GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis spokesman Sean Duffy told the Colorado Independent Friday afternoon that he’s still following up on tax questions regarding $112,500 of the $300,000 payment he received from the Hasan Family Foundation for plagiarized water articles.
The money went to a corporation called Invest 2, LLC, that was dissolved in 2006 and not listed among McInnis’s assets in tax returns he allowed members of the media to examine in April. It was originally registered to McInnis’s wife, Lori McInnis. The Independent sent several questions regarding Invest 2 to Duffy on July 22 but still has not received any answers.
McInnis, a former six-term congressman from the Western Slope, is in a primary race with Evergreen businessman Dan Maes for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.
The Denver Post Friday afternoon reported McInnis has signed a legally binding settlement agreeing to repay the $300,000 to the Hasan Family Foundation, although the Post reported it was unclear when the money would be repaid. Duffy told the Post, which broke the original plagiarism story, that there would be no further comment on the repayment deal.
The Colorado Independent first reported on the water articles, entitled “Musings on Water,” in May, and in June got the Hasan Family Foundation to post the papers on the nonprofit organization’s website. A Post investigation last month found glaring similarities between the McInnis articles and a report by current Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs in 1984.
McInnis admitted the plagiarism but blamed the ethical lapse on Glenwood Springs water expert and researcher Roland “Rolly” Fischer, who in turn said McInnis was lying and the papers were his responsibility.
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