It’s already been established that Tea Party Republican Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois is a deadbeat dad who seems to have issues with women, but now comes news Rep. Walsh, who hasn’t really done much legislating during his term in office, is also a plagiarist. Rep. Walsh recently submitted the Renovate and Enhance Veterans’ Meeting Halls and Posts Act, aimed at doing precisely what the bill’s title says, but the problem with Rep. Walsh’s bill is that is a nearly verbatim copy of a 2010 bill written by Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop. Notable, Rep. Walsh plagiarized Rep. Bishop’s 2010 bill without asking him or even mentioning it to him.
Even in the rough-and-tumble, bitterly partisan Congress, it’s probably safe to call that a faux pas — or worse if you’re Bishop or one of the staffers on his payroll who worked to develop the legislation.“The REVAMP Act has been a great idea ever since Congressman Bishop came up with the concept in 2009, long before Joe Walsh had been elected to Congress,” said Oliver Longwell, Bishop’s communications director. “To pirate a legislative proposal without consideration of the original author is really unprecedented.”
Longwell wasn’t finished: “Perhaps it’s just a rookie mistake, but it’s a reflection of the total collapse of collegiality that has characterized the House since it came under the influence of the tea party, even on what should be the most bipartisan of issues: assisting our veterans,” he said.
There you have it folks….not only does Rep. Joe Walsh appear to be a deadbeat dad who has issues with women, but now he’s a plagiarist as well.
All right, now you’re taking from my blog without asking!
Just kidding, of course!
I didn’t take from your blog; I took from Politico under Fair Use – and I provided a link back to them.
:-p
This is an interesting development. Of course there is a precedent at the Federal level. President Obama adopted the Republican, Heritage Foundation idea of the individual insurance mandate, which he originally opposed, and got it passed by the Congress, and it survived scrutiny by the Supreme Court. The HealthCare bill was not verbatim anything of anyone’s, or course. It’s just plain too long for any Republican to have maintained focus long enough to have thought of it, much less written it. Staffers do the gruntwork, anyway, we all know that.
Still, if the idea was a good one for a Democratic legislator to propose and vote Yes on, it’s still good enough when the Repub plagiarist submits it. Let’s get on the moral high ground, and get as many Dems to co-sponsor the bill as possible, and show that a good idea cannot be killed just for its pedigree. Besides, if enough Dems co-sponsor, the Repubs will get that Liberal taste in their mealy mouths and perhaps will disown the legislation of one of their own. THAT would be the Spectacle of the Week. eh?
MBB
Do you actually expect Joe Walsh to come up with policy? Walsh has done exactly ZERO things for his District. What he’s done and what he was tasked with doing by his Republican Bosses is to yell at Postal Workers that he was “tired of hearing that crap” when told the Bankers were the cause of the Republican Recession and not Teachers Unions and then to go on TV and proclaim President Obama was elected because he was black.
Nice post Zach. Every day down here with Walsh is a new adventure. I suppose since I’m down here at least he is making it interesting.