Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis was revealed to be a plagiarist, and the state's largest newspaper is calling for him to drop out of the race. As the Denver Post explains:
If you put your name on something and take money for it — a lot of money in this case — it is your responsibility to make rock-solid sure it is bona fide, original work that will stand up to scrutiny.
The state's chief executive must be someone Coloradans can believe in as the state suffers a stretch of tight budgets and a struggling economy.
If Scott McInnis cannot be trusted to turn in what amounts to an overpaid term paper — without plagiarizing someone else's work — there is no way he can be relied upon to guide Colorado through these complicated times.
Then again, maybe he should stick it out. He's such a fine representative of the Republican Party. Let the voters decide.
Update: [by Joan] The Denver Post had some more ammunition to back up its call for McInnis's withdrawal.
A new example of possible plagiarism by Scott McInnis surfaced Tuesday as the Republican gubernatorial candidate faced calls to repay $300,000 he received for plagiarized essays on water that he submitted as "original works."
A Denver Post review of McInnis' floor speeches and columns published during his congressional career found striking similarities between a 1995 speech and 1994 column by McInnis and a previously published Op-Ed in The Washington Post.
Who knows how much more material they've got to spring on McInnis. No word yet from the Colorado GOP on their preference. There hasn't been a lot of polling done, but in a SUSA/Denver Post poll last month, McInnis had a commanding lead over primary opponent Dan Maes, 57-29. And Maes has his own issues, having just had to pay a $17,500 fine for campaign finance violations.
...Further update, the researcher speaks:
Yesterday, Mcinnis did issue a statement addressing the original revelation of plagiarism. "It's unacceptable, it's inexcusable, but it was also unintentional," he said. McInnis continues to blame a researcher, Rolly Fisher, for the incident. "I made a mistake, and should have been more vigilant in my review of research material Rolly submitted," he said.
Fisher did not return a phone call from TPM, but when reached by the Glenwood Springs Post Independent he said only "Scott's responsible for it" and refused to comment further.
-- Joan