Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) faced criticism after an investigation by a news outlet in his home state claimed — like Rep. George Santos (RN.Y.) – embellished part of the résumé.
An investigation by WTVF-TV Nashville found that Ogles, who was sworn into office last month, has a background “filled with exaggerations,” such as claims on his congressional website that he is an economist and “studied policy and economics.”
There is no evidence to support the claim, according to the TV station, and his alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University, refused to confirm the nature of the degree from there.
A look back at Ogles’ website more than two decades ago reveals a statement that he studied foreign policy and the Constitution at Middle Tennessee State University and Western Kentucky University.
Western Kentucky told WTVF that Ogles majored in English and allied language arts in the 1990s.
Ogles’ résumé from two years after graduating from Middle Tennessee State University in 2007 said he earned a degree in international relations with minors in psychology and English, the TV station reported.
Ogles’ inconsistencies between his website biography and his résumé aren’t the only questionable part of his past.
Ogles also claims he has the role of “executive director” for author and economist Arthur Laffer’s side economics center, however, Laffer told Insider that Ogles primarily works in fundraising.
“I didn’t know he had that title. The title is not very important for the office. We all clean the plates,” said Laffer, who added that an economist is someone who works in the field of economics and a Ph.D is not a requirement to be called an economist.
The Republican also said he is a former member of law enforcement. In one of the debates, he said that he was working to fight international sex crimes, especially child trafficking.
However, Ogles was a volunteer reserve sheriff’s deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and lost that role after two years “due to failure to meet minimum standards, lack of progress in field training and failure to attend required meetings,” according to WTVF.
A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office told the station that Ogles’ training or personnel files do not indicate involvement in international sex trafficking.
The news outlet reported that people associated with the anti-trafficking non-profit Abolition International, where he worked in 2011, disputed how he described the role.
Ogles serves as chief of operations, a part-time role at the nonprofit, and told Washington Watch that he “doesn’t really want to get too involved in the fight against human trafficking.”
A press secretary for Ogles did not respond to a request for comment from WTVF.
You can read more of WTVF’s report here.
Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
A spokeswoman for Ogles responded to Insider after the Republican’s subsequent report and called the site’s story “another attempt by the liberal media to make something out of nothing.”
“It’s a simple case of condensing the resume for the sake of brevity on the campaign trail, and partisan hacks trying to turn it into a title for clicks,” said the spokesman in an email.
HuffPost has reached out to Ogles’ office via email for additional comment.