Bill Randall, a candidate for the Republican nomination for the North Carolina Congressional District 13 seat currently held by Democrat Brad Miller, admits that his campaign plagiarized material from the campaign of Republican Scott Brown, the new senator from Massachusetts. "Someone who was on the campaign made an unauthorized inclusion of that information on my website," Randall tells YES! Weekly. "If there was anything that was unauthorized, it was taken off. It was submitted to the former webmaster by someone who is no longer with the campaign."
Randall said it is possible that his campaign might have also plagiarized other sources.
"You could have the lion's share from Scott Brown and some from other sites," he said, "but the bottom line is, if I wasn't the author, it's gone."
In a formal statement posted today on the Randall campaign website the candidate suggests that for months he was unaware of the exact wording of his own campaign platform.
"This action took place earlier this year as my campaign sought to upgrade the website design and content," Randall said in the statement. "I authored the initial version of all subjects listed under 'Issues' from the original (old) website. I assumed that the content was transferred to the new website unaltered. I was not aware of the unauthorized inclusions. On occasion, I revisited the "2nd Amendment" and "Right to Life" tabs from time to time and did not note any modification of their content. I do not recall having to revisit the other subjects as the months ensued, and quite frankly, took for granted that they were unaltered."
Randall added, "For the record: I now have hard evidence (provided by our former webmaster) that this took place, and that it was done (by the former campaign volunteer who acted on their own volition) with the intent to deceive."
The candidate declined to identify the former campaign worker, and told YES! Weekly that at this time he has no plans to take legal action against the person.
On Monday, Randall sidestepped an accusation by the campaign of Republican opponent Bernie Reeves that he had plagiarized the famous Sharon Statement in a "Charter of Principles" that was published first in 2004 and then in 2009 by the candidate.
Carter Wrenn, a consultant with the Reeves campaign, told YES! Weekly that Randall is not being candid.
"He posted a plagiarized statement Monday, was caught and tried to cover it up by putting a footnote on the statement and claiming that explained everything," Wrenn said. "We pointed out the footnote wasn’t there for the last six months, and gave 10 more examples of plagiarism. He said he said he didn’t know anything about it, that a campaign aide had done it, and it wasn’t his fault. The information has been on his website for months and he didn’t know about it?"
Other parts of Randall's platform appear to have been plagiarized from the Republican National Committee website (below) and Indiana congressman Dan Burton.
A screen shot of the Randall campaign's position statement on economy and jobs captured by Roch Smith Jr., a Greensboro web consultant, at about 1:30 p.m. yesterday shows identical language to the Republican National Committee on these topics.The Randall campaign website read, “I firmly believe that low taxes are necessary because individuals know best how to make their own economic and charitable choices. Simply put, I support logical business regulations that encourage entrepreneurs to start more businesses so more individuals can enjoy the satisfaction and fruits of self-made success.”
Republican National Committee website reads: “The Republican Party supports low taxes because individuals know best how to make their own economic and charitable choices.... “The Republican Party is supportive of logical business regulations that encourage entrepreneurs to start more businesses so more individuals can enjoy the satisfaction and fruits of self-made success.”
The Reeves campaign provided a screen shot of the Randall campaign website's "issues" page that is time-stamped 10:29 a.m. on May 25 that indicates seven separate instances of plagiarism from the successful US Senate campaign of Scott Brown of Massachusetts.
2 comments:
i wonder who the former staffer was "intending to deceive?"
The Reeves campaign is really putting a lot of emphasis on this...polls must be looking bleak for him. The last 5 posts on his facebook page are all about this issue of plagiarism. While I won't discount that it's concerning, the amount of time and effort his campaign is putting into this issue shows just as much intellectual weakness as plagiarizing does. I am TIRED of the dirt coming out of Washington, and I WILL NOT be voting to send more dirt to Washington. If Mr. Reeves continues with his mud-slinging, I will be sure to skip his name on the ballot this November if he defeats Mr. Randall.
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