Colorado Candidate for Governor Admits Plagiarism

by Anne Landman — July 20, 2010 - 3:30pm
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Scott McInnisScott McInnisColorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis admitted plagiarizing an essay that a Colorado foundation paid him to write. In 2004, the Hasan Family Foundation of Pueblo hired former Colorado Congressman McInnis for a two-year fellowship and asked him to write a series of essays about water policy. The Foundation paid McInnis $300,000. When Colorado journalists raised questions about McInnis' writings in early July, McInnis admitted plagiarizing an essay he wrote for the Foundation from a 20-year-old work created by Gregory Hobbs, who is now a Colorado state Supreme Court Justice. McInnis issued a statement calling the plagiarism a "mistake," and the Hasan Foundation demanded McInnis return the $300,000 they paid him. McInnis agreed to pay the money back, hoping this would help "put the matter behind us." The Foundation issued a statement saying McInnis performed "only a fraction of the work he was obligated to perform under the terms of his fellowship," and after an internal review found that " ... of the little work that [McInnis] did, he has admitted it was neither fully completely by him, nor fully original." McInnis issued a statement blaming the plagiarism on a research assistant, Rollie Fischer, who is now 82 years old. Fischer told a Denver TV station that the McInnis campaign tried to force him to sign a statement taking blame for the plagiarism. Three of McInnis' campaign staffers have resigned since the plagiarism issue emerged.

Main Source: 
CBS4Denver.com, July 16, 2010

Comments

Pagiarism? It depends who is doing it, eh, Bunky.

Submitted by boroka (not verified) on July 28, 2010 - 2:55pm.

There is a long, very long, list of celebs who published and gained fame on the basis of plagiarized material. That list should be attached to the above article, or at least referenced. But you would not be interested. The reason is that the list includes such "ikons" as JFK, FDR, Einstein, Joe Biden et al...
What about the "PhD" dissertation of Martin Luther King?

plagiarism

Submitted by M.Ruthe (not verified) on July 26, 2010 - 4:57am.

It is astonishing that some people still think they can get away with plagiarism in this day and age. I work in higher education and we work hard to instill in our students the principles of academic honesty. Most of those who try to cheat go are found out, especially with the technology available today to detect plagiarism. It is a sad sign of the times when senators try to cheat and expecting to get paid for it!