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Fri Apr 30, 2010 at 17:16:56 PM EDT
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As you know, Dirigo Blue has sent a questionnaire on education to all of the Democratic candidates for governor. The same questions were sent to GOP candidates by Augusta Insider, and Matt Gagnon, writing at Pine Tree Politics, has found that Les Otten plagiarized one of his responses, in part, from the writings of Stephen Bowen of the Maine Heritage Policy Center:
Derek Viger of Augusta Insider has been passing around questionnaires about education to both Republican and Democratic candidates for office, hoping to get, ya know, some real honest answers from the candidates about what they think about the issue.
Exactly three people in the state of Maine seem to care about getting some detailed policy ideas from the candidates (the rest of us are more concerned with the horse race ::hangs head in shame::), and Derek is one of them.
One of the questions Derek asked the candidates was "What is your opinion of the Federal Race to the Top, and is it worth it? Given what we know about the two 1st round winners (Delaware and Tennessee), do you believe Maine has made a strong effort to win the Race?"
Here was the beginning of Les Otten's answer:
Follow the link above to find out what that answer is!
Update: Les Otten's campaign sent the following statement to Augusta Insider:
In one of our responses to the Augusta Insider's recent questions regarding education, specifically the Race To The Top program, part of the answer came from public testimony from the Maine Heritage Policy Center on LD 1801. We should have attributed this quote directly to Steve Bowen of the Maine Heritage Policy Center.
The correct citation should be listed as coming from testimony regarding L.D.'s 1799, 1800 and 1801, The Maine Heritage Policy Center.
Les and members of the Otten campaign staff previously met with the Maine Heritage Policy Center and Steve Bowen, who pointed us toward this public testimony. We have spoken to the Maine Heritage Policy Center executive director Tarren Bragdon who appreciates the fact that we have gone back and attributed that quote to their organization. We apologize for the inadvertent oversight as the final draft of our response was being prepared. This is an error of omission not an error of commission.
We will continue to seek out the best minds in the state such as the Maine Heritage Policy Center on the issues that face us. |
| Gerald Weinand :: UPDATED: Matt Gagnon: Les Otten plagiarizes again |
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