Opponent asks whether congressional candidate Randall plagiarized

Bernie Reeves, a candidate in the Republican runoff for North Carolina's 13th Congressional District, is challenging opponent Bill Randall on whether he plagiarized The Sharon Statement, written at the home of conservative activist William F. Buckley as the founding charter for Young Americans for Freedom in 1960.

In a press release today, the Reeves campaign submits seven examples of how a "Charter of Principles" of Bill Randall's grassroots organization Concerned Citizens for Truth borrows exact wording — or almost exact, in some cases — from The Sharon Statement.

"The problem here," said Reeves in a prepared statement, "is when a candidate plagiarizes someone else's words and say they are his own he not only hurts his campaign, he hurts the Republican Party and conservatives in general. Bill needs to offer a clear explanation."

UPDATE: Randall tells me in a phone conversation that he did not plagiarize The Sharon Statement, and says a "footnote" at the bottom of the Concerned Citizens for Truth web-page will answer my questions.

The footnote reads, "The CCFT 2004 original charter statement (clearly referenced at the top of this webpage) contains this disclaimer: 'Our charter parallels some of the basic tenants adopted by the American Conservative Union.' The original, unaltered charter statement has an electronic date/time stamp of 12-1-2004 @ 3:32 PM. There has been no attempt by the Randall for Congress campaign to plagiarize others' work or information."