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July 13, 2010 04:40 AM UTC

BREAKING: McInnis Water Articles Massively Plagiarized

  • 245 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

TUESDAY PM UPDATE #3: Fox 31’s Eli Stokols:

Cole Finegan, managing partner at Hogan Lovells, formerly Hogan & Hartson, where McInnis was employed prior to taking a leave of absence in January of this year, would not discuss whether the apparent plagiarism case would jeopardize McInnis’ possible return to the firm.

He emphasized the firm was not involved…

“I think there are a lot of Republicans, smart Republicans, around the state who are scratching their heads right now saying, ‘We pushed Josh Penry out of the race to get this?’,” said Eric Sondermann, a political analyst. “It is black and white. This is something everyone learns early on, that you don’t take credit for someone else’s work.”

TUESDAY PM UPDATE #2: Just in from the Colorado Statesman’s Ernest Luning–ladies and gentlemen, we give you Bob Schaffer’s revenge.

Perhaps the most telling message…was a straight-faced tweet from Fort Collins Republican Bob Schaffer, who lost a U.S. Senate bid in 2008 to Democrat Mark Udall in a race McInnis said – on the eve of the election – that he could have won.

“Family Foundation miffed it paid $300k to congressman for plagarized work & no-shows,” read a message Schaffer sent Tuesday morning to his Twitter followers… [Pols emphasis]

A week before the election, with Schaffer down in the polls, McInnis boasted to the online news site The Colorado Independent that he “would have beat Udall,” and said his “biggest threat was getting through the primary.” He blamed “radical elements” in his own party for thwarting his ambitions.

TUESDAY PM UPDATE: Scott McInnis chooses his response…poorly. 9NEWS’ Adam Schrager:

“This is a non-issue if it’s not a political year. Voters don’t really care about this issue. They care about jobs, getting back to work.” McInnis told 9NEWS…

More realistic appraisals of the situation are considerably bleaker:

[9NEWS Political Analyst Floyd] Cirulli says the way McInnis handles the situation, especially over the next 24 hours, could have a major impact on his campaign.

“It could end his campaign, frankly, I think it’s that serious,” Cirulli said. [Pols emphasis]

TUESDAY AM UPDATE #3: In a statement from Colorado Ethics Watch, Director Luis Toro opens a more serious discussion of consequences:

The reports that Congressman McInnis’ water essays for the Hasan Family Foundation contained plagiarized material, if true, raise serious questions about McInnis’ compliance with the ethics rules that apply to all Colorado lawyers.  The Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct specifically warn lawyers against conduct involving dishonesty or misrepresentation and against failure to adequately supervise their non-attorney staff. [Pols emphasis]

TUESDAY AM UPDATE #2: The Colorado Statesman’s Ernest Luning has more from Malik Hasan, as well as a response from McInnis’ primary opponent Dan Maes:

“I think it’s important that we find the truth out, and if the truth reveals (the articles were) indeed plagiarized, it ultimately is the congressman’s responsibility no matter who did it,” Maes told The Statesman. “He can try to lay it on someone else, but ultimately, it’s his responsibility.”

Maes – who has had his own run of bad press recently over campaign finance allegations – stopped short of condemning his opponent. But that didn’t stop him from tweaking McInnis: “Maybe he isn’t as well versed in water as he leads everybody to believe he is.” [Pols emphasis]

If the articles were plagiarized, McInnis might have to refund the money he was paid to write them, Maes suggested.

“I think he should be subject to whatever laws or policies apply in this situation if indeed he did plagiarize,” Maes said. “And if returning the money is one option, it should certainly be considered.”

Something tells us Maes has another “option” in mind for McInnis, too.

TUESDAY AM UPDATE: A statement from the Hasan Foundation:

In light of the accusations against Scott McInnis regarding plagiarism of articles to the Hasan Family Foundation, I am shocked, angry and disappointed.  Any work related to the fellowship that Mr. McInnis submitted was always represented as final.  At no time, whatsoever, did Mr. McInnis communicate that any of the work were “rough drafts.”  Any representation that they were submitted to the Foundation as “rough drafts” is absolutely incorrect.

In addition, there were never discussions nor any knowledge by the Foundation that Mr. McInnis was working with a “research advisor.”  If indeed Mr. McInnis was working with a “research advisor,” it was never brought to our attention, nor authorized.  The work that the Foundation hired Mr. McInnis to do was to be done solely by Mr. McInnis, and not in concert with anyone else…[a]ll work was represented to be original and final.  We will conduct an independent, internal investigation and if the allegations are proven to be true, we will demand Mr. McInnis return all monies paid to him by the Foundation.

A very bad story for GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis is in the process of breaking at the state’s newspaper of record, as well as at least one television station–all rolling out as we write.

Passages from McInnis’ “Musings on Water” articles, for which he was reportedly paid some $300,000 by the Malik and Seeme Hasan Foundation, have been found to be both word-for-word lifted, as well as subject to easily identifiable token changes from an original article printed in 1984 by now-Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs in the periodical Colorado Water Rights. Here’s a link to the original article from the CSU library, surprisingly easy to Google:

http://digitool.library.colost…

And below the fold you’ll find McInnis’ “Musings on Water” articles. Scroll to page 125, find this:

And if you look at page 7 of the Summer 1984 issue of Colorado Water Rights, you’ll find this:

This being one, small, example of what appears to be a major problem for Scott McInnis’ “sweet” $300,000 deal. We’ll leave the rest crowdsourced for now–there will reportedly be more in the paper tomorrow from this and other writings of Justice Hobbs’, and by the time that publishes in the morning we expect our readers will have found a significant number among the two documents we’ve linked to in this post (start in McInnis’ “Green Mountain Saga” article beginning page 107). This was not some isolated case or missing footnote. It’s widespread, and it’s obvious.

We hope it goes without saying, given that our readers are generally college educated, that such pervasive plagiarism as you will find in these two documents goes well beyond anything acceptable–we remember having this beat into our heads in college; there is probably nothing more terrifying to an undergraduate student than being accused of lifting somebody else’s work.

And folks, do you remember a man named Ward Churchill? It’s our understanding that, uh, Colorado Republicans really frown on academic fraud. The funny thing about Churchill was how few responsible people on the left were willing to defend him, even though there are free speech and political implications all over that story. The reason was simple: he was a plagiarist.

We’ve seen a few knockout punches against Colorado candidates in our time: Bob Schaffer and Jack Abramoff, Rick O’Donnell’s trip to Panama, and Bob Beauprez had three or four race-ending blows–he was nominally still in at the end, but not by much.

Tell us this doesn’t have “spend more time with my family” written all over it.

UPDATE: 7NEWS has much, much more. Here we go.

The campaign for Republican candidate for Governor Scott McInnis has admitted that substantial sections of an article he wrote on water rights was copied from a previously published work, the CALL7 Investigators have learned.

A McInnis spokesman claimed a research advisor provided the content, but in the end, the work was submitted for publication under McInnis’ name…

“Justice Hobbs should have been cited. It is regrettable. It’s inappropriate,” said McInnis spokesperson Sean Duffy on Monday.

7NEWS’ investigative team found at least five major examples, not including the one we cited above. And we can already tell you there are more. It’s called a “disaster.”

McInnis Water Articles

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245 thoughts on “BREAKING: McInnis Water Articles Massively Plagiarized”

    1. On top of the McInnis article, the Denver Post has an article about Maes’ campaign violations.  Then, the Post has an editorial, “Maes’ fines are a big deal.”  The sub-heading states: “Though the GOP candidate has addressed campaign finance violations, they raise questions over whether he can govern.”

      Ouch!  You’d have to expect that the Post will now write an editorial questioning the governing potential of McInnis, as well.

