, the former governor also seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general, called on Delgadillo to apologize.
"Mr. Delgadillo is refusing to take responsibility for false claims," Brown campaign spokesman Ace Smith said Saturday.
Delgadillo's campaign responded Saturday night with a statement acccusing Brown of trying to deflect attention away from the race.
"Jerry Brown should be ashamed that his campaign is obsessed with Rocky's academic and athletic accomplishments instead of coming up with a plan to deal with crime in California," the statement said.
On the Web site for Delgadillo's campaign for attorney general, "a brief stint as a professional football player" is mentioned.
Delgadillo signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League and reported to training camp but was cut before he could play, Brad Blank, a sports agent who represented Delgadillo, told the Times.
"He never played for the team, never claimed to. That was the extent of his stint as a professional football player, and he has never claimed otherwise," said Roger Salazar, Delgadillo's campaign spokesman.
Team spokesman Rom Halverson said he could find no record of Delgadillo being signed to play for the team and added, "if he didn't play, he wasn't a Tiger-Cat."
This is a misleading claim. The IVY's offer "alumni scholarships" for athletes. Technically it's not directly from the university but from "generous" alums. I know first hand since my freshman roomate had one.
If a bra were this padded, the girl's nickname would be "Dolly."
Another Democrat who has difficulty telling the truth.
Best of luck to Jerry Brown. If his opponent has been so free to embellish these meaningless things, do we really need someone like that as AG?
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