DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa state lawmaker said Thursday that he didn’t mean to mislead anyone by claiming he had a business degree from a company that actually had awarded him a certificate for participating in a training program when he worked at Sizzler.
Sen. Mark Chelgren’s biography on a website run by Iowa Senate Republicans had listed that he had a degree in business management from Forbco Management school. The information was removed Wednesday after NBC News reported that Forbco Management is a California company that operated a Sizzler franchise.
Chelgren told The Associated Press that his clerk first provided the credentials to Senate Republicans, which then circled back with him.
“It was given to me to approve and I thought it was adequate,” he said.
Ed Failor, a spokesman for Iowa Senate Republicans, confirmed Thursday that Chelgren’s bio was updated after the NBC report and that Chelgren doesn’t have a college degree. Failor declined to comment further.