      Add the great piece about Michael Bennet titled, “Bennet praised as reformer” and it’s a great day to be a Colorado Democrat.

  2. This could hurt – a lot.

    If I were in the race rankings business, this story alone would probably drop the race from the top 5 gubernatorial contests in the country.  This kind of damage could lead to GOP nominee Dan Maes, which is in turn almost certain to lead to Governor Hickenlooper.

  4. Certainly civil. Perhaps criminal? $300k? Wow.

    And there’s no way to dismiss this as a “youthful indiscretion.” This is so far beyond undergraduate plagiarism. There, the stakes are low and you’re paying for the privilege. Here, well, there’s a sweet $300k at stake.

    Off on a totally different tangent…I wonder if or when the Hasan Foundation knew of this. It might explain the general reluctance of all parties to release the water articles in the first place, eh? A little dirt previously swept under the carpet? Pure conjecture, of course, but still…

    1. Dear Friends:

      This evening, the Denver Post and other news organizations are reporting on a story about questions surrounding portions of a fellowship that Scott held with the Hasan Foundation after he returned to the private sector in 2005.

      The specific charge is that portions of draft articles on water law and history should have carried attribution to a water article from the 1980s written by then-attorney Gregory Hobbs.

      In order to complete this very extensive project for the Foundation, Scott retained a very experienced Coloradan with deep experience in the law and history of complex water issues.  Rollie Fischer served for 28 years with the Colorado River Water Conservation District and is known throughout the Western Slope for his expertise.

      In discussions with Rollie today, he indicated that the research material in question that he supplied to Scott should have been attributed to Justice Hobbs.  While, in talking with him, we believe that this was in no way a deliberate act, the similarities speak for themselves.

      Rollie Fischer has apologized for this error.  Rightly believing that the buck stops with him, Scott has taken full responsibility for this, and will be reaching out to Justice Hobbs and the Hasan Foundation to express his regret.

      Sincerely,

      Nancy Hopper

      Campaign Manager

      2. Did Scott McInnis or Rollie Fischer write the piece containing the plagarized material?

        Even it Mr. Fischer wrote it, Mr. McInnis lied to the Hasan Family Foundation by representing it as his original work.

        And second, if Mr. McInnis wrote it, he knew he was utilizing Justice Hobb’s original work.

        Neither circumstance leaves Mr. McInnis in a good position.

        Enough of the double speak Mr. McInnis – answer the quesiton straight up. Your response to Channel 9’s Mr. Shrager was nothing more than evasion. It is time for honesty.

        1. 1) If McInnis really did not know that the contents of his paper were plagiarized at the time he that turned them over to the foundation then when did he discovered that these articles were compromised?

          2) What actions did McInnis take upon learning of the problems with his articles?

          3) Who did he discuss his discovery with and what were their responses?

          4) Had he ever read Hobb’s original work and did he recall thinking about it when he did his article?

          5) Who wrote the actual article and who reviewed it?

          6) Why didn’t the foundation have the article reviewed for editing and content to make sure that the submitted article met their standards?

          7) Didn’t the foundation think that it was a little fishy to submit an article without any footnotes?

      3. McInnis’ campaign can’t even spell Rolly’s name correctly although Scooter has known the Fischers for most of his adult life. Nothing like stabbing your friends in the back to save your campaign — and $300,000.

        Besides, McInnis never would have paid Rolly for the work — Scooter’s too tight! No wonder Rolly won’t fall on his sword for McInnis.

  5. You can’t get away with this!  To pass work done by someone else as your own is despicable.  To get paid $300,000 for it is worse.  To use the work of someone so prominent is totally idiotic.

    If this is all true, McInnis is done, and the only good thing about this is it’s coming out before he was the nominee.

    1. If this is true (and so far it’s looking like it’s prevasive), then I don’t see how McInnis has a prayer in the General.

      And if the GOP primary voters take time to look at this, it could lead to a Maes win.

      1. Got an email from Dan today and he’s having a car show this weekend, $10 minimum to enter to raise some more funds.

        I would presume everyone who enters gets his tank topped off with Dan writing it off on the campaign.

        1. A guy who claims to be entitled to $40,000 for “mileage,” versus a guy who submits blatantly plagiarized work (the parts that aren’t written like a high schooler, anyway) for $300,000.

      2. Scott is taking responsibility for the mistake,  nice to see someone man up after a mistake instead of saying it’s no bid deal and kinda sorta like “parking tickets”.  The thing is that the media gets bored easily and will be forgotten even before people get the primary ballots.  The general public will forget and realize that it was an honest mistake and he took responsibility for it and will be understanding.  Soon enough this race will be back to the issues that need to be addressed that pertain to the future of our state.

        1. .

          #1,

          nice to see someone man up after a mistake instead of saying it’s no bid deal

          Scott his own darn self said it was NO BIG DEAL:

          “This is a non-issue if it’s not a political year. Voters don’t really care about this issue.”

          #2,

          it was an honest mistake

          Actually, at its core it was a DIShonest mistake.  

          #3,

          he took responsibility for it

          Actually, he has blamed his “researcher.”

          .

  7. Note that in the Post Blog Spot “

    Rolly Fischer, an engineer who worked at the Colorado River Water Conservation District, Duffy said, was the one who handled the portions that used Hobbs’ work without attribution. “

    Rolly Fischer is a great individual who was the long-time Secretary of the Colorado River Water Conservation District.  He is a man of high regard, integrity and knowledge and well known to the water world – to attempt to pass the blame for the plagiarism off on Mr. Fischer is truly despicable.  Bad enough to have been caught, but to blame someone so respected is just atrocious.

    1. He doesn’t actually say that Rolly Fischer plagiarized or wrote, but rather that he “handled” that section. Hmmmm. What exactly does that mean?

       

      1. Look at the quote Pols put up. That’s not technical information or dense research. It’s just a fucking prosaic observation. So McInnis either purposefully defrauded the Hasans and everybody who read that paper, or the ghostwriter did it and McInnis is a fraud of ever claiming to be a “water expert.”

        Either way, he’s a FRAUD.

      3. .

        pure speculation follows.

        I think that the “Research Assistant” didn’t have any clue that he was drafting something for publication.

        He was asked to put together “briefing papers” to bring McInnis up to speed on water issues, so that the latter could then represent himself to be knowledgeable on the subject in public speaking engagements.  

        What he wrote was to go no further than McInnis, so rather than hurtin’ the old noggin to come up with original stuff, he mostly compiled stuff from other sources.  Rolly prolly only wrote introductions and recaps.

        .

        1. Hasan Foundation needed a loophole to “give” McLiarPantsOnFire 300K.

          Hasan Foundation: “Hey, Scooter, we want to do an end run around finance laws.. how can put 300k in your pocket?”

          Scott: ” I dunno, I guess we could make up some bullshit contract arangement that you’re paying me to do some sort of consultaion or service. How about I copy and paste some crap about water and you cut me a check?”

          Hasan Foundation: “Brilliant! What could go wrong?!”

          1. When this money was paid he was out of politics.  If they new he was gonna run for Governor in 2010 and somehow were thinking about buying influence I need to ask them what the next lottery numbers are gonna be so I can get me some cash.  Seriously, what are you smoking when you wrote that?

            2. don’t have long term goals? 5 yr plan? 10 yr plan?? Are you implying the DNC and RNC don’t groom candidates years in advance. Hell, most of them start planning their political goals in college and high school. And considering political offices have 2-4-8 year chunks, then  umm… yes I bet some politicians (like scooter) plan for some sort of ‘large office’ run years in advance.

