Cooking up a campaign? Aspiring governor misled voters that he had an economics degree (when it was really home economics). 'I have said all along that I will not or do not lie' said Dave Spence. British Daily Mail

Muddle: Dave Spence admitted that he had misled voters in Missouri - and had not really attended the state's business school.

Rival: Democratic Governor Jay Nixon

A businessman making his debut political campaign has been forced to make an embarrassing retreat over his academic credentials.

Dave Spence, a gubernatorial candidate for Missouri, was forced to change his online biography after it wrongly said that he attended business school and held an economics degree - when in fact it was a diploma in home economics.

Spence, 53, has been focusing on his business acumen in his campaign for governor in the 2012 elections.

He also acknowledged that his campaign had  distributed fliers wrongly asserting that he was a student at the University of Missouri business school.

The biographical adjustments come as Spence - a St Louis businessman - has been travelling the state to ramp up his challenge to Democratic Governor Jay Nixon for the 2012 elections.

Spence, 53, actually has a degree in home economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

The biography on his campaign website originally omitted the word 'home' while describing his economics degree - a fact first reported earlier this week by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Spence later acknowledged that the description may have been misleading. Spence's website was changed yesterday to remove any reference to a degree, stating merely that he attended the University of Missouri-Columbia. 

Later on Thursday, the website was changed again to provide a more elaborate description of his college experience.


His website biography now states: 'After high school, Dave attended the University of Missouri-Columbia where he majored in family economics and management (also known as consumer economics) and earned a Bachelor's of Science degree in Home Economics.'

It wasn't the first time that Spence's biography had to be changed. A Spence campaign flier that was distributed at a Republican Party event that Spence attended on December 6 in St. Louis claimed: 'After high school, Dave attended University of Missouri-Columbia School of Business and earned a degree in Economics.'


Spence never attended the university's business school. His degree in home economics was awarded through a different school at the university.


Spence said yesterday that he didn't know his campaign materials had included the business school claim.


He told the Associated Press: 'I have said all along that I will not or do not lie. A lot of this is overblown, as I was not aware of any place that said business school.'


Spence later added: 'I will take responsibility for this. I did not catch the mistake on early campaign literature.'


Spence campaign manager Jared Craighead said the statement about the business school was a 'staff oversight that was corrected'.

The flier distributed in December also listed the wrong dates for when Spence had received awards from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce.

The Missouri Democratic Party said that Spence's education assertions are more than mere oversights.


State Democratic Party spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki said: 'If David Spence can't tell the truth about something as basic as his college degree, Missourians shouldn't believe a word that comes out of his mouth. This guy is just shameless.' Courtesy of British Daily Mail.


Our addition:


Poor Home Economist Spence: Even the British Daily Mail headlined the story of Spence's lies about his college credentials. How can a man worth $265,000,000 and lives in $8,000,000 mansion become a local, national, and global laughing stock? Is this the man we want to be Missouri's next Governor?

Doesn't home economist Dave Spence look nice in a chef's hat?

Visit these links: 

New Spence Video Features 1989 Article Featuring False Education Claims
Mo. gov candidate fibbed on bio

Spence changes website to reflect home economics degree

What else is Home economist Spence hiding?