Further investigation by The News-Sentinel has found evidence of plagiarism in seven more guest columns from former White House aide Timothy S. Goeglein.
Contacted Sunday, the Fort Wayne native attributed the plagiarism to shortcomings in his character: "Pride. Vanity. It's all my fault. It's inexcusable. What I did is wrong. I categorically apologize."
Until Friday, Goeglein was special assistant to President Bush and public liaison deputy director. Early Friday morning, Michigan blogger and former News-Sentinel columnist Nancy Nall posted excerpts of a Thursday guest column by Goeglein and nearly identical paragraphs from a 10-year-old essay in the Dartmouth Review by Jeffrey Hart. Less than 12 hours later, after The News-Sentinel found plagiarism in 20 of 38 columns dating to 2000, Goeglein resigned.
An examination of 39 more guest columns from Goeglein published during the 1990s turned up seven that pulled material from earlier-published sources without attribution, including another from Hart.
Evidence of plagiarism appears as early as 1995. During 1998 and 1999, six of 15 guest columns written by Goeglein were plagiarized. In 1998, he was press secretary for former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats. In 1999, he was communications director for The Campaign for Working Families in Washington, D.C.
Goeglein's guest columns were unsolicited submissions to the editorial page. He was not paid, and there were no deadlines for their completion, News-Sentinel Editor Kerry Hubartt said. Hubartt announced Friday the newspaper will no longer publish columns from Goeglein.
In multiple e-mails to The New-Sentinel on Friday, Goeglein, 44, apologized for his actions. "I am more apologetic than you know, and from my heart. Please know how deeply sorry I am," he wrote to Editorial Page Editor Leo Morris.
On Sunday, Goeglein said, "I have no plans at this point." His responsibilities in the president's administration ended Friday with his resignation, he said.
