Phony Diploma: City Election Mud

Oh man, Philip Cortez, your false UTSA master's degree claim has cost you the Express-News endorsement, and just today conservative radio talk-show host Adam McManus contacted the Current to see if we knew some way to get ahold of you (Why? We aren't close with the phony diploma crowd, just the fake Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse, Inc., pastors): No doubt McManus has a red hot seat (not a diploma) with your name on it.

What's sad is the City Council district you were hoping to represent is none other than the home of disgraced former Councilman Enrique "Kike" Martin, who was caught in 2002 and was sentenced in 2005 to 13-months in federal prison for taking bribes in exchange for votes (the same fate of former Councilman John Sanders, whom Kike helped line up for bribers, too).

After Kike imploded, there came the current and outgoing District 4 Councilman, Richard Perez. Though he's no SEIU or San Antonio Toll party favorite, Perez didn't campaign on CV lies.

Before Cortez's public administration master's claim was found out to be false, he'd been deemed the frontrunner (and the former aide to old-Mayor Ed Garza even got Perez's endorsement over challenger Manuel Navarro).

Which begs the question: will the Southsiders only have ethical leadership every other councilman? 

Update: December 7, 2014, 9:05 a.m.
This article has been updated to clarify some confusion with the organization that is the subject of this article, Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse Inc. (themonastery.org), and the wholly unaffiliated but similarly named Universal Life Church (ulcnetwork.com).