White House aide accused of plagiarism

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent 21 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A White House aide accused of plagiarism was chastised Friday and his actions were criticized as unacceptable. Timothy Goeglein, who has worked for President Bush since 2001, was accused of lifting material from a Dartmouth College publication and presenting it as his own work in a column about education for The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind.

“His behavior is not acceptable and we are disappointed in Tim’s actions,” White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said. “He is offering no excuses and he agrees it was wrong.”

Asked if he would keep his job, she said, “At this point we have nothing more for you on that.”

She said officials were looking into allegations that Goeglein had plagiarized other material. The News-Sentinel said it had found at least two other cases. Goeglein’s action was brought to light in a posting by a blogger, Nancy Nall.

Goeglein has worked at the White House since 2001. He is a special assistant to Bush and deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison, which is responsible for outreach to different groups about the president’s policies.

Goeglein has admitted that portions of the column were used from another source without attribution, News-Sentinel editor Kerry Hubartt said in a story on the paper’s Web site.

“He has apologized to the editors of The News-Sentinel and also said there may be other previous columns he has written for The News-Sentinel that also may contain plagiarized material,” Hubartt said. “We have found material in at least two other previous guest columns lifted from other sources without attribution and are continuing to check other previous submissions.”

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