Goeglein, who says he never did anything without Karl Rove’s permission, made the calls that got journalist Evan Gahr fired.
WACO, Tex, Feb. 29 — An aide to President Bush responsible for outreach to conservative and Christian groups resigned Friday after acknowledging that he had plagiarized material for a column he wrote for his hometown paper in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Special assistant Tim Goeglein admitted lifting material from an essay about college education by former Dartmouth professor Jeffrey L. Hart and presenting it as his own in a guest column Thursday for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. Other allegations of plagiarism quickly surfaced after Goeglein informed White House officials of the situation Friday morning, and by day’s end he said he would step down.
On its Web site Friday, the newspaper said 20 of 38 Goeglein columns between 2000 and 2008 contained "portions copied from other sources without attribution." News-Sentinel Editor Kerry Hubartt said Goeglein had written 80 or 90 columns for the newspaper in a relationship that began more than 20 years ago.
Among the writers whose work was allegedly plagiarized were Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley, Wall Street Journal Deputy Editor George Melloan and New York Times reporter James Sterngold, according to Hubartt.
"Today, Tim accepted responsibility for the columns published under his name in his local newspaper, and has apologized for not upholding the standards expected by the President," White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement. "The President was disappointed to learn of the matter, and he was saddened for Tim and his family. He has long appreciated Tim’s service, and he knows him to be a good person who is committed to his country."