              If only there were some patently obvious national example I could cite of some idiot who isn’t “currently in politics” not-so-covertly planning her own office run years in advance. 😐

              And to answer your question: God’s Treat

    2. Actually, Rolly Fischer quit under a cloud of suspicion at the water district in 1999…the usual dipping into the “slush fund” stuff. Rolly’s an old man now and it’s pretty lame for McInnis to throw blame on him. Especially now other reporters will dig into Fischer’s past descretions and connections to the McInnis family.

          1. reading that Rollie was the highest paid state employee when he was at the Colorado River Water Conservancy District?

            I remember a lot of eyes rolling and vague charges of him being a gravy train rider…apparently like his buddy Scooty.

            But, that was just a rumor…I think.

        2. Charles Ashby in today’s Sentinel

          Fischer retired in 1996 after The Daily Sentinel published a series of articles showing that the river district hired two companies operated by his wife, Tillie, without going to a competitive bid. Fischer was part owner of those businesses, which handled payroll accounts and general administrative functions.

          http://www.gjsentinel.com/news…

  8. That’s totally despicable. He is responsible for what is submitted in his name, he is the one representing himself as a “water expert.” So that’s two ways McInnis is a fraud.

    This is his doom: I don’t think McInnis will pull out, but he should. Ward Churchill comparisons are perfect justice.

    1. McInnis will now claim he was paid 300K for something he then subcontracted out for a couple of bucks – and kept the difference. That’s another message that will submarine his campaign.

      1. If Sean Duffy is to be believed, McInnis plagiarized twice

        Once when he claimed Justice Hobbs’ work as his own and once when he claimed the supposedly guilty researcher’s work as his own.

        You don’t get to subcontract an academic fellowship just like you don’t get to farm out your LSATs.

        2. This makes Biden’s law school incident and failure to attribute an anecdote look pretty minor (nobody paid him anything),   but I’m waiting for the righties to bring that up, demanding we all denounce Biden too.  And how could McInnis think that blaming this all on a ghostwriter, excuse me, researcher, somehow helps? Looks like he had no hands on role whatever in these articles accept for grabbing the money. Wouldn’t we all like to get paid that kind of money for getting someone to google someone else’s work and change a few word’s?  

          1. once before handing it in.

            There he is moonlighting from his day job as a lawyer/lobbyist and cranking out these articles via his staff for big bucks so why bother to actually read what they say.  All he has to do is swear that they are authentic and cash the checks.

            Oops.

            Who’s an incompetent manager now?

          2. Mr. McInnis was hired by the Hasan Family Foundation to write the articles. He needs background information so he calls his old friend Rollie Fischer so Mr. Fischer can point him in the right direction. Mr. Fischer either gives him copies of Justice Hobbs’ water policy articles or he tells Mr. McInnis where he can find them and after that Mr. Mcinnis proceeds to plaigarize Justice Hobbs’ work.

            1. Nobody has said that Mr. Fischer actually wrote the offending parts. All the statements from Duffy are very carefully parsed that way. Fischer either “handled” that or “was responsible” for the content or some such blather.

              I can believe that Mr Fischer provided the content, but as photocopies. It’s old material out of an obscure journal, so McInnis just thought, “What the hell”, and proceeded to type it in as his own words.

              That’s pure speculation, of course.

            3. Fischer pushes back and has documentation that the material was correctly attributed when he handed it over to McInnis.  That would mean that our lawyer/lobbyist took attributed material, stripped out the references and then represented it as authentic.

              Scotty do you see that white light bud.  It’s getting closer.

          3. .

            But I have no idea what you’re talking about.  Could you dredge it up for me, please ?

            I remember him using some of Neal Kinnock’s personal bio stuff in a couple of speeches without attribution, bookended by many similar speeches, but with attribution.  That was a cheap shot “gotcha” by a budding journo, that’s all.

            I’ve had stuff plagiarized, so I’m hypersensitive to that particular crime.  Joe didn’t actually plagiarize the Kinnock stuff; he just delivered some speeches poorly.  

            But the law school stuff, let’s get it on.

            .

            1. WASHINGTON, Sept. 17- Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., fighting to salvage his Presidential campaign, today acknowledged ”a mistake” in his youth, when he plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in his first year at law school.

              Mr. Biden insisted, however, that he had done nothing ”malevolent,” that he had simply misunderstood the need to cite sources carefully. And he asserted that another controversy, concerning recent reports of his using material from others’ speeches without attribution, was ”much ado about nothing.”

              http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09…

    1. 1. They have more information online about this breaking story than either the Post or 7NEWS. And it’s 100% original.

      2. They have snarkier writers.

      3. I’m not getting Dean Singleton rich by visiting.

      1. A bunch of conversation about it late last week.  I thought it was clever because if we can’t clip or link why not just never mention them again. Although I guess I just did.

        1. I was thinking there was some secret newspaper out there that actually practiced old school journalism.  It was some secret society that Jason heads up.

    3. sorry, which paper is that?

      I know when the NYT called itself the “Newspaper of Record”, it had a very specific meaning because they would literaly publish in the back pages incredible minutiae of government records, including police desk blotters, any small gov bureau or department meeting minutes, etc.

      What does it mean in this context?

      2. About four times in the court in the Bronx; phone company, others. He was a gambler and always owed money.  

        One advantage of having a very unusual surname, it narrows searches very easily.  

          1. It was real easy to search the NYT archives for “Benno Verizzo.”

            And using just “Verizzo” I also found my parent’s wedding announcement.  Can you imagine that a Coast Guard sailor and his working fiancГ©e would get a nod today from any paper, let alone the NYT?  

            They charge $4 per PDF download, a steal for family archives.

            Even the bad news ones!

  10. What is almost more disturbing after a bit of reflection is that not only is it copied but the topic is a current affairs issue (at the time)that was copied from a document written 20+ years earlier.  There is some innovative stuff going on over in McInnis land.

  11. What happens if McInnis gets passed the primary (my guess is it’s still gonna happen without him dropping out of primary) and then he decides to drop out, what are the rules for the republican replacement then? Appointment of a candidate? Special election for a candidate?

        1. .

          He asked me to consider switching parties and running as the GOP candidate against the Hickmeister.  

          Folks, the GOP Primary for Gov will not count; the vacancy committee meets August 8.

          I’m gettin’ my one suit pressed.

          I think my main competition is a retired General.  

          .

          1. I was on the vacancy committee for HD 33 when Groff took his position with Obama. Have no idea how that works for Statewide office.

            2. For the Dems, it is the State Central Committee.

              I think the GOP uses their Executive Committee which is smaller than the central committee.

            1. Penry must be kicking himself now for dropping out so soon.  Jumping in now is going to be a tough nut and the stain of Republican misconduct is going to be on which ever candidate the Republicans prop up.  Maes still has the stink of his campaign fines and McInnis is exposed to be a total fraud in word and deed.  Maybe Dick can resurrect Bill Owens and bury the mistress.  I don’t think a former governor is prohibited from running for office if they have sat out a term.  Owens is probably their best bet but he is carrying a lot of baggage of his own.

              1. Can you imagine the screaming if McInnis drops out, and then behind closed doors the Powers That Be come up with some candidate other than Maes?

                Especially after Maes got top spot on the primary ballot.

                No, the die is cast: It’s either Plagiarist McInnis or Expense Account Huckster Maes.

  12. I can’t help but think that McInnis MUST have made some public statement back during the Ward Churchill controversy about the plagiarizing professor and how he should be fired…

    I can’t find anything on the web, but surely he said something back at that time, in some venue, to somebody…

  13. What the heck is up with that? What about those water articles constitutes legitimate “attorney/client communications” OR “attorney work product”?

    (There’s actually no such thing as “attorney/client work product.” He’s mixing up two concepts.)

    McInnis is a lawyer. Massive plagiarism is an ethical violation for a lawyer, one would think.

