Here’s a background piece about the relationship between the Hasan Family Foundation and Scott McInnis from the Associated Press (Steven K. Paulson) via The Durango Herald. From the article:
Hasan says he was expecting Scott McInnis to work full-time for two years writing and lecturing on solutions for Colorado’s protracted drought, but McInnis delivered only a few speeches and submitted plagiarized essays before bailing out after only a month’s work to go to join a high-priced Denver law firm. “I looked at the grant sheet and realized that no amount of time had been specified for him to be working. I thought it breached our understanding, but it was a legally binding document,” Hasan said.
McInnis gave the foundation records that showed he gave a speech on Sept. 30, 2005, at the Colorado River Water Seminar in Grand Junction titled “Washington in the Rear View Mirror.” He also gave four other keynote addresses to the Delta Chamber of Commerce, the Davinci Institute in Denver, the Denver Rotary Club and the Colorado Mining Association, along with several television interviews…
Hasan said he became concerned about Colorado’s water problems while driving to monthly clinics on the Eastern Plains and added it to his agenda, even though it wasn’t part of the original mission. Seeme Hasan hired McInnis, whom she called “the most knowledgeable person in the state when it comes to federal and state laws regarding water and land issues.” Instead of solutions, the foundation says it got 59 pages of folksy “Musings on Water” interspersed with history and facts plagiarized from a 1984 essay written by state Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs, a nationally recognized water expert…
Hasan said his wife read the papers when McInnis turned them in and determined they were unpublishable, but Hasan said he was legally bound to pay McInnis because of the loose wording of the grant letter…
Hasan said he already had friends in the White House and in Congress when he hired McInnis to write the essays and didn’t need his help. “I’ve never gone to Congress for anything. The government can’t do anything for you, it can only get in the way,” he said.
More election coverage from Ashley Keesis-Wood writing for the Windsor Beacon. From the article:
Windsorite Aaron Lore, who stopped by the Main Street Grill to chat with McInnis, said one of his concerns was the environment. “What’s your position on in-situ mining?” he asked McInnis. In-situ mining is the process being proposed by PowerTech to extract uranium from more than 5,700 acres of land near Nunn. McInnis said he comes from a mining area in Colorado, and is generally a pro-mining and pro-jobs guy. “I’m not sure about the specifics of this project,” he said. “But I will look into it.”
More coverage from Westword (Michael Roberts):
[Monday], Scott McInnis made his first public appearance — at Adams State College in Alamosa — since word of his plagiarism problems broke. But according to Channel 7’s John Ferrugia, who was there, McInnis treated a subsequent interview like a game of dodge ball, repeatedly declining to answer direct questions about his now-infamous “Musings on Water” or the assertion from old family friend turned under-the-bus-tossee Rolly Fischer that he’s been lying…
It’s been widely reported that none of the attendees at [Monday’s] campaign event asked about plagiarism. But assuming that means the public in general doesn’t care about the topic may be a leap too far. “We were told in an e-mail back-and-forth that McInnis would be answering no questions about the Rolly issue,” Ferrugia says. “He would only be answering questions about farming issues.”
More 2010 Colorado elections coverage here.