A false claim will certainly get anyone nowhere – and pull an otherwise good-performing man down.
A report on The Eagle shared what can only be called as the rise and fall of a University administrator at Texas A&M. Alexander Kemos joined the University in March 2009 as associate executive vice president. According to comments shared in the story, he had the right combination of skills and credentials that allowed him to perform rather well in the various capacities in which he served at the school. He eventually rose to become the senior vice president for administration, serving as foremost adviser to the president. The post also included oversight over non-academic operations.
Kemos was described as “extremely knowledgeable” and a “problem solver.” His good performance certainly did not put into question his claims of having served as a Navy SEAL and holding a master’s and a doctorate degree from Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Joseph Newton, Dean of the College of Science, was quoted by The Eagle: “I think everyone you talked to would say he was a very competent guy. I’ll be frank with you. I didn’t care one way or the other if he was a Navy SEAL or a Ph.D. I just wanted him to do good things. And as far as I could tell, he was doing good things.”
Such good performance, however, cannot downplay the fact that he was claiming to be someone he was not. For one, claiming to be a Navy SEAL is considered a violation of the Stolen Valor Act and carries with it possible imprisonment. Kemos had no record of military service, according to officials.
Alexander Kemos resigned last June 18.
July 2nd, 2010 - 9:27 pm
PS By the way, a 23 year old kid is currently sitting in a jail cell for faking his way into Harvard. His name is ADam Wheeler. All who knew him in high school say what a wonderful kid he was. He is now charged with 20 criminal counts and faces up to 50 years in prison for “identity fraud” and “pretending to hold degrees” and other acts.
No, the kid doesn’t live near GH Bush,, and isn’t friends with a former president GW Bush, and wasn’t auditioning to be chief staff to Jeb Bush should he become president.
I guess there are two kinds of people in this world: One like Kemos, who has friends named Bush and so — expect to do no jail time; the other kind who don’t — and so, currently face 50 years in prison for stealing $45,000 from a private university — a fraction of the $300,000 that Alex Kemos stole from taxpayers.
Sorry that The Eagle is a free press and was able to out the Bush’s pal, Alex Kemos. But Kemos and his university enablers all deserve jail time in my opinion.
No man is above the law.
Everyone liked Adam Wheeler, too, in high school. And he did the work at Harvard and got A’s as well as other grades. He almost got a Rhodes Scholarship.
But, like Alex Kemos, Adam Wheeler robbed a deserving person of all those benefits through his fraud.
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It is kind but erroneous of you to describe Kemos the way you did. You should have quoted the students who wanted recommendation letters from Kemos so they could apply to the Navy SEAL program, but could not obtain such because: he was a fake SEAL.
You should have quoted faculty and staff he fired, to find out if they agree he was so great, as maybe they were unfairly fired.
People who have fake credentials are dangerous to the population in general, because they are constantly seeking to keep their secrets. Consequently, the students at Texas A&M who listened to his Navy SEAL stories and believed him, and asked for letters of reference Kemos could not and never wrote, is a tragedy for those youth and for the Navy SEAL program.
Good people who might have been far better than Kemos in his “newly created position” and perhaps got fired solely for being competition for him, also lost their livlihoods and careers thanks to a fake, and that indeed does happen with fakes.
The reason his new job required advanced degrees is because he had the authority to fire people.
Do you think a first week private in the army should be firing a five star general?
Or that if the private is doing a good job, it really doesn’t matter if he wears a five star general’s uniform and calls himself that, or if he calls himself what he is, a private?
Alex Kemos deserves some serious jail time. There are many people who work very hard, complete their degrees, and would do a fine job if given the opportunity, but they don’t get the opportunity when a fraud like Alex Kemos gets veterans preference for being a Navy SEAL and isn’t even one.
He also stole more than $300,000 from taxpayers.
I am disappointed that your site cares more about defending a fraud than seeing him in jail, where he belongs.