New allegations of plagiarism have emerged against Vice President Kamala Harris over testimony she gave as a US senator.
Harris allegedly took text ‘verbatim’ from a former colleague for use in written congressional testimony she gave in 2007, according to an analysis by the Washington Free Beacon.
Harris testified in support of the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Advocates Incentives Act of 2007, a bill that would help pay off student loans for state and federal prosecutors to keep talented attorneys in the profession.
Harris’s interest in the proposal was personal, as she spent her early years as a career prosecutor before running for political office.
But his written statement in support of the proposal sent to the House Judiciary Committee did not fit his own experience.
Rather, it reflected almost word-for-word text sent by District Attorney Paul Logli of Winnebago County, Illinois, a Republican, in support of the bill.
Democratic presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris answers questions during a town hall-style campaign event with former US Representative Liz Cheney.
Of the 1,500 words of testimony, eighty percent were exactly the same as Logli’s presentation, according to the Free Beacon analysis.
It is not clear whether both political figures used the same source text to write their testimony, although it is very likely the product of careless or lazy work by the staff.
Accusations of plagiarism can derail a political campaign, if the candidate is found guilty of intentionally copying another politician for dramatic effect without doing the work.
Biden’s first presidential campaign in 1987 was derailed by accusations of plagiarism after he appeared to be copying phrases and gestures from a British Labor Party politician. He was also accused of plagiarism in law school.
The new plagiarism report puts new emphasis on Harris’ use of other people’s work, as he was found to have plagiarized several blocks of text in his book ‘Smart on Crime’ which he published with co-author Joan O’C Hamilton .
The allegations were uncovered by author and activist Christopher Russo, who published details of the passages in question in early October.
The cover of Kamala Harris’ first book, ‘Smart on Crime’, published in 2009
The report revealed that Harris copied content verbatim from Wikipedia, Goodwill Industries, his partner in his ‘Back on Track’ crime program, and other online sources.
Harris’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The report shows that Harris took an entire section of text from an Associated Press article published in April 2008 about low graduation rates.
In another section of the book, Harris included extensive sections of a press release from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice almost verbatim without attribution.
The plagiarism hunter made a side-by-side comparison, showing that Harris took part of his book from Wikipedia without properly citing the online encyclopedia as his source.
Another example includes language copied directly from a Bureau of Justice Assistance report on crime statistics in West Palm Beach.
“Not only did they obtain material from sources without proper attribution, but in at least one case, they relied on a low-quality source, potentially undermining the accuracy of their conclusion,” Rufo wrote.
Rufo said Harris and his editor should retract the plagiarized passages in his book and issue a correction.
“There is nothing intelligent about plagiarism, which is the equivalent of an academic crime,” he concluded.