Mayor resigns

The attorney general hasn’t yet said if he will prosecute Patti Galle for potentially lying about her degree

By Kara Hansen

The West Linn Tidings, Apr 22, 2010

Patti Galle resigned from the office of mayor last Friday. This photo was taken from a 2008 debate.

File photo by Vern Uyetake / West Linn Tidings

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The West Linn City Council declared the mayor’s office vacant at a special meeting Monday after Patti Galle stepped down from the position amid a state investigation.

Galle resigned early evening Friday. Earlier in the week, an affidavit filed at the Clackamas County Courthouse revealed that Galle bought her degree from an online university and backdated the document after the state began investigating whether she lied about her education in election materials.

In an e-mail to the city manager Friday, Galle said, “I believe that it is in the best interest of the City of West Linn and all concerned parties that I tender my resignation as Mayor, effective immediately.

“I do this with much regret but I am honored to have had the opportunity to serve the citizens of the city,” she wrote. A note at the bottom of the message said Galle’s office keys, city-issued debit card and a signed resignation statement were headed to city hall via certified mail.

Despite the intense state scrutiny, Galle has maintained that the investigation was a matter of university accreditation and stood by her degree, which uses her maiden name, Patricia Bologna, and was allegedly issued in 1973 from Redding University. The California-based online institution is considered a diploma mill by Oregon standards.

But there was a bigger problem with Galle’s degree, according to the Oregon Department of Justice.

Redding University was established in 2003, three decades after Galle claims to have obtained her diploma.

Department of Justice agents on April 1 searched Galle’s home on Hillcrest Drive and seized her Redding University associate degree, a cell phone, computer, phone bill and computer receipt from Redding University. Authorities also seized a laptop computer from Galle’s former office at West Linn City Hall.

In a search warrant affidavit, investigator Steven McIntosh said he believes Galle committed crimes by knowingly providing false information and presenting a diploma from an unaccredited institution as a legitimate degree.

He came to that conclusion after a lengthy investigation that began with a citizen complaint more than a year ago.

Galle claims ties to Animal Liberation Front may have led to lost paperwork

Galle’s attorney, Jeffrey Seymour, showed the West Linn Tidings a copy of the mayor’s degree at his Lake Grove office last month.

Seymour, a real estate and small-business attorney who used to live in West Linn, said he’d look into whether the newspaper could have a copy. He never supplied one.

He said Galle hired him after the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office began looking into a complaint about vague information in her 2008 voters’ pamphlet statement. When she filed to run for mayor, she said she was “degreed in English” but didn’t list a school or graduation date.

In July 2009, Galle told a state investigator she had taken courses at San Jose City College in California before transferring to San Jose State University, where she said she obtained a bachelor’s degree.

When the investigator found no record of Galle at the university, she responded that the FBI investigated her in the 1970s for her affiliation with the Animal Liberation Front – the animal rights group, classified as a terrorist threat by the FBI that took root in 1976 in England.

Galle said the FBI may have lost her records.

But if the FBI had requested records, San Jose State would copy documents, not turn over the originals, the university told investigators.

Seymour, the attorney, said a deeper investigation into the lost records would be a difficult and expensive undertaking for Galle to finance on her own.

Investigators follow string of claims

In February, Seymour sent the state a copy of Galle’s degree in English from Redding University, which doesn’t offer classes but instead awards degrees for life and work experience.

An associate degree costs $375, according to Redding’s website. The university also offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees and doctorates. For an extra $45, applicants can choose grade-point averages for their transcripts.

Redding also allows applicants to select their own graduation dates.

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