      1. especially when you plagiarize someone who became a Colorado Supreme Court Justice.  If McInnis has half a brain cell left, he’s been on the phone to a lawyer who specializes in attorney discipline cases.

        1. Now that there’s talk that McInnis violated rules either against ethics or against not properly supervising his legal staff, it’s pretty hard for him to avoid both charges.

          His friend Rollie who he tried to throw under the bus was obviously acting as the staff for an attorney acting as an attorney – if McInnis is to be believed.

  15. … at a minimum, shouldn’t he be repaying the Hasan Family Foundation their $300,000?

    And shouldn’t they be demanding it back? If they don’t, then it becomes pretty clear that the $300K was a thinly disguised contribution for influence all along…

  16. But, a huge thank you to Jason Saltzman.  You continued to “flog” this “dead horse” story until someone finally decided to lift its tail and check for a pulse.  Congratulations.

    A word of personal advice to McScooter:  next time why not consider putting your wife on the payroll?  (You really seem to need some one checking to make sure things get done properly.)

  17. claiming that it is no big deal because Hickenlooper is also a plagiarist?  What a bitter disappointment for her to find out that Scotty isn’t the man he said he was.  The SS Scooter is taking on water (winky wink) and ready to roll over.

  18. Keep ruining the Colorado GOP brand boys.  As political operatives, YOU SIMPLY CAN NOT BUY THIS KIND OF PRESS.  Nothing in the world makes me happier than watching these corrupt motherfuckers implode.  Nothing.

    BTW…Libertad?  GOP Warrior?  COME OUT AND PLLLLAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!

    1. in an echo-chamber somewhere dreaming up lies about Hickenlooper. and How to implement them.

      Not to mention the chanting in that echo-chamber… “Mcinnis is honest”… “it will go away if we ignore it”… “Mcinnis is Honest”  

  19. .

    minor kerfluffel.

    All that has to happen to clear this up:

    +++ Scott refunds the money to the Foundation; and

    +++ his “research assistant” cops to the plagiarism.

    .

    1. First off a lot of people won’t buy that. Blaming an underling is not well received by the electorate (remember Rosemary Woods?).

      Second, there’s the question of what was going on if this other guy was writing everything. In that case, what was Scott being paid for. He’ll have that question dogging him the entire election – and there’s no good answer for that.

      Third, this looks to drag in a lot of people. The Hasan Foundation is going to have to speak about what they were actually getting for their 300K – and I don’t think they’re going to take a dive for McInnis.

      This is McInnis’ own little oil spill – the slime will keep spewing on him for the rest of the election.

      1. First thing I thought of when I read McInnis was trying to shift blame on some underling.

        The “blame the dead pilot” excuse won’t work for McInnis in this caper, because (so far) all the players seem to be alive.  

      2. First thing I thought of when I read McInnis was trying to shift blame on some underling.

        The “blame the dead pilot” excuse won’t work for McInnis in this caper, because (so far) all the players seem to be alive.  

        1. he can’t place all the blame on his “research assistant” without admitting he had nothing to do with actually authoring the “musings” (calling it “musings” an excuse for no foot notes, attributions, etc.?) and basically just took the money for nothing,  Seems a little late in the day for the Hasan foundation to be doing the “I’m shocked” routine, by the way. The story says the stuff was never so much as posted to their website until recently.  Victims or illegally contributing loads of cash?

           

          1. They trusted McInnis, being a Republican congressman, and one of their political idols, and were probably thrilled to have him write for them.  This should make the folks over in camp Hasan re-evaluate who their friends are.

            1. it was only by McInnis being too lazy to bother to give them anything they could plausibly have an excuse for handing him 300 K for. I’m sure, in exchange for that kind of money, they expected at least a fig leaf.  

      3. The Foundation is subject to strict Federal tax rules.  This could cause the Foundation to lose its federal tax exempt status.  That’s why you see that Scotty has been thrown under the bus by the Foundation this morning.  This could be big trouble for them.

        How ya doing this morning Sean and Wadhams?

    2. that he can’t spot influential works in the field and just blindly accepts whatever one of his underlings give him?  He is supposed to be the water expert so you would expect him to recognize writings by other influential figures in his area of “expertise”.

      Democrats on going to carve him up as the second coming of George Bush and nothing more than a figurehead.  He will be portrayed as someone with no new ideas who is manipulated without any control over what is going on.  This is as damning an indictment of incompetent leadership as it is a case of false attribution.

      Blaming the hired help is even more damaging because it shows that he is nothing more than another Republican who uses a whipping boy to escape accountability for his actions.  If nothing else it is going to convince the Tea Party crowd that they can’t trust him which is a valid point.  

      1. that McIgnorant didn’t read a single one of those articles he paid some dude a paltry sum compared to what he made off of his alleged work to furnish for him.  

    3. Sometimes it’s hard for me to tell. But “tempest in a tea party tea pot” sounds playful to me.

      Still, it’s worth considering because what you describe will likely happen, although hopefully with Scooter taking all the blame like a man.

      It won’t clear this up. That’s like running into an iceberg and just saying, “Oops! Let’s just back this thing up and sail around it.”

      It’s just way too damaging. No one will believe for a second that he would take any such action if this hadn’t become widely public knowledge.

      He likely will end up at least giving the money back, but probably only after some hemming and hawing that will ensure that his career in politics is finished off.

      1. .

        Ari, you see right thru me.

        There’s been lots of Baloney on this site about how Romanoff crossed some imaginary line and he was done for.  

        I would read the allegations and think, “inside baseball.”

        This, on the other hand, this is one that you don’t recover from.  Not that I can see.  This to me is worse than a criminal indictment.  Crimes can be explained away, if you’re a good enough orator.  But this is a lack of personal integrity.  

        Which leads me to disagree about him returning the $300K.  Why should he ?  He has no future in politics.

        .

        1. Which leads me to disagree about him returning the $300K.  Why should he ?  He has no future in politics.

          I agree that he’s finished, but somehow I’m not sure he has the chutzpah to keep the money. At the very least, I think (if they’re smart) the Hasan Foundation will probably ask for their money back, if not sue for it.

          1. .

            wants for chutzpah.  

            Now that the chief Rebbe in Yarushalam has ruled American Jews are not authentic Jews, I think I’ll reduce my reliance on Yiddish.

            .

            1. Just as Hebrew wasn’t the spoken language of Jews anywhere, since ancient times used only for study and prayer, until modern day Zionists recreated it for the modern state (the idea of using the German dialect, Yiddish, having been rejected) and nobody my age’s immigrant Jewish grandma ever heard of, much less prepared hummus, falafel or pita back in the old country which certainly wasn’t Israel. So go ahead and use all the Yiddish you want and enjoy borscht, lox and gefilte fish to your heart’s content.

              1. .

                I was trying to use the label “Yiddish,” and a couple of Yiddish words, to evoke the Ashkenazi tradition in general, which is mostly more moderate, but includes the Hasidic current that arose in Eastern Europe in the 1700’s.  

                I feel that there’s little harm done when I claim that Ashkenazi Jews aren’t “real” Jews (as I’ve jokingly done on this blog before) because,

                — first, my Ashkenazi brothers and sisters know I speak with NO authority on this subject, I am just trying to torque them off, and they blow me off; and

                — second, they know how strongly I feel about the Jewish state.

                And not in the sense of yer typical Millenialist Christian Fundie who needs Israel to succeed, then fail spectacularly, to fulfill fantasies about the Second Coming.  

                But when the Israeli Taliban takfirs the entire Conservative and Reform Traditions, it’s time to sit up and take notice.  

                .

                By and large, I think people should get to decide for themselves who and what they are.  My children, and BHO, get to decide if they are Caucasian.  I get to decide what kind of Christian I am, if any.

