Irony Alert: Spokesman for Big Fracking Company Lied About Having a Degree in Ethics

[JPZenger]

http://marcellusmonitor.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/range-resources-spokesman-matt-pitzarella-misrepresented-education-credentials/

"an investigation into his education reveals that Pitzarella never earned a degree through Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Marcellus Monitor received this email from the university’s Director of Communications, Tammy Ewin in response to our inquiry into Pitzarella’s degree:

'Matt Pitzarella does not have a degree from Duquesne University. He attended from the spring of 2004 through fall 2004 in the master of science in leadership and business ethics program.' "

[Xipe Totec]

1. That's just fabulous. nt

[blue neen]

2. Hmm. Do you suppose that lying about your education is part of the PSYOPS campaign...

...the one that Matt Pitzarella is so famous for?

"In his forum called “Designing a Media Relations Strategy To Overcome Concerns Surrounding Hydraulic Fracturing,” Range Resources communications director Matt Pitzarella explains how to "overcome stakeholder concerns" surrounding fracking."

“We have several former psy ops folks that work for us at Range because they’re very comfortable in dealing with localized issues and local governments,” Pitzarella said. “Really all they do is spend most of their time helping folks develop local ordinances and things like that. But very much having that understanding of psy ops in the Army and in the Middle East has applied very helpfully here for us in Pennsylvania.”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-fracking-industry-admits-to-employing-military-psychologial-operations-on-american-citizens-2011-11#ixzz2qPWFGX1n

[JPZenger]

3. Thanks, blue, I hadn't noticed that was the same guy

[blue neen]

6. The best part is, he calls other people liars!

"Pitzarella is the controversial spokesman for Range, a leader in Marcellus Shale drilling, who has often made national headlines for statements made in high-profile litigation cases."

"In January 2012, he claimed a Texas man who sued Range for water contamination lied about problems he was having at his home."

"One website reports that Pitzarella said the man, Steven Lipsky, “deliberately falsified an internet video of his garden hose flaming.” Pitzarella also made national headlines when, at the Media & Stakeholder Relations: Hydraulic Fracturing Initiative 2011 conference he revealed in a presentation that Range hires veterans with combat experience in psychological warfare to influence communities in which the company drills for gas."

http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/13/range-resources-spokesman-matt-pitzarella-misrepresented-education-credentials

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Wow, two whole semesters.

And I wonder what his grade point average was. Or did he flunk out in the fall of 2004? Business ethics? Is that really a major? I guess that people who have a degree in ethics can't find any jobs....or so it would seem from the way it looks.

With the time he spent, and his "enhanced" resume, I could be a geologist if I followed his lead.

[blue neen]

5. Business ethics.

That's an oxymoron when it comes to frackers!

[Curmudgeoness]

7. I'm not sure if it is an oxymoron

when it comes to "business". I have been in the business community for years, and in the last 20 to 30 years, I see less and less of it. In fact, I have had bosses explain to me what they learned in some of their business classes, and it is less than ethical.

[blue neen]

8. True, that.

It's more contradictory. I guess what I really meant are that the words "business" and "ethics" don't belong in the same sentence when we're talking about frackers, or many in the oil and gas industry, for that matter.

[JPZenger]

9. Denial

The fracking spokesman now says that he never actually said that he had the masters degree. He just allowed a few extensive profiles of him in newspapers and magazines to somehow get the impression he had a masters degree, which they then printed.

What is interesting is that this guy is infamous for calling up reporters to complain about the most minor point in an article, but he didn't feel the need to correct blatantly false information about himself when it was printed.