COLUMBUS (TDB) -- U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt is out with her column today, a piece that urges school bus safety. The Daily Bellwether has read much of it before. In October 2005, the superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol wrote many of the identical words in identical phrases, which makes the Cincinnati-area's Schmidt look like a political Calamity Jean for the GOP. Col. Paul McClellan retired earlier this year, but his "Colonel's Columns" from his desk at the highway patrol are still around and Schmidt seems to have plagiarized his thoughts and work. Or an eerie coincidence has taken place. Or the conservative lawmaker was just too danged liberal in her borrowing.Schmidt's version is here, (and Weapons of Mass Discussion has a verbatim copy posted from Sept. 4) and The Daily Bellwether has discovered repeated uses of the retired law enforcement officer's text without any attribution or credit. Even punctuation marks were unchanged. Overall, it looks like an open and shut ethical relapse for Schmidt, who faced a plagiarism controversy last September. At that time, Schmidt was accused of filching her column for constituents from a press release issued by U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-15, who was seeking reelection in Columbus. Excerpts from Schmidt's latest column and the Highway Patrol chief can easily be compared.
Col. McClellan in 2005:
. . . reminds motorists that they are required to stop for stopped school buses that are displaying flashing red lights and an extended stop arm. Motorists approaching from either direction are required to stop at least 10 feet from a stopped school bus until the bus resumes motion. If a school bus is stopped on a road divided into four or more lanes, only traffic driving in the same direction as the bus must stop.
Schmidt, Sept. 4, 2007:
. . . reminds motorists that they are required to stop for stopped school buses that are displaying flashing red lights and an extended stop arm. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, motors approaching a stopped school bus from either direction should stop at least 10 feet away and wait until the bus resumes motion. If a school bus is stopped on a road divided into four or more lanes, only traffic driving in the same direction as the bus must stop.
Col. McClellan, in 2005:
While waiting for the bus, they should stand at least three giant steps away from the curb, and line up away from the street. Before stepping into the bus, children should wait until the bus stops, the door opens, and the driver gives permission.
Schmidt, Sept. 4, 2007:
While waiting for the bus, they should stand at least three giant steps away from the curb, and line up away from the street. Before stepping into the bus, children should wait until the bus stops, the door opens and the driver gives permission.
Col. McClellan, in 2005:
Parents should encourage their children to sit quietly in their seat and follow the driver's instructions on school bus safety. When exiting the bus, care should be taken to check that clothing with drawstrings and book bags with straps do not get caught in the handrails or doors. Additionally, students should never go back for anything left on the bus, and never bend down near or under the bus to pick something up that has fallen.
Schmidt, Sept. 4, 2007"
While on the bus, children should be encouraged to sit quietly in their seat and follow the driver's instructions on school bus safety. When exiting the bus, care should be taken to check that clothing with drawstrings and book bags with straps do not get caught in the handrails or doors. Additionally, students should never go back for anything left on the bus, and never bend down near or under the bus to pick something up that has fallen.
There is more. But you've probably seen enough.
OMFG, Bill.
ReplyDeleteThe colonel, for all we know, "plagiarized" the members' section of the National Association for Pupil Transportation Web site.
These are uncontroversial safety tips, not public policy statements or opinions.
And what about "According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol" don't you understand?
Tom - it's a little thing called ATTRIBUTION. You are seriously defending Schmidt's presentation of the essay as her original thoughts and wording? Come on. There's nothing wrong with saying, "I came across this old set of tips and I think you should consider them as school starts." But to put it out there and give the impression that it's original?
ReplyDeleteNo way.
I understand attribution. What about "According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol" don't you understand? Perhaps she should have used the gentleman's name, but this has to be setting some kind of record for "alltime biggest tempest in a teapot."
ReplyDeleteOh, make that second biggest -- I forgot about Marathongate.
And, again, I tend to doubt that the OHP gentleman's material was original in the first place. My goodness --It's a bunch of generic safety tips.
Hi Tom --
ReplyDeleteSorry I have not responded sooner.
I agree Mrs. Schmidt's sentiment re: school bus safety was sound and wise. I also share your suspicisions about the origin on Col. McClellan's column. That topic intriques me, and as yet I haven't found that he lifted it. I have found similar pieces of advice, though. I don't know how much digging I will do.
Now, I have a suggestion for Mrs. Schmidt if she is still interested in the issue of child safety. Perhaps she ought to speak out on the issue of parents who leave their children unattended in locked cars during extreme heat. Maybe she could say that if it is not a crime -- it should be. I suspect that people in Ohio's Second Congressional District are very concerned about child abuse and neglect right now, so she would be topical. If she spoke out using her own words . . .
