WASHINGTON — Democrats were thrilled when John Walsh of Montana was appointed to the Senate in February. A decorated veteran of the Iraq war and former adjutant general of his state’s National Guard, Walsh offered the Democratic Party something it frequently lacks: a seasoned military man.
On the campaign trail this year, Walsh, 53, has made his military service a main selling point, saying his time in uniform informs his views on a range of issues.
But one of the highest-profile credentials of Walsh’s 33-year military career appears to have been improperly attained. An examination of the final paper required for Walsh’s master’s degree from the Army War College indicates the senator appropriated at least a quarter of his thesis on US Middle East policy from other authors’ works, with no attribution.
Walsh completed the paper, what the War College calls a “strategy research project,” to earn his degree in 2007, when he was 46. The sources of the material he presents as his own include academic papers, policy journal essays, and books that are almost all available online.
Most strikingly, each of the six recommendations Walsh laid out at the conclusion of his 14-page paper, titled “The Case for Democracy as a Long Term National Strategy,” is taken nearly word-for-word without attribution from a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace document on the same topic.
In all, Walsh’s recommendations section runs to more than 800 words, nearly all of it taken verbatim from the Carnegie paper, without any footnote or reference to it.
The Democrat said Wednesday he was on medication and being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Iraq when he wrote the paper. He said he also was dealing with the stress of a fellow veteran’s recent suicide.
Walsh said he made an unintentional mistake and did not intend to plagiarize.
In 2012, Walsh won his first bid for elected office to become Montana’s lieutenant governor. He was appointed to the Senate this year by Governor Steve Bullock. The vacancy arose after President Obama nominated Max Baucus to be ambassador to China, and Democrats hoped that installing Walsh in February would strengthen the party’s position to retain the seat.
Still, Walsh is trailing Representative Steve Daines, his Republican opponent, strategists on both sides say.
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Related:
"Senator John Walsh remained steadfast Thursday amid allegations he plagiarized a research project required for a master’s degree, winning fresh backing from fellow Democrats in Montana and from the governor who appointed him to the Senate this year. Walsh, the only senator who served in the Iraq war, is seeking election in a race that top Democratic strategists saw as an uphill battle and unlikely to provide one of the seats the party needs to hold on to its majority."
What you begin to realize is these guys are told what to do so often they have not an original thought.
"Newton schools chief fined for use of Patrick’s words" by Peter Schworm | Globe Staff July 24, 2014
The superintendent of the Newton public schools was docked one week’s salary by the city’s school board Thursday for his failure to credit Governor Deval Patrick in two graduation speeches he delivered last month.
A week after the superintendent in Mansfield resigned amid complaints of plagiarism, Newton’s superintendent, David Fleishman, admitted he was wrong not to cite Patrick as the source of several passages. “That was my mistake,” he said in an interview.
The questionable passages became public Wednesday, when the Newton South High School student newspaper called attention to five sentences from Fleishman’s June 9 remarks at the school’s commencement ceremony that echoed the governor’s speech to Boston University graduates in May....
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Newton’s public schools are known for their high achievement levels, and Fleishman has received praise for his engagement with the community and for keeping the district’s financial house in order.
He became the Newton system’s superintendent in July 2010, and makes $254,000, or $4,890 a week, the school district said. He was previously superintendent for five years in Chappaqua, N.Y., and served as assistant superintendent in Wellesley.
School Committee members said questions about the speeches surfaced late last month, when a Newton South teacher contacted Matt Hills, the board’s chairman. The teacher had been in touch with one of the students who wrote the article, Hills said.
After several calls and meetings with Fleishman, the board settled on the fine....
In the student newspaper article, one of the authors, recent Newton South graduate Jordan Cohen-Kaplan, wrote that he had attended both of the graduation ceremonies, and was struck by the similarities in the speeches by Fleishman and Patrick.
“It is disappointing and disillusioning to imagine we cannot expect the best from the highest ranking Newton Public Schools official, especially on a widely attended day designed to celebrate student achievement and serve as an educational capstone,” the article said.
I agree it is intolerable.
Also see: DeGroot's Disrespect
Kid got a time out for that.
According to the newspaper, Cohen-Kaplan contacted Fleishman, who acknowledged hearing clips of Patrick’s speech on the radio and “building” on some of its themes.
Cohen-Kaplan declined to comment Thursday.
Brian Baron, the head of the English department at Newton South, said a student came to him shortly after graduation to express her concern. He said he believed the fine was an adequate punishment, and that the matter was over....
So is this post.
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Related: Mansfield's Hodgepodge
Hope that made you happy.
