Plagiarism in the halls of Congress? Ohio Congresswoman Jean Schmidt wrote a press release in August, that is worded identically to a press release previously written in July by Ohio Congresswoman Deborah Pryce. Schmidt’s write-in opponent Nate Noy says this is proof of a “blatant act of plagiarism,” and of Schmidt’s “low moral standards.”

You will recall, about a month ago, I reported on Noy’s weird accusation that Schmidt had faked a 13-year-old photograph of herself running in a marathon race. As I opined at the time, and as the Ohio Elections Commission later ruled, the photo was genuine, and the accusation was false.

This new accusation from Noy (who is polling about one percent support in his district) might be false too. But at least this time he has some evidence to go with the allegation. The two press releases really are identical, except for a trivial change here and there, and Pryce really did post hers six weeks earlier than Schmidt. And this same press release was later published as a “guest editorial” in at least two newspapers, under Jean Schmidt’s byline.
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