                When these guys

                http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

                get to say that my older brother, a convert, is not a Jew, they are mixing the ethnic and genetic with the religious.  From outside the Tribe, I don’t think that’s so good.  

                .

                1. Ashkenazi Jews include the Hassidim and all the most Orthodox groups though most American descendents have become a lot more casual. The Israeli orthodoxy is far and away mainly Ashkenazi which means roughly eastern and middle European descent. Sephardic Jews are of Spanish, Portuguese, Middle Eastern and North African descent. It’s a cultural distinction.  You can be orthodox or relaxed in the context of somewhat different practices and traditions with either ancestry.  

                  German Jews came up with Reform Judaism (for all the good Sunday services and organ music to blend in did them) and I’m pretty sure Americans came up with Conservatism.

                  In Israel a full 90% used to be completely secular. There were only two flavors in Israel: Orthodox and nothing. Most chose nothing while loving study of the bible as cultural historic heritage. The original Zionists were mainly socialist secular Jews who felt Jews needed a homeland.  

                  Now with so many “born again” American Jews (raised casually like me but now searching for Jewish identity. Hint: anti-Semites will let you know who you are) having emigrated to Israel and small but growing Reform and other movements there (hated by the Orthodox) I’m told the percent of self identifying religious Jews is growing but still far and away the minority.  

                  Due to the proportional representation government the religious minority still wields completely out of proportion power on all matters touching on religion, marriage, conversion, divorce, etc., not to mention other stuff. The guys with th the black coats, beards, big hats, etc. are all Ashkenazi.

                  There you go FYI  

                    2. moved to Israel in 1948. She was one of the original Kibbutzim. They didn’t allow a rabbi on the premises for over 50 years.

                      On a different note: Apparently, the ultra-religious parties always insist on the education ministry as a condition for joining a governing coalition. That, and continuing the exemption from military service for studying Torah. They’re the Israeli chicken-hawks – always calling for war, but never fighting it.

                    3. didn’t even recognize the state of Israel as the only Orthodox approved way of reestablishing the kingdom of Israel is by the Messiah coming and leading us all back.  

                      Was she by any chance on Mizra, one of the oldest (est. early 1900s by Russians) kibbutzim and very purely communist?  It’s located near Nazareth which was a main Christian Arab center and the Christian Arabs were the only ones who could raise pork in Israel as the rest of the land belonged to the Jewish agency, under the thumb of the religious, or to Muslims.

                      Kibbutz Mizra therefore became the wealthiest Kibbutz in Israel by buying pork from the Christian Arabs and making pork sausage for the 90% secular Jewish population. I spent several months there as a college kid working and participating in Ulpan (Hebrew immersion classes) with the Russian, Georgian, Polish and Ukrainian kids who were coming in then as well as European kids, taking a working vacation like us.

                      Broken Hebrew was the only way to communicate between western and Soviet block kids but all the Europeans spoke English and soon the Soviet kids were more interested in English than Hebrew as, while Israel was their only way out, the US was the goal for most.  

                      Mizra was so adamantly religion-is-the-opiate-of-the-masses secular that they made a point of serving pork for dinner every Friday night, the beginning of the Sabbath. Those who didn’t want pork had to get the vegetarian meal, always the better choice anyway considering the state of the art of cooking in early 70s Israel. Great produce, especially citrus. Awful cooking on and off the kibbutzim except for Arab street food like falafel and gyros.

                      And we had Arab student friends though the Kibbutznics despised them.  They dressed western style and wanted to practice English and took us to their restaurants. All of that is no doubt completely different now.

                    4. in the hills way up north. From the top of the hill you can the border fence with Lebanon. They grow apples there, and make armored cars, flak jackets, etc. They’ve done very well.

          2. McWaterExpert has the chutzpah to either plagarize the articles, or better, pay some shill to plagarize articles for him that he then passes off as his own, and then sells these off to some true-believers at $2,000 per page (who really don’t mind paying top dollar for their bedtime reading material), but he doesn’t has the “chutzpah to keep the money?”

            My guess is Scooter keeps the money, and that he has a huge future in politics . . . his ilk is the necessary fodder for the R-system (on one end or the other).

            (Besides, by using a ghost writier he can now bona fides as a job creator.)

            The really humorous shit will start tomorrow when we start getting the full-bore campaign spin.

            Denial ain’t a river in Egypt.

            1. .

              Sure, just not as a candidate.  Mentor.  Accomplice.  Wizened geezer, maybe.  

              AR supporters know I’ve been wrong before.  

              (Remember when the population of Pueblo was 250,000 ?  Neither does Pueblo.)

              But I just cannot see him getting a pass from Republican or conservative voters on this.  

              I’ll bet that he has already contacted the Bentster about filling in.  

              .

              1. which one of the two crooked fuckers gets a pass from the “‘conservative’ voters” in this primary.

                I’ll go out on a limb here and now, and predict that one of them will.

            2. Now his actions are out in the public. Giving back the money is his one chance to have ANY sort of life at all after this.

              I’m using “chutzpah” in the old, original sense of “describing someone who has over-stepped the boundaries of accepted behavior with no shame.” (Quoting from the wikipedia entry on it.) While the plagiarism fits this description, keeping the money now that everyone knows he plagiarized takes that overstepping of boundaries to stratospheric heights.

              Keep in mind that Scooter has to be able to continue making a living in politics somehow. (He can do it if he never runs for office again – guys like this simply find new roles. Think Oliver North or Jon Caldara.) Keeping the Hasans’ money – money from huge GOP donors – will ensure that he won’t ever get to do anything, anywhere, ever again. He wouldn’t be able to get a job as a janitor at Mesa State.

              He’s giving it back. He has to. He’s destroyed his chances of ever holding elective office, but that doesn’t mean he still can’t have a life in politics. Keeping the money would be the real suicide of his career.

              1. they were . . . but, likely never had anything to do will “Scooters Water Tales.”  (That’s one point from Saltzman’s articles that’s still not been fully examined.)

                Bet you that they would have paid $300 large for a plagarizede, dog-eared copy of “The Pet Goat” and not have blinked.  The value was never in the product, it was in the “author.”

                That fungible family donation to McInnis lives on in R-circles.

                1. I’m implying that, now that the shit has hit the fan, all the major GOP players have to do their part to clean it up. The Hasans may well have been happy to have such slipshod writing, although I bet they were hoping that some actual research and independent work had gone into it. But now? If they want to make sure this doesn’t sully their reputation with everyone, they have to say, Hey, this isn’t what we paid big bucks for. And at that point Scooter will have to give back the money, or the Hasans lose face. You think they, or any Republican, wants that?

                  1. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve almost never been able to wrap my mind around what any “Republican wants.”

                    You both may be quite right.

                    I’ve certainly enjoyed tonight’s discourse.

              2. .

                By which I mean, if I’d only taken the time to think about it, I might have come to the same conclusion.

                I give myself the  benefit of the doubt.  

                But the part about bowing out of elective politics, I cannot envision ANY way he stays in this race, unless he needs to beat Maes to throw this to the committee.

                .

                Did you just guess to push the “Ollie North” button, or have I posted how I feel about the guy ?

                .

                1. Since I’ve taken my breaks from Pols every now and again, I can’t answer for sure whether you have or not, Barron. Posted about North, that is.

                  I don’t know exactly how the drama of McInnis leaving the gubernatorial race and elective politics will play out. I only know that it will end with him not becoming Governor and never running for office ever again. But even if he doesn’t drop out now, is it possible that he could still win the primary?

        2. He will be the subject of what is known as a “grievance,” which will generate a formal investigation by the Office of Attorney Regulation.  This investigation could result in significant disciplinary measures, possibly a suspension of his law license or even disbarment.

          But, return of the $300k could be seen as a mitigator in the attorney discipline matter.