Anyhow, thanks for stopping by with your comments. Apologize for the slow response.
Jill --
ReplyDeleteI think Mrs. Schmidt's intentions were good -- child safety and soften the Mean Jean image (by the way, I hate the sobriquet Mean Jean and try not to use it, though, I have and do and regret it every time).
On this, again, she looks to have been ill-served by staff or advisers. As I mentioned in the coment I wrote to Tom Blumer, I think she should speak out boldly on child endangerment. After all, a tot was broiled in a Mercedes parked outside a school in her home county. And the parent who left the kid in the car isn't being prosecuted. Something about that not being a crime in Ohio. This time, there oughta be a law.
Tom - what comes after isn't in quotes, isn't indented, isn't in any other way distinguished. I make no apologies for wanting more distinction between what are her words versus someone else's - even if the patrolman got them from somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's a product of having to write so many papers in which attribution is ruled by so many guidelines, both in law and in social science. But there's just no excuse for someone in her position.
It shows a lack of originality, at the very least.
There is a law. When there is video of her coming out to the care on several occasions, and a record of her having this same problem in the past, it is obvious she has broken the law.
ReplyDeleteSadly, it is Clermont County's incestuous political climate that is truly broken.
Don White is as bad as Jean Schmidt.
Where have the good conservatives gone?
You guys and girl are barking up the wrong tree. even the first 4 sentences are nearly identical before we get into the safety tips.
ReplyDelete"While waiting for the bus, they should stand at least three giant steps away from the curb, and line up away from the street." Copyright ©2004 Chillicothe Gazette.
ReplyDeleteBill and Jill,
ReplyDeleteScott Pullins' comment at Nix about it not being possible to plagiarize the government would appear to call for a response:
http://www.nixguy.com/?p=2950#comment-63058
He says:
It is simply impossible to plagiarize information obtained from government. Government information does not enjoy copyright protection. Law school 101.
Hi Bizzyblog --
ReplyDeleteI have not seen what Scott Pullins has to say on the topic. I suppose he is correct, from your snippet, on copyright. A copyright is akin to owning property, or as some call it, intellectual property. However, I do think that perhaps controversy would ensue if researchers at government-owned Miami University, a for example, published the work of researchers at government-owned Ohio State University and claimed or implied that it was their own.
I also suppose the U.S. government owns the plans and designs of nuclear powered submarines, and also atomic weapons, which are probably both classified as secrets and held somehow under some form of intellectual property right.
I will defer to Mr. Pullins as knowing a lot more about intellectual property rights than I. Would you ask him to explain how one could republish the blueprints of an Ohio class attack submarine, or, for that matter, a tactical nuclear device designed and financed by the Pentagon and then claim it was an original work?
Bill,
ReplyDeleteYour colleagues at the New York Times, as you should know, published reams of stolen, classified documents known as the Pentagon Papers. Once they published them, along with the other material around them, they obtained copyright protection of the whole.
At the same time, they won in court the right to publish classified documents, even stolen ones at that. Under your scenario, it is in most cases still a violation of federal law to take classified documents and publish them as your own. However, it is certainly possible to obtain government documents that are in the public domain, publish them, and thus obtain copyright protection.
Make sense? If not, you can began by going back and reading the Pentagon Papers case in the U.S. Supreme Court. It should make for a good weekend.
Hi Scott --
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. And it does make sense. In fact, I think you made my point.
Nobody calls the document you wrote about The New York Times papers. They are the Pentagon Papers.
The Times may own the copyright. But the Times never claimed it wrote or produced the report it received from the thief who took it from Pentagon. There does appear to be a legal distinction between copyright and plagiarism.
Is the King James Bible copyrighted?
Yes, by the publisher. There is not much distinction between copyright infringement and plagiarism. Both are the taking of someone's written property and passing it off as your own.
ReplyDeleteMy point was, that it is impossible to plagiarize or infringe on a copyright to government articles because they are in the public domain and are free to be used by anyone, especially another government official. They are not someone's private property.
This whole latest plagiarism episode is another much ado about nothing.
Hi Scott --
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by and adding more to the discussion. It's been a lively one, too. There will be more as the campaign season goes on, I'm sure. Probably about something else. Not to change the subject, but Kucinich voting against 9/11 memorial resolution takes the cake of just about everything I've ever seen. Only one thing comes close. A sheriff in Florida years ago was charged by the feds with abusing an inmate. It was a racial incident. He claimed it had been orchestrated by the communists in the Kremlin. He really said something like that, and I thought at the time: Holy Cow, the guy is a loon. It was probably 35 years ago when I was a very green reporter.