Maggi Cook: Plagiarist, ORP Central Committee Candidate

I avoid writing about myself because I realize I'm boring, but something I read yesterday merits an exception. I was disappointed to learn Maggi Cook is a candidate for the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee in the 7th District. Cook has complained of being pressured to drop out of the race:

“Both sides, especially Kasich, have overreached and overplayed their hands,” Cook said. “It’s a power play by the governor’s staff, and it’s a bit like Joe McCarthy. ‘Trust me little girl, we know best.’ ”

Apart from her hackish McCarthy reference and the implication of sexism - which is doubly stupid because all three candidates are women - Maggi Cook is unsuited for a Central Committee seat because she is a plagiarist. I know because she plagiarized me less than a year ago (view PDF printed 01/17/2012):

Bruce Wyngaard, Associate Executive Director, AFSCME Local 11, had a salary of $94,337 in 2009.  Also in 2009, the eleven local staffers of this Public Employee Union were paid more than $5.8 million.  All 30,870 members of AFSCME  paid approximately $190 each for their local staff.

AFSCME Council 8 President John Lyall was scheduled to testify against Senate Bill 5 today.  Lyall was paid $155,482 in 2009. Excluding payments to officers such as Lyall – and $148,265 for First VP Robert Mitchell – AFSCME Council 8 employees were paid more than $5.7 million in 2009. Annual disbursements to union employees equaled more than $155 per member.

The unions spent less than half as much on benefits – pensions, medical insurance, etc. – as on union pay in 2009. AFSCME Local 11 spent a little over $2.5 million on benefits; AFSCME Council 8 spent less than $2 million.  Do you really believe that Lyall, Wyngaard and Mitchell are concerned about  shops, stores, gas stations and other merchants in communities across this state or do you think they are concerned about their incredibly generous paychecks?

Maggi Cook lifted these three paragraphs without attribution from one of my posts, which had been published at that hero, Third Base Politics, The Buckeye Institute's Liberty Wall, and the Columbus Tea Party site before "her" piece went up. My version:

Public union boss Bruce Wyngaard has a good job - to the tune of $94,337 in 2009. Lots of other American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 11 staffers have good jobs, too: the union paid its employees over $5.8 million in 2009. Taken from 30,870 members, that's the equivalent of nearly $190 per member.

AFSCME Council 8 President John Lyall will testify against Senate Bill 5 on Thursday. Lyall was paid $155,482 in 2009. Think he'll mention that while he's railing about spending cuts? Excluding payments to officers such as Lyall - and $148,265 for First VP Robert Mitchell - AFSCME Council 8 employees were paid more than $5.7 million in 2009. Annual disbursements to union employees equaled more than $155 per member.

For context, the unions spent less than half as much on benefits - pensions, medical insurance, etc. - as on union pay in 2009. AFSCME Local 11 spent a little over $2.5 million on benefits; AFSCME Council 8 spent less than $2 million. Is it unreasonable to conclude the primary service provided by government unions is the enrichment of union bosses?

Clearly, Maggi Cook had plagiarized my research - both on her own site and at Examiner.com - and failed to cite me. Trying to give the benefit of a doubt, I sent her a tweet requesting attribution... and received no response. Another tweet, and still nothing, although her Twitter account was active in the intervening time.

My fellow Third Base Politics (3BP) admin Bytor had communicated with Maggi briefly about an unrelated topic, so I gave him a heads up: this lady plagiarized me, ignored my good-faith effort to reach out, and should probably be avoided in the future.

Bytor sent Maggi a friendly email asking that she cite and link to 3BP when using 3BP content. Maggi plead ignorance. Bytor sent further clarification, including my writing side-by-side with her mangled copy of my writing. Maggi bizarrely insisted he was mistaken. He emailed her a third time, going to even more painstaking lengths to explain she had obviously plagiarized me and obviously should publish quotes as quotes instead of changing a few words and pretending it's her own work.

She never replied.

That was last February. I was happy to ignore Maggi Cook until I learned she's the "Tea Party" candidate for a Central Committee seat. If you're unable to meet 9th-grade requirements for writing and unwilling to admit when you've made a simple mistake, I don't want you anywhere near a leadership position in the Ohio Republican Party.

Of course, I'm in no position to endorse a candidate in the District 7 Central Committee race, but I can affirm Maggi Cook is a plagiarist. If you want a central committee representative who lifts work from fellow Ohioans and plays dumb when called on it, look no further!

Cross-posted at that hero.