        2. You’re being a bit facetious, too, I think, with that crack about Scooter’s wife, but I don’t think it matters if he can immediately reimburse the Hasans or not. He’ll just have to pledge to pay them back and start making payments. I’m sure the details of any arrangement to pay it back won’t be made public.

  20. If the research assistant that McInnis hired to help him put his writings together is any sort of example of the sort of team that he would assemble to help him run the state then God(dess) help us all.

    Rule number one, if you are drawing on materials created by others always, always, always credit the source, ALWAYS!

    Fortunately for all of Colorado I don’t think McInnis has a snowball’s chance of getting elected.

  21. Not a good strategy. They botched the response already. Can’t reel it back in. Should have kept quiet until they came up with a better story.

  22. In retrospect it looks like he did himself a favor by laying low this summer and letting the Republicans implode in typically sleazy fashion.

    His campaign of just staying out of trouble and piling up cash looks brilliant at this point.  All the media attention will be focused on what fucked up candidates (no disrespect Barron) the Republicans are fielding.

  23. I don’t think this is near as bad for SM as everyone else does.

    Republicans have a long history of overlooking criminal and unethical behavior.  Circle the wagons.

    If McInnis survives the primary – highly likely, I believe – the independents won’t be quite so forgiving in the fall.

    JH can stay civil and seldom mention this, if at all, and the 527’s can keep the airwaves humming.

    Welcome, Governor Hickenlooper!

    In closing, where are our Republican friends????

    Crickets………    

    2. I’ve been supporting Hick all along, but this is just idiotic.

      How in the world did he think he wasn’t going to get busted for this?

      He’s even more of a jackass than I thought.

      2. …regardless of who you intend to vote for.

        My guess is that Scottie never thought down the road to “the future,” only saw that $$$$$.

        A trait we don’t want in our politicians.

  24. Pasted below is the press release I received last night from the Hasan Family Foundation – for note’s sake, I am NOT a member of the Hasan Family Foundation Board –

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Monday, July 12, 2010

    Statement from Seeme Hasan on Scott McInnis Articles

    Chairwoman, Hasan Family Foundation

    In light of the accusations against Scott McInnis regarding plagiarism of articles to the Hasan Family Foundation, I am shocked, angry and disappointed.В  Any work related to the fellowship that Mr. McInnis submitted was always represented as final.В  At no time, whatsoever, did Mr. McInnis communicate that any of the work were “rough drafts.”В  Any representation that they were submitted to the Foundation as “rough drafts” is absolutely incorrect.В 

    In addition, there were never discussions nor any knowledge by the Foundation that Mr. McInnis was working with a “research advisor.”В  If indeed Mr. McInnis was working with a “research advisor,” it was never brought to our attention, nor authorized.В  The work that the Foundation hired Mr. McInnis to do was to be done solely by Mr. McInnis, and not in concert with anyone else.В 

    The Hasan Family Foundation takes the issue of plagiarism extremely seriously. At no time was it brought to our attention that Mr. McInnis used information not cited or unethically used work that was not his own.В  All work was represented to be original and final.В  We will conduct an independent, internal investigation and if the allegations are proven to be true, we will demand Mr. McInnis return all monies paid to him by the Foundation.

      1. 1.  Who wrote this release, and how much did you guys pay for that?

        2.  May be a strategic error here.  This is only going to make people (and by “people,” I mean people who aren’t just pricks like me) wonder all over again why, why, why:

        “You paid how much, for what?”  “No really?”   “Really???????”

        I (still) think you got some splainin’ to do here.

          1. Again, I’m not on the Hasan Family Foundation Board, but the expectations of McInnis and a description of his fellowship work can be found on this page –

            http://www.hasanfamilyfoundati…

            Also – there’s some junk above that tries to imply that corruption was involved – I would suggest all to read the Colorado Statesman article linked, which further addresses the Foundation’s goals and the results –

            http://www.coloradostatesman.c…

            Again, I can’t speak for the Board, but in scanning the website, it is clear that the Hasan Family Foundation is proud to be involved in building the Hasan School of Business in Pueblo, pioneering the Colorado Music Fest, and giving fellowships to scholars like Akbar Ahmed, whose academic work has been pivotal in bringing American and Muslim relations must closer together

            Corruption? That’s just not in the mission statement – in watching the Foundation develop, I’m very proud of what the Hasan Family Foundation has done for Colorado and the world – McInnis, unfortunately, in my eyes, seems to be a sad blight upon a large amount of great work  

            2. Folks need to read the linked article before they shoot their mouths off.

              McInnis did not meet expectations that were laid out for his fellowship. Furthermore, his failures at providing what was expected seem to have led directly to the reason his fellowship was not renewed.

              In 2006, when it came time to consider renewing McInnis’ fellowship, Hasan said the former congressman’s job performance made the foundation’s decision an easy one.

              “The feeling was, if he did a good job, we would review it and extend it for another year or two,” Hasan said. “After two years, Scott called and asked if it would be extended. I said, ‘In good faith, I cannot recommend that to the foundation board.'” The fellowship terminated after running out its original period, Hasan said.

              This lies solely at the door of McInnis. Not the Foundation. Not Rolly Fischer. This is all Scott. And it’s about time for him to man up instead of tossing everybody and their grandma under the nearest moving vehicle.

              And for those of you that are relying on block quotes, I highly suggest you take the time to read the Statesman because there is some seriously juicy stuff in that article that is not to be found anywhere else.

            4. Congrats on your family’s foundation’s good works.  I truly mean it.

              However, so the funder, son and President of the Foundation make statements.

              Why am I supposed to believe them, when their federal tax exemption is on the line?  I’ll apologize if you can provide me with facts, not just conclusory statements.

              For me this has always smelled.  The fact that a very well funded Foundation got into this mess at all is very informative.

              1. Craig – as I mentioned above, I would encourage you to read the Colorado Statesman article – if that doesn’t answer your questions, I don’t know what will?

                Again, I’m not on the Board and cannot speak for the Board, but you seemed to be concerned of why the Board didn’t say something sooner

                First off – as noted by the Statesman, McInnis’s fellowship was not renewed – what did you expect the Foundation to do? Go to 9News back in 2006 and condemn McInnis? There was a system of accountability, clearly, and it was exercised – McInnis’s fellowship was not renewed

                Second – when calls came in that the water articles should be made available, the Foundation responded accordingly by putting the articles online for everyone

                Again, I can’t speak for the Foundation, but based on past articles, they relied on McInnis to describe his work and he did little to disclose what his work was – now the Foundation, its funders and representatives are giving honest statements and NOW you say that something “SMELLS”???

                Again, I’m not on the Board, but the Foundation has acted professionally and has ultimately responded to the requests of the public – what more do you want, Craig?  

    4. As well they should.

      This guy totally disrespected them, and laughed all the way to the bank after soaking $300,000 from them. He apparently got caught because the guy he sub-contracted the work out to had as little respect for McInnis and McInnis had for the Hasans.

      Shame.  

      1. Think the Foundation feels defrauded?  Do you really think the Foundation really intended McInnis to be a fellow who was doing real research?  This whole thing has smelled since the beginning.

        1. rather than defrauded. Just like McInnis.  Either they are simply the other side of this coin or they are too stupid to be allowed out on the streets unsupervised. In the latter case, I’ve got some of my kid’s old school reports I’d like to sell them at a discount. He got As and they have footnotes.  Only asking a quarter million.

