In Case You Missed It: Plagiarism Brouhaha
“A Young Staffer? That’s Who Wrote Lifted The Simmons Plan To Revive Prosperity?”
That Character Issue Didn’t Last Long.
Daily Ructions Blog
By Kevin Rennie
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Sputtering Republican U.S. Senate aspirant Rob Simmons declared at Tuesday’s debate that a party reveals its character by the candidates it nominates. Nominate me, he seemed to suggest, and you will wrap your party in my rectitude. Rut-roh, good thing Simmons didn’t press the point beyond his non-sequitur. There’s a plagiarism brouhaha brewing in Camp Simmons and it’s revealing more than sticky fingers on other people’s work.
Seems Simmons has been ballyhooing as his own a small business plan that is just like the one developed by National Federation of Independent Business. The plan disappeared from the Simmons campaign website shortly after the AP made inquiries into the provenance of the Simmons plan. All those meetings with state businesses while Simmons was Jodi Rell’s small business advocate appear not to have inspired sufficient original thoughts in the three term former congressman to devise his own plan.
As disappointing is Simmons passing off the blunder on a “young staffer who borrowed the words without attribution,” according to his campaign manager, Jim Barnett. A young staffer? That’s who wrote lifted the Simmons plan to revive prosperity?
We know character when we see it, and it’s not on display at the Simmons campaign today.
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For more information, contact the Linda McMahon for Senate Press Office, 860-244-2010.