Candidates Balance Harvard Connections

This past spring, Mitt Romney made an odd accusation of Barack Obama.

“We have a president who I think is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at Harvard perhaps,” Romney told supporters at a rally.

But so had Romney. Like the president, he graduated from Harvard with a law degree; in addition, he received an MBA from the Business School. Nevertheless, Romney was expressing a skepticism and disdain that is representative of much of the country’s opinion on degrees from elite institutions.

While there are many proud graduates of Harvard running for office, around the country some Harvard alums jockeying for a seat on Capitol Hill are doing their best to avoid “the H-word.” Sometimes an asset, sometimes a liability, a degree from Harvard has proved to be a touchy subject on the campaign trail.

THE H-BOMB

Joseph A. Selvaggi, the Republican challenging incumbent Stephen F. Lynch in Massachusetts’ 8th District, was strolling the paths of Harvard Yard only a few months ago.

Selvaggi graduated from the Kennedy School of Government this past spring and immediately entered the Republican primary.

While Selvaggi acknowledged that “the ink might still be wet on my diploma,” he’s not exactly quick to reminisce about his Harvard days, at least not on the campaign trail.

“I don’t lead with it,” Selvaggi said of his Masters in Public Policy. “I keep it, in a sense, close to the vest.”

Even when people ask directly about his time in Cambridge, Selvaggi says that he often deliberately refers to HKS as “the Kennedy School,” dropping the Harvard affiliation. “If you can avoid the H-word, and just say ‘the Kennedy School,’” he said, “that solves all your problems.”

The negative associations with Harvard can come from both sides of the aisle, according to Selvaggi. “As a Republican coming from the Kennedy School, some people are suspicious, like I’m a Manchurian candidate if I’ve even set foot in Cambridge,” he said.

There is also a concern from Republican Party leaders, that a candidate with a Harvard degree might not be conservative enough on certain issues. “[People worry] that you’re not willing to beat the drum of partisanship if you’ve spent enough time in Cambridge, [that it might] soften your perspective.”

Paul Heroux, another Kennedy School graduate who is running for Congress, has found that while many supporters have no problem with his Harvard connection, his degree can rub opponents—and perhaps undecided voters—the wrong way.

“I think my supporters like the fact that I went to Harvard,” he said, “and [I think] my opponents don’t like the fact that I went there…they take cheap shots about it.”

But even though he lists his Masters in Public Policy along with his other education on all mailings and campaign literature, Heroux said he leaves his Harvard spirit behind when he is on the campaign trail.

“When I’m knocking on doors talking to people, I never mention it,” he said. Heroux said he also does not mention his degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the London School of Economics.

“I’m also not running on the fact that I worked in a prison or that I’ve worked as a teacher. What I’m running on are the issues. So having that [degree] on my resume is nice, but it isn’t one of my talking points,” Heroux said.

A spokeswoman for Congressman Lynch, who also received a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School, declined to comment for this article.

FINDING THE POSITIVES

Scott N. Howell, a Democrat challenging Republican Senator Orrin Hatch in the Utah Senate race, said he is upfront about his Harvard experience.

Howell completed Harvard Business School’s Executive Education program in 2003 with a grant from his employer, IBM.

He also served on the Kennedy School’s Harvard Policy Group.

“We actually highlighted it [on the campaign trail],” Howell said of his Harvard connections, “because I think that the experience I had there was really relevant about the unification process of what government could be, should be, what it is, and what it isn’t.”

If anything, Howell said, he has encountered more positive than negative reactions to his time at Harvard.

“The stigma’s actually been positive,” he said. “Educated voters appreciate it. Sometimes people might look at you and say, ‘you think you’re better than us,’ but to be honest I haven’t really encountered that.”

Sean Bielat, another Massachusetts Republican who is challenging Joseph Kennedy in the Massachusetts’ 4th District, has also found a place for Harvard in his campaign. “I don’t de-emphasize Harvard,” he said.

Instead, Bielat said he looks to stress how he ended up at Harvard—through hard work and scholarship funding from the GI Bill—a message he believes has a positive impact on voters. “I don’t necessarily come from a family where it was a big tradition to go an Ivy League School,” he said.

A QUEST FOR CREDIBILITY

Despite Selvaggi’s tendency to keep his Harvard degree “close to the vest,” he said that he has found that a connection to Harvard gives him credibility among some voters. “People assume [that] if you’ve been vetted by Harvard you must not be a dope,” he said.

In fact, Selvaggi said that he was motivated to enroll at the Kennedy School in part to get experience in the political sphere and bolster his legitimacy as a candidate.

“My aspirations have always been to get into politics, into public service,” said Selvaggi, who previously ran a small business that sells children’s toys. “My hope in going to the Kennedy School was to learn how policy affects the business climate and the climate of serving the average citizen.”

Heroux said he also saw the Kennedy School as sort of a primer in politics. He decided to pursue a Masters in Public Administration “because that was a very flexible program where I could take courses on a wide variety of different things that concern the public sector, stuff that I didn’t have much of a background in,” he said.

Congressman James R. Langevin enrolled at the Kennedy School while serving as a representative in Rhode Island’s State House because he “was looking to become a better legislator,” he said.

While Langevin said he does not lead off his stump speech with a reference to his Cambridge days, Langevin is adamant that his experience at Harvard has been a great asset.

“I learned valuable lessons about decision making and governance in general,” he said.

“I’m always proud to say that I went to the Kennedy School.”