Epic ALEC Stooge Fail

by David Safier

Every teacher has stories of students handing in too-good-to-be-true research papers where, in the midst of brainless copying, they neglected to take out phrases like "(See page 473)." It looks like Florida Rep. Rachel Burgin was one of those students.

Burgin, who the Daily Kos post describes as "a 29 year old former legislative aide and graduate of Moody Bible Institute," introduced a bill telling the feds to reduce corporate taxes. It's a copy from ALEC model legislation. But when you take their model bills, you're supposed to remove passages like this, which Burgess left in:

WHEREAS, it is the mission of the American Legislative
Exchange Council to advance Jeffersonian principles of free
markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty,

Someone noticed her error , so:

The next day, Rep. Burgin quickly withdrew the bill hoping that no one had noticed and then re-introduced it 24-hours later, with a new bill number (HM 717), but now without the problematic paragraph. Nobody seems to have noticed until now.

Plagiarism earns you an "F" in most classes. In the legislature, it can earn you corporate donations and a bright conservative future.

(h/t to Azazello for the link.)