Report: Montana Senator Walsh Accused of Plagiarism
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US Senate(NEW YORK) — Democrats’ chances of retaining the Senate may have taken a major hit Wednesday after allegations of plagiarism were leveled at Montana Senator John Walsh.
As reported by The New York Times, Walsh, who is running for re-election in November, apparently lifted major portions of his thesis to graduate from the United States Army War College in 2007 from other sources available on the Internet.
The Iraq war vet and one-time National Guard adjunct general’s paper on American Middle East policy also lists no attributions.
Although Walsh said he believes he did nothing wrong, an aide to the senator did not dispute the charges of plagiarism, but said it should be taken in the context of his military career, according to the Times.
Walsh spoke later about the brewing scandal, explaining that he committed an unintentional mistake due to post-traumatic stress resulting from his service in Iraq and medication he was taking at the time. He said a fellow veteran’s suicide added to the stress.
Johnson was tapped to replace Montana Senator Max Baucus earlier this year, who became ambassador to China.
However, even before the charges of plagiarism surfaced, polls showed Walsh running behind his Republican opponent, as Democrats try desperately to keep control of the Senate.
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