Sen. Rand Paul is fighting charges that entire sections of his book, “Government Bullies,” were taken and reprinted, word for word, from a study from the Heritage Foundation.
BuzzFeed reported that the alleged plagiarism covered several pages of Mr. Paul’s book and that other sections of the book may have been taken verbatim, or nearly verbatim, from a paper written by Cato Institute’s Mark Moller that was published in the National Wetlands Newsletter.
The sections in Mr. Paul’s book do not include quotation marks, the Hill reported.
An aide with Mr. Paul’s office said the pertinent sections are clearly attributed in the endnotes and that the Kentucky senator in no way committed plagiarism.
“There were 150 endnotes and cites including the Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute, said Doug Staffond, a Paul adviser who co-wrote the book. “This is a witch hunt and grasping at straws.”
Neither Heritage nor Cato officials objected Mr. Paul’s use of their work.
SEE ALSO: Sen. Rand Paul responds to plagiarism charges: ‘If dueling were legal in Kentucky …’
Mr. Paul said that “many of the stories told and information reported represents work already done by others. Rather than endlessly noting multiple sourced items … we have included here other sources of information for the stories presented.”
The charges come on the heels of accusations that Mr. Paul plagiarized parts of a recent speech from Wikipedia.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.