          1. Again – I can’t speak for the Foundation, but let me remind everyone of the good service the Hasan Family Foundation has given to Colorado –

            1. The Hasan School of Business in Pueblo, Colorado – the only program in Southern Colorado that offers an MBA, in addition to creating a place where Southern Coloradans could qualify for scholarships, federal grants, etc, in order to pursue their MBA

            2. The Colorado Music Fest – a music program based in Pueblo that ran for many years, whose main staple was to bring free concerts to Pueblo, as well as provide music lessons/scholarships to children who may not have otherwise been able to afford it

            3. The Hasan Pavilion of the Sangre De Cristo Art Center, as well as contributions to the Children’s Museum of Pueblo

            Specific notes, directly from the Hasan Family Foundation website – http://www.hasanfamilyfoundati… –

            The foundation’s single largest gift of 2.3 million dollars given to the then University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo to establish the, “Malik and Seeme Hasan School of Business.” The money was used to build a state-of-the-art facility to house the school. Equipped with the latest technology, much of it ahead of its time, the school gives the students a real work corporate atmosphere to learn in. As a result the business school has become extremely popular both internationally and in the western United States, leading to a great mixture of students from many ethnic groups. Since this gift the school has been able to attract nationally acclaimed faculty, including Professor James Humes. Humes, a former trial lawyer, legislator and bestselling author, wrote speeches for five US Presidents – Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush. He wrote the plaque that was planted on the moon by Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin. He has authored many books on rhetoric, and was awarded the OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for his historical works on Churchill and Shakespeare. He is also renowned for his impersonations of Winston Churchill, which among other places have been shown on C-SPAN. As a result of all the positive changes in the business school since the foundation’s gift, this venture is one of the foundation’s proudest. This educational initiative has resulted in hundreds of graduates each year who go on to become productive members of top companies both in the United States and abroad.

            – $100,000 to the Pueblo Community College to fund scholarships in healthcare education.

            – $100,000 to the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center to fund research and education of art for children.

            – Over a quarter of a million dollars to fund the Colorado Music Fest at the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo, also founded by the Hasan Family Foundation. Besides workshops deemed to help educate and excite the youth about music, a free July 4th concert with fire works rounded out the Music Fest.

            – Over $100,000 to fund the Hasan stage, which will serve as a future amphitheatre at the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo.

            Grants specifically given to programs in Pueblo, Colorado to fund excellence in community initiatives:

            Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center

            Salvation Army Pueblo

            Pueblo Chieftain – Adopt a class & Sponsorship of Serialized Story

            El Pueblo Historical Society

            Sangre de Cristo Hospice Care

            Latino Chamber of Commerce

            Pueblo Community College

            El Pueblo Adolescent Center

            Easter Seals Pueblo

            Eastside Child Care Center

            Alzheimer Association Pueblo

            Pueblo Hispanic Educational Fund  

            YMCA  

            Steel City Museum  

            The Pueblo Symphony  

            PAACO  

            The Boys and Girls Club  

            Parkview Hospital  

            Neighborhood Housing Authority  

            Senior Resource Development Agency (SRDA)

            And regarding WORLDLY initiatives –

            I am sure the Hasan Family Foundation is deeply proud of the fellowship given to scholar Akbar Ahmed – a fellowship that helped Ambassador Ahmed in producing a book and academic research that has greatly helped in building bridges between America and the Muslim World

            In addition, a major grant to the Center for the Study of the Presidency, to help with public advocacy to Muslim countries, for the sake of building stronger ties between America and the Muslim World

            All of this above – millions spent – and you seriously believe that the Hasan Family Foundation is trying to purchase a politician like McInnis???

            From my understanding, the fellowship given to McInnis, as written in the Statesman article linked above, was to make Coloradans more aware of water issues, for the sake of getting more politically active so that Colorado would be in a stronger position to retain its own water, rather then letting it go – after all, no one will stand up for Colorado’s water if the public is not educated on the issue – that was the mission, from what I read

            And lastly…. of all the politicians, Congressmen/women, Senators, etc… you really believe that McInnis would be a top choice for purchasing???

            No one was purchased – McInnis, more than any other Colorado politician at the time, (at least I seemed to think) knew water and had experience with it, and naturally, would be the best choice to educate the public

            It’s all a terribly sad ending  

    5. Hey Ali,

      I just read the Statesman article, and it sounds like my cynical suspicions are way off-target. The Hasan Foundation had real expectations of what SM would do for his Fellowship, and he totally failed.

      My apologies.

      I hope this doesn’t adversely affect the good work the foundation does.

      1. The fact that it’s a real foundation that does good work doesn’t explain the mystery of why they would pay him that much money for something they never considered worth using.  Doing good work and supporting a pol aren’t mutually exclusive. Why is the foundation only now getting exercised about this?  My guess is because they’re pissed that McInnis was so incredibly lazy and careless he couldn’t be bothered to put together something that would pass the smell test so they could contribute the 300K without it coming back to bite them. Also probably why they said “no thanks” to doing it again when he wanted to sign on for another stretch.

        A very forceful and credible alternate explanation from the Hasans would, naturally, change my mind about the nature of their role in this stinkfest.

        1. Apologies to Ali, I read you on here and think very highly of you.. but this whole things reeks.

          300K for work they didn’t bother to fact check or proof read??!! If it was a case of mcChurhills fellowship why not request the material be a subject that he is a known expert on? Why some BS like water that apparently wasn’t even cehcked?? WHy 300k?

          Why not continued fellowship and some ‘paltry’ bonus like 50k?

          This whole smells like very poorly executed end run around campaign finance laws and I hope that people dig deep into this instead of letting Scooter get away with an apology and a refund.

    6. Bur you’re reasonably well connected.

      Would the Foundation be willing to release a copy of its contract witn McInnis?  That would go a long way toward explaining exactly what McInnis was supposed to do for his money.

      Maybe this has already been done and I have missed it.

      Even a “grant” comes with some strings.  Presumably, the Foundation’s expectations were written down somewhere and they didn’t just hand a politician $300K.

      It would certainly end the “battle of the press releases.”

  25. McInnis will stay in the race figuring this will “blow over.” He’s surrounded by people that think they can control the conversation and so they will all convince themselves that this is no big deal.

    McInnis will win the primary, but by a much closer margin (and he better turn on the pandering for the last 3 weeks). He’ll win because Maes is a total unknown, has gotten no traction in donations, and has some major questions as to his finances.

    The fall campaign will be like George Allen in Virginia where the McInnis team keeps trying to change the subject and is unable to comprehend why everyone is staying focused on his plagiarism (Wadhams is very experienced on making this mistake).

    There will be no resignation by McInnis, there will be no vacancy committee, McInnis will be riding this to November. And in the November vote we will find what percentage of the state electorate will vote [R] no matter how bad the candidate – because those will be the only votes McInnis will get.

    1. Scooter donates elk meet (claimed to be worth $300,000) to the Hasan Foundation).

      My gut tells me this can’t be the first time this guy has crossed the plagiarism story, and that if someone (Jason?) were to scour his Congressional Record remarks and other publicly-issued statements, other examples would turn up.

            1. just trying to point an enterprising researcher to another place they might likely find stuff of interest.

              Hey, do you think he really killed an elk? Maybe it was an already stuffed trophy.

  27. It was already mentioned above once, but worth mentioning again – Jason Salzman’s research and perseverance helped bring this to light.

    Good work Jason

    3. I’ve been gone til recently so I was unaware of this situation. But it sounds like Jason was being persistent in the face of apathy, and that’s not easy. So, good work, Jason.

  29. Screws up again.  Did y’all see the print headline this morning “Judge’s water essay copied” and in teeny tiny little print under it “Expert: McInnis’ work; submitted as “original,” plagiarizes words, ideas.

    the appropriate headline is:

    MCINNIS ACCUSED OF PLAGIARISM, FRAUD

    Gubenotorial candidate Scott McInnis plagiarized work for cool $300k  

    1. is trying to be the Rocky lite. they cannot handle their RW extremists accusing them of a hit piece.

      nor can they actually report reality… as that would upset their dark side overlords who depend on propaganda and spin.

