Plagiarism: Union Style (Part 2)

recent letter to the editor in reaction to my op-ed on paycheck protection starts:

I live in the Malvern area, served 24 years in the military and this year started my 15th year of public school teaching in the Phoenixville Area. After having read the op-ed by Bob Dick, I felt compelled to respond to what I feel is an example of misleading and slanted writing that I would not allow my students to submit for a grade.

But the author never gets around to addressing any “misleading and slanted” claims in my op-ed. This is understandable because the rest of his letter is almost an exact copy of another that appeared in a different paper under a different name.

The first letter was published by The Delaware County Daily Times on February 24. It’s signed by a retired teacher from Springfield—a couple of sample paragraphs follow:

But Gov. Tom Corbett and his special interest allies, along with some members of the General Assembly, are pushing a legislative attack on workers’ voluntary deductions, for two simple reasons – to silence the voice of the workers, and improve his re-election chances.

Pennsylvania is just the latest state for this political scheme. Out-of-state billionaires and corporate special interest groups, who are working behind the scenes in Harrisburg, have pushed similar legislation in other states. Here in Pennsylvania, one of the front groups is the right-wing Commonwealth Foundation. Bob Dick, a representative of that group, recently claimed in an op-ed that opponents of this scheme were not truthful – strange words coming from an organization that refuses to identify its wealthy donors.

The other letter, signed by a current public school teacher, was published in The Mercury a day later. Notice anything familiar? 

But Gov. Tom Corbett and his special interest allies, along with some members of the General Assembly, are pushing a legislative attack on workers’ voluntary payroll deductions, for two simple reasons — to silence the voices of workers, and improve his re-election chances.

Pennsylvania is just the latest state for this political scheme. Out-of-state billionaires and corporate special interest groups, who are working behind the scenes in Harrisburg, have pushed similar legislation in other states. Here in Pennsylvania, one of the front groups is the right-wing Commonwealth Foundation. Bob Dick, a representative of that group, recently claimed in an op-ed that opponents of this scheme were not truthful — strange words coming from an organization which refuses to identify its wealthy donors.

Aside from the introductory paragraph, the letters are identical.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time unions have resorted to plagiarizing to misinform the public. And of all people, teachers should know better.

Clearly, we are supposed to believe that teachers around the state are up in arms over paycheck protection legislation. But 80 percent of union households don’t think taxpayer resources should be used to collect campaign contributions.

I can only hope that these teachers and their unions set better examples of integrity and honesty for our students in the future.