From The Pueblo Chieftain (Patrick Malone):
So when Hasan is asked whether the $300,000 his foundation paid McInnis soon after McInnis left Congress was a way of influencing a powerful man, Hasan redefines where the power really rests. “I didn’t need Scott’s influence,” Hasan said. “Scott has come to me multiple times. I don’t think he would deny it.”
Hasan said his favor to McInnis was to offer him a fellowship with the Hasan Family Foundation after McInnis’ aspirations to the presidency of Mesa State College failed to materialize. “Either he was already out of Congress, or it was within a few days of him leaving Congress, I can’t tell you precisely,” Hasan said. “But he was looking for a job.”
Click through and read the whole article. Mr. Malone details Melik Hasan’s side of his relationship with McInnis.
Meanwhile there still seems to be questions about $112,000 of the payments to McInnis, according to this report from David O. Williams writing for the Colorado Independent. From the article:
The money went to a corporation called Invest 2, LLC, that was dissolved in 2006 and not listed among McInnis’s assets in tax returns he allowed members of the media to examine in April. It was originally registered to McInnis’s wife, Lori McInnis. The Independent sent several questions regarding Invest 2 to Duffy on July 22 but still has not received any answers…
The Denver Post Friday afternoon reported McInnis has signed a legally binding settlement agreeing to repay the $300,000 to the Hasan Family Foundation, although the Post reported it was unclear when the money would be repaid. Duffy told the Post, which broke the original plagiarism story, that there would be no further comment on the repayment deal.
More 2010 Colorado elections coverage here.