Kamala Harris faces more allegations of plagiarism after book bombshell
New allegations of plagiarism have surfaced against Vice President Kamala Harris over her testimony as a U.S. senator.
Harris allegedly copied a former colleague’s text “verbatim” for use in written testimony before Congress she gave in 2007, according to an analysis by the The free beacon of Washington.
Harris testified in support of the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2007, a bill that would help pay student loans for state and federal prosecutors to keep talented lawyers in the profession.
Harris’ interest in the proposal was personal, as she spent her early years as a career prosecutor before running for political office.
But her written statement in support of the proposal sent to the House Judiciary Committee was not tailored to her own experience.
Rather, it mirrored a near-verbatim text sent by Winnebago County, Illinois, District Attorney Paul Logli, a Republican, in support of the bill.
Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris answers questions during a town hall-style campaign event with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney
Of the 1,500 words in the testimonial, 80 percent were exactly the same as Logli’s submission, according to the Free Beacon analysis.
It is unclear whether both political figures used the same source text to write their testimony, although it is most likely the product of sloppy or lazy staff work.
Accusations of plagiarism can derail a political campaign if the candidate is found guilty of deliberately copying another politician for dramatic effect without doing the work.
Biden’s first presidential campaign in 1987 was derailed by accusations of plagiarism after he appeared to copy phrases and mannerisms from a British Labor Party politician. He was also accused of plagiarism during law school.
The new plagiarism report puts new emphasis on Harris’ use of other people’s work, as she was found to have plagiarized several blocks of text in her book ‘Smart on Crime’ which she published with co-author Joan O’C Hamilton.
The allegations were brought to light by author and activist Christopher Russo, who published details of the passages in question earlier in October.
The cover of Kamala Harris’ first book ‘Smart on Crime’, published in 2009
The report found that Harris copied verbatim content from Wikipedia, Goodwill Industries, its “Back on Track” crime program partner, and other online sources.
The Harris campaign did not return a request for comment.
The report shows that Harris copied an entire section of text from an Associated Press story published in April 2008 about low graduation rates.
In another part of the book, Harris included extensive excerpts from a press release from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, almost verbatim without attribution.
The plagiarism hunter ran a side-by-side comparison, which showed that Harris had taken part of her book from Wikipedia without properly citing the online encyclopedia as the source.
Another example includes language taken directly from a Bureau of Justice Assistance report on West Palm Beach crime statistics.
“They not only extracted material from sources without proper citation, but in at least one case relied on a low-quality source, potentially undermining the accuracy of their conclusion,” Rufo wrote.
Rufo said Harris and her publisher should retract the plagiarized passages from her book and make a correction.
“There is nothing clever about plagiarism, which is the equivalent of an academic crime,” he concluded.