Hogan Lovells Partner in Hot Seat After Bid for Colo. Governor's Job Raises Plagiarism Issue
Updated: A Denver Post report that a Hogan Lovells partner running as a Republican for Colorado governor apparently plagiarized some material years ago has put Scott McInnis on the hot seat.
McInnis now admits that portions of articles on water policy that he submitted to the Hasan Family Foundation in connection with a $300,000 fellowship were taken from a 1984 essay by then-attorney and now Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs, reports the KMGH.
However, he says the mistake occurred because a researcher incorrectly thought the material was in the public domain and indicates that footnoting his own work would fix the problem, according to the station. (The researcher, meanwhile, tells the Glenwood Springs Post Independent that McInnis is “responsible” for the articles, although he did not elaborate.)
“Just like when I do a bill in Congress or when I did the forest plan, I had a lot of staff assistance. I had a lot of economic experts,” said McInnis, a former congressman, blaming political opponents for escalating the situation.
“The mistake is real and the mistake should not have occurred,” he told KMGH. “The jabs, the reason you’re sitting here and so on and so forth, of course it is driven by politics.”
Colorado Ethics Watch has made an ethics complaint against McInnis, the article reports, contending that he may have misled the foundation into thinking he was writing the articles himself, even if he didn’t intentionally plagiarize.
At issue are about two dozen articles on water policy that McInnis submitted to the foundation in 2005 and 2006, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).
As detailed in a subsequent ABAJournal.com post, McInnis has now agreed to repay the $300,000 and says that should be the end of the matter.
Additional and related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Conn. AG Made ‘Plainly Untrue’ Remarks About Military Service, NYT Says”
Washington Post: “McInnis’s Colo. gubernatorial bid derailed by plagiarism charges”
Updated on July 16 to link to subsequent ABAJournal.com post.
