February 11, 2015 09:07 AM UTC

McPlagiarist resurrects political career with election as county commissioner

• 6 Comments
• by: Jason Salzman

(Like Dave Balmer says, everybody deserves a second chance – Promoted by Colorado Pols)

It appears that the entire front-range media missed one of the most exciting election stories of 2014: the resurrection of failed GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis!

McInnis, who was taken down by wizard Dan Maes in the 2010 Republican primary, won a seat in November on the Mesa County Board of Commissioners.

If you call his office, you get a message saying:

"Thank you for contacting commissioner Scott McInnis. Although he is unavailable to take your call, your call is important. Please leave your name, phone number, and a brief message. Thank you."

A quick check revealed that this exact phone message (except the name "Scott McInnis") was plagiarized, but McInnis probably had nothing do do with it, as the message was delivered in a woman's voice.

Back in 2010, McInnis was caught by The Denver Post for plagiarizing portions of short articles he wrote on Colorado water issues, commissioned for $350,000 from the Hasan Foundation.

The price tag prompted former Post columnist Ed Quillen to write that he wanted to engage McInnis as "my literary agent, since he knows how to cut some sweet deals.”

McInnis blamed his water-article plagiarism on his ghost writer, Rolly Fisher, but McInnis eventually took some measure of responsibility for it.

Last year, during his county-commissioner race, McInnis washed his hands of any wrong-doing for the plagiarism, telling the Grand Junction Sentinel he regretted admitting to any mistakes about the plagiarism.

“I’ve used ghost writers my whole career. I would have said I didn’t make the mistake. I wasn’t dishonest then and I’m not dishonest now.”

Barring any recalls for un-commissioner-like behavior, which may or may not include plagiarism, he'll serve until 2019.