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Franco Columbu and his phony Ph.D.
Board member still claims Ph.D.
Schwarzenegger friend on chiropractic panel got a cease-and-desist order.
By Kevin Yamamura - Bee Capitol Bureau
Last Updated 12:23 am PDT Thursday, April 12, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4
One of two personal friends Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed to the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners last year had received a cease-and-desist letter in 2004 from the board ordering him to stop advertising a doctorate from an unaccredited correspondence school.
The board closed former bodybuilder Franco Columbu's case in 2004 after he was "educated," said Brian Stiger, the board's interim executive director. But Columbu still advertises on his personal Web site that he has a "Ph.D. in nutrition" as part of a sales pitch for a $200 personalized nutrition and training program. Stiger said he would investigate.
Columbu, who trained with Schwar-zenegger and was best man at his wedding, is one of four board members facing legislative scrutiny after they admitted running afoul of open-meeting laws and declared they wanted the board to better serve chiropractic interests. Board Chairman Richard Tyler, also a former friend of Schwarzenegger from his bodybuilding days, apologized at a recent legislative hearing for the panel's actions.
In 2004, Columbu claimed on his letterhead a Ph.D. from Donsbach University, an unaccredited school once run by Kurt Donsbach, a controversial alternative health salesman. Donsbach pleaded guilty in 1996 to smuggling illegal drugs and tax evasion and is most famous for running the unlicensed Mexican hospital at which Coretta Scott King died in 2006.
The cease-and-desist letter alleged that Columbu violated a false-advertising law, informing him the board was unable to find "credible evidence" that Donsbach University was a "duly accredited postsecondary educational institution." The board told him to stop claiming his Ph.D., and the case closed once Columbu provided sufficient proof he had done so.
As of Wednesday, Columbu's Web site still used his Ph.D. to sell nutrition and training consultations at a cost of $200 per half-hour. The site proclaimed, "A two-time Mr. Olympia, Franco is also a Doctor of Chiropractic with a Ph.D. in Nutrition and an expert in Sports Medicine and Kinesiology."
Columbu did not return phone calls seeking comment.
The state allowed Donsbach University to do business in California during the 1980s, according to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education. But the school, which no longer exists, was never accredited and is on a list of colleges banned from public use in Oregon and other states, said John Bear, an expert who co-wrote "Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas."
"There is no legitimate university that would accept that degree or those credits," Bear said of the Donsbach diploma. "To me, it's a worthless degree, but I'm well aware there are people who use them. ... Either they are not bright enough to know they're using a worthless degree, or they know it and they're intentionally trying to fool people."
Assemblyman Mike Eng, D-Monterey Park, said Wednesday he believes Columbu and other board members "would really do a great service to the governor and the people of California to tender their resignations." Eng has been particularly concerned that board members have broken public meeting laws and ignored personnel protocols in the past.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said his office would not disclose whether it was aware of Columbu's cease-and-desist letter before the governor appointed him to the chiropractic board. But the governor stands by Columbu and other board members. "We thoroughly reviewed Mr. Columbu and believed and still do believe he is qualified to serve the people of California," McLear said.
Another board member appointed by Schwarzenegger in February, Frederick Lerner, claims a Ph.D. in electromedical sciences from City University Los Angeles on his biography at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
CULA is unaccredited and is no longer approved by the state Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education. The school maintains a Web site on which it cites recognition from Nigeria to operate.
Lerner said he did course work and a dissertation on electromedical sciences, which he described as the application of electric currents on humans and animals.
"That school was completely legitimate when I went through my course of study (in 1985)," Lerner said. "Where it is now, I don't know."
Cease-and-desist letters similar to Columbu's were part of a board controversy last summer. Several chiropractors at the board's August meeting complained about enforcement letters and actions they faced, directing their ire at board consultant Maggie Craw, who also wrote the letter to Columbu.
Tyler and Columbu seemed most receptive to chiropractors' concerns at the August meeting. Columbu declared that the Schwarzenegger administration has done a better job of filling board vacancies, which would result in board members taking more control in the future. He concluded by saying, "We are back on board and have a quorum now, and you can relax more, OK? Thank you."
The crowd, full of chiropractors, applauded.
Tyler became chairman March 1 at a meeting in which the board inappropriately fired former Executive Director Catherine Hayes, ejected a deputy attorney general and took premature actions it will review next week.
Eng and Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, are concerned the board now has swung too far in favor of chiropractors over consumers. They are preparing bills that ultimately will ask voters to change the 1922 Chiropractic Act and make the chiropractic board more accountable to the Legislature and the Department of Consumer Affairs.
"We ... have to communicate in no uncertain terms that we mean business and intend to restore public confidence," Ridley-Thomas said.
