Thursday, October 13, 2011

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- David Miller, a GOP state central committee member, is Councilman Charlie Winburn's chief of staff at Cincinnati City Hall. And he's also the Hamilton County Republican Party's endorsed candidate for fiscal officer in Springfield Township. It's possible he might have to add another line to his resume: Plagiarist.

An answer on Miller's League of Women Voters candidate questionnaire form contains nearly identical language to Winburn's answer. Only Winburn delivered his three days earlier. The questions were, "What services to you think should be considered basic and essential in the city?" and "What services do you believe should be basic and essential in the township?" Even though Cincinnati is a major metropolitan city and Springfield Township is a small suburb, Miller appears not to have recognized differences between the two. On Sept. 23 at 7:46 a.m. he filed this answer: "Government officials are public servants to the voters and stewards of their public assets. Springfield Township must properly use public policy in order to manage necessary public services such as roads and sanitation, insure public safety through police and fire, and create an atmosphere where the free market economy can flourish through private industry with a minimum of government regulation." The link to Miller's answer is here.

As for Winburn, this is what he had to say on Sept. 20 at 4:09 p.m.: "Government officials are public servants to the voters and stewards of their public assets. The Cincinnati City Council must properly use public policy in order to manage necessary public services such as roads and sanitation, insure public saafety through police and fire, and create an atmosphere where the free market economy can flourish through private industry." The link to Winburn's answer is here. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that Winburn didn't say anything about minimizing government regulation.

Inquiring minds might be wondering if Winburn and his City Hall sidekick David Miller somehow collaborated, and they might also be curious to discover if they hatched their campaign manifestos while at work on government time. The city solicitor's office might want to did into the e-mails and computer traffic. The Daily Bellwether does not have an answer yet. Obviously there was some coordination. The question of campaigning on public time has come up recently, with Democratic Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan being attacked by conservatives for posting material on her campaign website via city computers. She paid 13 cents -- yes, 13 cents -- to reimburse taxpayers. And whatever she posted online was original. Of course, Miller might argue that he didn't plagiarize anything. He could say he wrote the line that Winburn used on the League of Women Voters form, and that Winburn took it from him. But the records show, at this point, Winburn got there first.

4 comments:

Has the author of this story ever considered the fact Miller does work for Winburn that both wrote the piece together, and possibly after work? I don't see any conflict that two people that work together share the same ideas. That's why Obama uses a teleprompter as he's reading what someone else wrote. The problem with Quinlivan is she was caught once before and promised not to do what she was again caught at.

What a crock in the comment. Sure Obama uses a teleprompter on some occasions. But when Rahm Emanuel ran for mayor of Chicago he never recycled Obama's words as his own. Emanuel had similar beliefs, I suppose. Teleprompter or not, he used his own words to express them. The problem is that Winburn's chief of staff used Winburn's words as his own.

Consider also that Mr Winburn is holding a part time position as a Cincinnati City Council Member (by law) but he puts in way more hours than even full time would require. I wouldn't be complaining too much there. Having worked with Mr Miller when working with the City (I own a small business) I know he is also very dedicated to his work.