Otten accused of plagiarism
Republican gubernatorial candidate Les Otten's campaign apologized this weekend for what it termed an accidental act of plagiarism following an accusation by the author of a political blog.
Matthew Gagnon, editor of the website Pine Tree Politics, noted that Otten's written response on another website to a question about the federal education grant program "Race to the Top" mirrored testimony given by Stephen Bowen of the Maine Heritage Policy Center during the last legislative session, the Bangor Daily News reported. Otten reportedly said, "Under the Race to the Top program, $4.3 billion is being made available to states to help them fund promising education reforms. The catch is that this is a competitive grant program. States across the nation have responded by passing comprehensive reform legislation that moves their states forward in a dramatic fashion." Gagnon's website noted Otten's comments reflected Bowen's testimony almost word for word, according to the paper.
The Otten campaign posted a response on the website Augusta Insider, which initially posed the education question, apologizing for the "oversight." "This is an error of omission, not an error of commission," it stated. Bowen, however, has questioned this response on MHPC's blog, saying the campaign is attempting "to downplay their liberal use of my work."
Otten, a principal of Maine Energy Systems in Bethel and a former ski industry executive, faced an earlier plagiarism question when his campaign logo, a decorative O, was found to resemble the 2008 campaign logo of President Obama. The image no longer appears on the Otten campaign website.
Go to the article from the Bangor Daily News >>
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