  31. Didn’t Brad Jones say something about all the stuff Scooter had in his past is going to come back and bite him in the rear?  

    I doubt Penry will be back or be appointed if McInnis drops out.  Conservatives are pissed off at him for attacking Buck.  He will get a few votes, but I’m betting most won’t be voting for him.

  32. So, the biggest story of the governor’s race in this cycle is on … page 5A of today’s Herald.  But we do get a puff piece above the fold that local house prices have gone down but not as much as the rest of the state.  If questioned, the Herald can now say they carried the article.  They just won’t mention it was way inside the paper.

          1. They just gave him a guest op-ed to respond to an editorial of theirs.  I wonder if they are trying to avoid piling on?

            Normally Ashby would be all over this like ugly on an ape.

  33. Like copyright infringement and fraud.

    Justice Hobbs certainly has grounds for a civil claim under the federal copyright statutes. If he registered his copyrights, he can recover attorney fees, litigation costs and punitive damages on top of the economic loss he suffered. That economic loss may well be the $300,000 McInnis was paid.

    Then there’s the question whether McInnis perpetuated a criminal fraud on the Hasan Foundation. He represented the articles as his own work product when in fact they were not. In return, he was paid more than a quarter of a million dollars. I would think a prosecutor might want to take a look at this. Who’s the DA in the county where the Hasan Foundation is headquartered?

    I believe this incident is enough to disquality McInnis from any future public office. It is also enough to suggest that a sanction against his law license is appropriate – which, by the way, would be decided by the very court on which Hobbs sits (though Hobbs himself would, for obvious reasons, not be part of that deliberation) – and that a close look at whether this whole deal with the Hasan Foundation was devised as a way to avoid campaign finance laws is in order.

    If GOP primary voters overlook this, they are asking for the consequences in November. Not that Dan Maes is much better – he seems to use campaign contributions as a personal slush fund, after all.  

    2. I think McInnis has a much bigger problem than can he win the race for Governor. Look at what you list.

      1. He is disbarred for this. That means he cannot earn big bucks because not only can he no longer practice law, he won’t be able to get any clients as a lobbyist.

      2. Justice Hobbs gets 300K in damages – and that cannot be paid out of the campaign fund.

      3. The Hasan foundation gets a 300K judgement, also not payable out of campaign funds.

      So McInnis is unemployable and owing 600K that he does not have. He may be facing bankruptcy and a life with a middle class income at best.

      And all of the above is a very real possibility. Not the most likely, but very possible. And all possibilities McInnis better focus on right now.

      I’d say the campaign is over for now.

  35. so much of the balloon boy hoax

    Scott is playing the role of the dad trying to get a reality game show through exaggerations.

    Balloon Boy McInnis.  Up up and away

  36. Scotty McPlagerist.  Not very catchy, but I am not very good at this, no history or future in advertising or campaigning.  What else can the collective wit of Colo Pols come up with?

      1. McChurchill – it has sort of a vague sequel vibe to it, like 50’s horror movie – Son of Churchill, the revenge of the plagiarist.

  38. This just in on 9News.com:

    McInnis on plagiarism allegations: This is a non-issue.

    DENVER – Colorado gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis called plagiarism allegations a “non-issue” on Tuesday and instead steered talks back to his political message.

    The former Republican congressman made the comments to 9NEWS in his first public remarks since The Denver Post reported large portions of a series of essays he wrote on water were nearly identical to previously published material from now-Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs.

    “This is a non-issue if it’s not a political year. Voters don’t really care about this issue. They care about jobs, getting back to work.” McInnis told 9NEWS.

    http://www.9news.com/news/arti…

    While I realize lying is a Republican Value, it’s certainly an issue the voters care about…

    1. .

      I know a little about politics, but almost nothing about politicians.  

      Not only did I think this was a fatal blow, I thought that was obvious to almost everybody.  

      Nope.  

      Rather, it’s no big deal.  Hmmm.

      .

      1. But in Colorado, lyin’ (sole author of an original work), cheatin’ (plagiarism, natch), and stealin’ (taking $300k under false pretenses) isn’t a non-issue.

        The Hasan’s have a pretty big beef with McInnis, and can keep this issue alive for quite some time.

        McInnis is whistling past the graveyard on this one.

        But let him stay in the race.  All the better for Maes and especially Hick.

    2. Nothing to see here, it’s nothing really, mistakes were made, I even made one or two minor mistakes by trusting too much, but that’s the kind of guy I am, I trust too much …. and give away thousands and more in elk meat.

    1. “This is a non-issue if it’s not a political year. Voters don’t really care about this issue. They care about jobs, getting back to work.” McInnis told 9NEWS.

      I think McInnis is in for a little surprise if he thinks lying and stealing aren’t things that bother the average voter and at this point, he’s the poster boy for both.  

        1. Have you been in a coma the last 24 hours or is English your second language? If you think McInnis is telling the truth about this little event, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to offer you at a super cheap price.  

            2. A) That his assistant lied and he (McInnis) only just now figured it out?

              or

              B) That anyone would care that the articles were plagiarized?

              I suppose it could be both.

              Either way, it does indicate a certain inability to run the executive branch of state government.  

              1. The fact that the article, submitted in the name of Scott McInnis and only Scott McInnis, contains significant number of plagiarized passages, means only one of two things:

                * that Scooter himself did the plagiarizing; or

                * that his “assistant” wrote the article.

                For Scott to turn this in under his own name means he is guilty of one or the other. Both of these possibilities constitute lying.

            2. Liberals love doing that.  When they’ve run dry, they look for whatever else they can use to form an attack.  No matter how rational it is or not…

              2. looking for ways to attack Hickenlooper?

                Really.

                That is how you hope to change the conversation from Republican corruption by portraying Scotty as a victim?

                You are a pretty green blogger to think such a lame “Leave Scotty alone” cry is going to divert attention away from the corruption rampant in the Republican Party.  Plagiarism and campaign finance violations just scratch the surface of what we know about Republican corruption. Draw a straight line from Tom Delay and the other end point is at the mustache of Scott McInnis.  These people do some seriously shady shit for money.

              3. I’m a Republican, and I’m attacking him.  There’s no way out of this – it’s embarrassing.

                Please Drop out, Scott. Immediately.

  40. May well be a career ending issue, since Dems will paint him as a liar, cheater, and complete fraud–and those charges are actually based on fact.

  41. The Glenwood Springs Post Independent, unfortunately on the Pols’ list of papers who ordered them not to quote, has the story–McInnis’ scapegoat denies responsibility.

    http://www.postindependent.com…

    Long-time local resident Rolly Fischer on Tuesday declined to say much about his involvement in a research paper that gubernatorial candidate, and former Congressman Scott McInnis wrote to meet a fellowship deadline.

    “Scott’s responsible for it,” stated Fisher, an engineer who worked for the Colorado River Water Conservation for, when asked whether he was responsible for articles attributed to McInnis.

    Beyond that, Fisher said flatly, “I have nothing to say.”

    That’s the guy McInnis claims is responsible for the plagiarism, who McInnis says is all broken up about this and takes responsibility.

    I think it’s time for McInnis to start rethinking his career options.

  42. Did anybody catch the articles by Nikkel and Conway in Northern Colorado about water, specifically NISP? They’re identical, for intents and purposes.

    My mouth is open. My breath is short. I know what the P in GOP stands for.

  43. still not admitting his real wrong doings while trying to throw everybody else under the bus isn’t really the best example of his what his campaign is supposed to be all about. “Help is on the way,” is his slogan, right?

    Logically, one must ask, who is this crook helping?

  44. It says that losing to Maes at the GOP convention was the worst thing that could happen. Should we hassle you for not being able to think outside the box?

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