Legal Commentary

Weds: New Plagiarism Allegation Against Scott McInnis

By Jeralyn

Colorado Repubublican gubernatorial hopeful Scott McInnis, a former Congressman, yesterday blamed a plagiarism faux-pas on an engineer/researcher.

What about today's new and second allegation? The Washington Post says he plagiarized a column that appeared in its paper in 1994 in a column he wrote for the Rocky Mountain News and orally in a speech on the House Floor.

Allen and Plunk's piece was published Nov. 9, 1994. McInnis' was published Dec. 21, 1994, and he made the speech on Jan. 25, 1995. In one passage, Allen and Plunk wrote, "There is a growing popular belief in South Korea that the North has outmaneuvered Washington and marginalized the South's role."

McInnis column said, "There is growing South Korean sentiment that North Korea has outmaneuvered Washington and marginalized the South's input into this issue." In his speech, McInnis said, "There is growing popular South Korean sentiment that North Korea has outmaneuvered Washington and marginalized the South's input into this issue."

McInnis: Run along now, it was just staffers. [More...]

"In Congress, you have lots of staff. I had hundreds of pages a day go out of my congressional office with my signature on it. We have no idea of the base material," McInnis told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "Of course I had assistants writing that."

Colorado Pols has more.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 14, 2010 (boomark / email).