OH-02 Schmidt's Plagiarism: A House Code Of Conduct Violation?

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Bellwether has already discovered Republican U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt appears to have filched much of the material for her Sept. 4 newsletter topic from an Ohio Highway Patrol superintendent's column written in 2005. Her claim of authorship raises an interesting question about ethics and conduct. Should a congresswoman receive a pass for the lack of integrity that would get an Ohio college kid punished, or flunked, or maybe even kicked out of school? Or should the House Ethics Committee move to take action that could result in censure or worse?

On campuses and schools -- after all, her column was about school buses -- plagiarism is taken seriously. Schmidt is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, whose Code of Academic Integrity makes clear that plagiarism is a breach of conduct and an offense. The school's code defines plagiarism as:

"Submitting another's published or unpublished work, in whole, in part or in paraphrase, as one's own without fully and properly crediting the author with footnotes, citations or bibliographical references."

It also rules out using ghostwriters and says it is wrong to pass off another persons work as original. Several other Ohio colleges and universities have similar rules designed to stop plagiarism. Ohio University has been investigating engineering students and faculty members over alleged copycat theses which led to advanced degrees. Plagiarism is under attack in academia.

Schmidt's copycat work was posted on an official House Website, and should be a target of a House Ethics Committee examination. The official Code of Conduct for the House does not mention plagiarism. But it does demand that members behave well as members of that body. Indeed, Rule 1 states as follows:

"A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall conduct himself at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House."

The complete text of the rules are here.

Bottom line: Schmidt's plagiarism would be considered a breach of academic integrity on college campuses in Ohio. A student would face sanctions. It is time for the House to weigh in on plagiarism. The Ethics Committee needs to open an investigation.

OH-02: Last Year Mean Jean Schmidt Predicted Troops Would Be Coming Home

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Republican congresswoman's crystal ball must have been malfunctioning in January 2006 -- because she said then things were so well on track in Iraq that American troops would soon begin returning to the U.S. "on a permanent fashion."

Schmidt -- incorrectly -- viewed events on the ground in such a positive manner that soldiers and Marines could be withdrawn starting last summer. Instead, we wound up with a surge this year adding, rather than subtracting, combat forces. The Ohio legislator had just spent 15 hours on a trip to Baghdad, and her analysis was flat-out wrong. Today, Schmidt looks like a simpleton.

Schmidt's comments appeared in a Jan. 15, 2006 Cincinnati Enquirer story, a story that is no longer available online. The Bellwether retrieved the article by looking up clippings. It was written by Malia Rulon, and a digital version is in a database at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County called NewsBank. Unfortunately, the database is not linkable.

Here are a few of the pertinent paragraphs:

"WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jean Schmidt said Saturday, after a 15-hour trip to Baghdad, that progress is being made in training Iraqi troops and the size of the U.S. force in the country probably could be reduced later this year.

"Schmidt, who spoke by phone from a U.S. base in Kuwait, said the bipartisan congressional delegation she was traveling with met Friday with Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and soldiers serving on the ground.

"I can assure you that progress is being made," said Schmidt, R-Miami Township. "If they keep on the track that they are on now, then by summer we should see some more of our troops coming home on a permanent fashion."

Schmidt, of course, was following the White House line at the time. President Bush planned to withdraw soldiers to levels below the 138,000 in country before the Iraqi elections.

Schmidt said she viewed Iraq as stabilizing. Rulon reported the OH-02 congresswoman "saw signs that Iraq is starting to become westernized: cell phones, satellite dishes, a Starbucks coffee shop and even a Century 21 real-estate sign."

Surprisingly, nobody who is running for her job in the 2008 primaries is pressing Schmidt much about how her analysis was so off -- the troops are not, and did not, come home "on a permanent fashion." Democrat Vic Wulsin is running for renomination in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District and -- in this blog post she has featured on her website since last week (scan down the page) -- didn't point out Schmidt's over-optimistic statement about bringing the troops home. Republican Phil Heimlich seems to have been silent on the war. Does he back the president or favor some other course? Heimlich hasn't tipped his hand.

OH-02's Jean Schmidt: Screw-Up Flagged By Federal Election Commish

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- If you go fishing, you have to have a fishing license. If you golf, you have to show the starter the greens' fees are squared away. And if you plan to run for Congress and are raising campaign cash, you have to tell the Federal Election Commission.

It appears U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, a conservative Republican from Ohio's 2nd Congressional District, has neglected to file proper paperwork in Washington that legally declares herself a candidate for reelection. But Schmidt' campaign committee has been raising and spending money -- drawing this regulatory notice from the FEC that points out she's not playing by the rules Senators and House members must follow.

The FEC has given her until July 23 to formally declare whether she's running or sitting out the 2008 election. The commission believes her fundraising activities appear to be for 2008, a race expected to match her against former Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich, whose paperwork is now in place for the GOP primary.

Madelynn M. Lane signed the FEC notice to Schmidt, saying:

"A review of these reports indicates that your principal campaign committee has net debts from the previous election cycle, and has accepted contributions and/or made expenditures in support of your candidacy in excess of $5,000, thus meeting the definition of "candidate per Federal Election Campaign Laws.

"You must either disavow these activities by notifying the Commission in writing that you are not a candidate, or redesignate your principal campaign committee by filing a Statement of Candidacy (FEC FORM 2) within thirty days from the date of this letter," the FEC official said in the formal notice dated June 23.

Two weeks have passed. There's nothing to show Schmidt has declared herself a candidate. Any possibility she's quitting?

Oh-O2 Jean Schmdt's Walter Reed 'Overblown' Fallout: A GOP Neighbor Found Things 'Deplorable'

DAYTION (TDB) -- When Oh-02 Rep. Jean Schmidt this week ripped reports of horrorific conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as "overblown by both politicians and the media," she smacked her fellow Republican and neighbor in Oh-03. Dayton congressman Mike Turner was among the first to raise cane about conditions at the military hospital, and he didn't find the scandal overblown. Turner said the hospital was "deplorable."

He wanted Army's surgeon general fired, and wrote a letter two weeks ago to Defense Secretary Robert Gates that expressed disgust about Walter Reed and the care and treatment of veterans. Turner is a former Dayton mayor, and serves on the House Armed Services, Veterans and Government Reform Committees and attended hearings that gave him a much different picture than Schmidt, who said this week she wants future accounts to "bring more light to the real issues."

On March 8, Turner had no doubt about real issues.

His letter to Gates said: "It is unacceptable to believe that the Army would ever become so busy or unable to anticipate events that rodents or mold in a hospital zone's living quarters would ever become acceptable. Further, I am amazed that soldiers receiving care at Walter Reed were routinely unaccounted for and were left seeking each others' assistance to secure their needed medical care. Clearly, Gen. (Kevin) Kiley's performance does not merit the leadership standards of the U.S. military. As a result of the additional information learned during Congressional hearings, it is my strong recommendation that you relieve Lieutenant General Kiley of his command as surgeon general of the U.S. Army."

That eventually happened.

Turner said the conditions at the hospital were awful. But Schmidt lumped her colleague from a neighboring Ohio district among the politicians who exploited the issue, or trumped it up, or made it "overblown."

A STATEMENT has been available on Turner's official House Web site for nearly two weeks. Somehow, Schmidt must have overlooked what he had to say.