The only candidate for a three-year term on the Newcastle Board of Selectmen withdrew from the race Friday, May 15.
Edmee Dejean withdrew the day after The Lincoln County News contacted her about misrepresenting her academic and professional background in an interview about her candidacy.
The article “Newcastle candidate aims to cut taxes” in the May 7 edition reported that Dejean “holds several academic degrees, including doctorates in philosophy and political science from Louisiana State University and the University of Louisiana.
“She was a junior high teacher early in her professional career and a federal government employee from the 1980s until her retirement and subsequent move to Newcastle in 2000.”
The Lincoln County News received a tip after the publication of the article that Dejean had misrepresented her background.
Dejean acknowledged that she does not have a doctorate degree in an interview Thursday, May 14.
She does have an Associate of Science degree in law enforcement and two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. She provided copies of those degrees.
She maintained that she was a federal employee. As proof, she offered a letter from the St. Martin Parish School Board in Louisiana.
According to the letter, Dejean was an employee of the school board from 1981-2001. She was an eighth-grade teacher for six years and the coordinator of the federal drug-free program for 14 years.
Dejean said she was always paid by the school board, which received federal funds for the latter position. Dejean said she did other work directly for the federal government, but said she could not provide proof of that work.
Dejean withdrew as a candidate for selectman the next day. She cited “unforeseen circumstances” in a brief letter submitted to the town.
Dejean expanded on the reasons for her withdrawal and her statements about her academic background in a Friday, May 15 letter emailed to The Lincoln County News.
Dejean spent more than $40,000 and “hundreds of hours” of academic work to earn doctorate degrees, she said in the letter.
“In 2001, I learned it was a mail-order university scam,” Dejean said. “I was duped.”
She was too proud to tell her family the truth, she said.
“I used the word doctor in my campaign materials and I was wrong,” Dejean said. “I thought I deserved it, for I had done so much studying and writing of papers. I did not deserve it, for the university was a scam that foxed me. My ego became as large as my personality has always been.
“For the past 15 years I have lived and worked amongst y’all. I have volunteered tremendously, working about 20 hours a week free of charge. I love Newcastle but I hurt you and I am ashamed.
“I have visited with hundreds of you at your homes in the last few weeks. You told me your frustrations regarding our high property taxes. … Thank you for the time you spent with me.
“I am sorry that I used a title I should not have used. I hope you can forgive me in time. I am going to take a leave of absence from all activities I am involved in to re-evaluate my life and refocus.”
Dejean was a Newcastle cemetery trustee, a member of the Newcastle Veterans Memorial Park Committee, and the recording secretary for Newcastle’s appeals board, design review committee, and planning board.
She resigned from those positions Friday, May 15.
Dejean also serves as treasurer of the Newcastle Historical Society and sits on the Lincoln County Democratic Committee Executive Committee and the Lincoln County Television Board of Directors. She was the democratic committee’s office manager during the 2014 campaign.
The Lincoln County Democratic Committee, Lincoln County Television, the Newcastle Historical Society, and the town of Newcastle all refer to her as Dr. Edmee Dejean on their websites.
Dejean’s decision to withdraw from the race leaves the town without a candidate for the seat on the Newcastle Board of Selectmen. Three-term Selectman Pat Hudson will step down from the seat when her term expires next month.
“It’s a shame (Dejean) dropped out, and now we’re back in the hunt for another candidate,” Newcastle Board of Selectmen Chairman Brian Foote said.
“Anybody who’s willing to step up to be a write-in candidate” should call the town office at 563-3441 or talk to a selectman, Foote said. Each selectman’s contact information is available at www.newcastlemaine.us.
The candidate should be “interested in town politics and moving the town forward,” Foote said.
Newcastle will elect town officers June 9. The polls will be open at the River Road fire station from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
