By MacIver Institute - October 24, 2018

Dan O’Donnell discusses what Tony Evers’ serial plagiarism reveals about his character and ethical fitness for public office

In the beginning, there was darkness. Then four score and seven years ago, Tony Evers said “give me a school budget or give me death.”

The DPI website includes 178 different references to the unacceptability of plagiarism in public schools, and even features a video warning students “that plagiarizing is stealing, as if it’s criminal.” CLICK TO TWEET
The jokes about Evers’ serial plagiarism write themselves, but they—along with the speed at which the media buried the story—belie a far more serious truth: That plagiarism of this magnitude reveals far more about character and fitness for public office than most might assume.

That Evers is the head of the Department of Public Instruction makes it unforgivable.

The DPI website includes 178 different references to the unacceptability of plagiarism in public schools, and even features a video warning students “that plagiarizing is stealing, as if it’s criminal.”

“Plagiarism can carry some pretty serious consequences in school,” the video continues. “Each school has its own plagiarism policy or academic honesty policy, but students who plagiarize may get reported to school officials, get an F on the assignment or in the course, or in some cases even expelled from the school.”

What about a state superintendent who plagiarizes? He can apparently get promoted to governor.

No teacher in Wisconsin would accept a book report lifted from Wikipedia, but Evers’ most recent budget proposal includes a paragraph copied directly from the online encyclopedia’s entry on Early Childhood Education.

No serious liberal intellectual would accept a policy proposal stolen from a conservative think tank, but Evers’ most recent budget proposal steals a whopping fifteen paragraphs from an article from the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute…written by an intern.

Such is the state of Wisconsin’s media that Evers’ theft is all but gone from coverage of the gubernatorial race. After a few obligatory headlines that included the caveat “Walker alleges plagiarism”or “Republican Party accuses Evers,” the local press has dropped the story quicker than it has apparently dropped any pretense of objectivity. READ it HERE