**broken link removed**
Board member still claims Ph.D.
Schwarzenegger friend on chiropractic panel got a cease-and-desist order.
By Kevin Yamamura - Bee Capitol Bureau
Last Updated 12:23 am PDT Thursday, April 12, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4
One of two personal friends Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed to the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners last year had received a cease-and-desist letter in 2004 from the board ordering him to stop advertising a doctorate from an unaccredited correspondence school.
The board closed former bodybuilder Franco Columbu's case in 2004 after he was "educated," said Brian Stiger, the board's interim executive director. But Columbu still advertises on his personal Web site that he has a "Ph.D. in nutrition" as part of a sales pitch for a $200 personalized nutrition and training program. Stiger said he would investigate.
Columbu, who trained with Schwar-zenegger and was best man at his wedding, is one of four board members facing legislative scrutiny after they admitted running afoul of open-meeting laws and declared they wanted the board to better serve chiropractic interests. Board Chairman Richard Tyler, also a former friend of Schwarzenegger from his bodybuilding days, apologized at a recent legislative hearing for the panel's actions.
In 2004, Columbu claimed on his letterhead a Ph.D. from Donsbach University, an unaccredited school once run by Kurt Donsbach, a controversial alternative health salesman. Donsbach pleaded guilty in 1996 to smuggling illegal drugs and tax evasion and is most famous for running the unlicensed Mexican hospital at which Coretta Scott King died in 2006.
The cease-and-desist letter alleged that Columbu violated a false-advertising law, informing him the board was unable to find "credible evidence" that Donsbach University was a "duly accredited postsecondary educational institution." The board told him to stop claiming his Ph.D., and the case closed once Columbu provided sufficient proof he had done so.
As of Wednesday, Columbu's Web site still used his Ph.D. to sell nutrition and training consultations at a cost of $200 per half-hour. The site proclaimed, "A two-time Mr. Olympia, Franco is also a Doctor of Chiropractic with a Ph.D. in Nutrition and an expert in Sports Medicine and Kinesiology."
Columbu did not return phone calls seeking comment.
The state allowed Donsbach University to do business in California during the 1980s, according to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education. But the school, which no longer exists, was never accredited and is on a list of colleges banned from public use in Oregon and other states, said John Bear, an expert who co-wrote "Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas."
"There is no legitimate university that would accept that degree or those credits," Bear said of the Donsbach diploma. "To me, it's a worthless degree, but I'm well aware there are people who use them. ... Either they are not bright enough to know they're using a worthless degree, or they know it and they're intentionally trying to fool people."
Assemblyman Mike Eng, D-Monterey Park, said Wednesday he believes Columbu and other board members "would really do a great service to the governor and the people of California to tender their resignations." Eng has been particularly concerned that board members have broken public meeting laws and ignored personnel protocols in the past.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said his office would not disclose whether it was aware of Columbu's cease-and-desist letter before the governor appointed him to the chiropractic board. But the governor stands by Columbu and other board members. "We thoroughly reviewed Mr. Columbu and believed and still do believe he is qualified to serve the people of California," McLear said.
Another board member appointed by Schwarzenegger in February, Frederick Lerner, claims a Ph.D. in electromedical sciences from City University Los Angeles on his biography at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
CULA is unaccredited and is no longer approved by the state Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education. The school maintains a Web site on which it cites recognition from Nigeria to operate.
Lerner said he did course work and a dissertation on electromedical sciences, which he described as the application of electric currents on humans and animals.
"That school was completely legitimate when I went through my course of study (in 1985)," Lerner said. "Where it is now, I don't know."
Cease-and-desist letters similar to Columbu's were part of a board controversy last summer. Several chiropractors at the board's August meeting complained about enforcement letters and actions they faced, directing their ire at board consultant Maggie Craw, who also wrote the letter to Columbu.
Tyler and Columbu seemed most receptive to chiropractors' concerns at the August meeting. Columbu declared that the Schwarzenegger administration has done a better job of filling board vacancies, which would result in board members taking more control in the future. He concluded by saying, "We are back on board and have a quorum now, and you can relax more, OK? Thank you."
The crowd, full of chiropractors, applauded.
Tyler became chairman March 1 at a meeting in which the board inappropriately fired former Executive Director Catherine Hayes, ejected a deputy attorney general and took premature actions it will review next week.
Eng and Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, are concerned the board now has swung too far in favor of chiropractors over consumers. They are preparing bills that ultimately will ask voters to change the 1922 Chiropractic Act and make the chiropractic board more accountable to the Legislature and the Department of Consumer Affairs.
"We ... have to communicate in no uncertain terms that we mean business and intend to restore public confidence," Ridley-Thomas said.
**broken link removed**
