Alex Constantine - November 6, 2013
Sen. Rand Paul acknowledged Tuesday that he had failed to properly source material in published writings, including a column in The Washington Times, after a string of embarrassing plagiarism accusations surfaced in recent days.
Mr. Paul took personal responsibility for the oversights, which he and aides said were caused by staff providing him background materials that were not properly footnoted. But the Kentucky Republican
, a possible 2016 White House candidate, also said he was being held by the news media to a higher standard than other politicians. ...
The Washington Times said Tuesday that it had independently reviewedMr. Paul’s columns and op-eds and published a correction to his Sept. 20 column in which the senator had failed to attribute a passage that first appeared in The Week.
The newspaper and the senator mutually agreed to end his weekly column, which has appeared each Friday since the summer.
“We expect our columnists to submit original work and to properly attribute material, and we appreciate that the senator and his staff have taken responsibility for an oversight in one column,” Times Editor John Solomon said. ...
Mr. Paul has been a prolific op-ed writer in recent years, penning hundreds of pieces in The Times and other media outlets. But the body of his work is getting fresh attention from journalists as they uncover multiple cases of lifting other people’s work without giving them credit. ...
While Mr. Stafford initially told BuzzFeed the questions about Mr. Paulamounted to a witch hunt, additional examples continued to surface. And Tuesday’s announcement appeared to signal a shift in Mr. Paul’s strategy to put the episode behind him.
