SUMMARY: plagiarizing or taking credit for the work of another has always been one of the gravest academic offenses imaginable, carrying with it a very severe sanction. Yet, politicians often take credit for the work of others. In a perverse sort of way, I was vaguely flattered by the way in which incumbent Councilman Charles “Bud” England saw fit to take credit for the work I performed making Cathedral City’s downtown energy conservation project a reality, numbering it among his own so-called achievements. In fact, Mr. England’s sole “achievement” in connection with the project was casting an affirmative vote to move it forward. That’s hardly much of an achievement. Mr. England must have a very dim view of the intelligence of Cathedral city’s electorate to try to foist off on it so it easily demonstrable an untruth. In an educational setting, that’s cheating. Voters should take such misconduct and cheating into account and give Mr. England a pink slip this coming Tuesday.
By: Paul S. Marchand
The American Heritage Dictionary defines a whopper as “a gross untruth.” Perhaps we should gloss the definition of whopper as constituting a gross, demonstrable untruth.
When Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney assured an Ohio audience that Jeep would soon be outsourcing its vehicle production to China, he told an easily rebuttable gross untruth.
Whoppers, it seems, are part of the armamentarium of American politicians.
They shouldn’t be.
When I was in school, plagiarizing another’s work or taking credit for the work product of others was considered an “honor code” violation. The sanction for such a violation could reach up to and include “separation from the institution.”
Apparently incumbent City Councilman Charles “Bud” England seems to have forgotten what a serious violation of good form and basic ethics it is to take credit for work done by others. In the same way Mr. Romney has developed for himself a malodorous history of whoppers, nasty little fibs, and demonstrable distortions of the truth. Writing in a New York Times column entitled “Is Romney Unraveling?,” New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow characterized the quondam Massachusetts Governor this way: “Evidence continues to emerge that Romney is one of the most dishonest, duplicitous candidates to ever seek the presidency.”
While Mr. England is no Mitt Romney, he does not seem to have felt a great deal of compunction about taking credit for one of my most significant achievements during my tenure on the city Council. Specifically, in a piece of campaign literature prepared by him on his behalf, Mr. England claimed as one of his so-called achievements one of the key components of the cathedral City’s downtown energy savings initiative, specifically a solar array composed of more than 1600 photovoltaic panels installed above the top level of Cathedral City’s downtown parking structure.
What makes Mr. England’s claim a whopper is that he took no active part in carrying the legislation that made possible the downtown energy project. If casting “yes” vote to move the project forward constitutes an “achievement,” then there are very few things that have happened in Cathedral City between 2002 and 2010 for which I could not personally claim credit.
But, in fact, England’s role in the downtown energy savings project was limited to his passive participation and casting the occasional affirmative vote. For more information on the downtown energy project, please follow this link to the June, 2006 issue of American City and County magazine: http://www.americancityandcounty.com/mag/government_harnessing_suns_rays. (NB) You'll need to copy the link and paste it into the navigation bar of your browser.
The irony inherent in Mr. England’s claim of credit for the work I did to bring the project to the Council and then to shepherd it to fruition lies in Mr. England’s close alliance with embattled Cathedral city Mayor Kathleen J. DeRosa.
DeRosa, a former employee of Southern California Edison, fought the project tooth and toenail. While she has been content to claim credit for work done by councilmember Greg Pettis, even she has apparently felt constrained from taking credit for a project she so vociferously opposed.
Perhaps, in a perverse sort of way, I should feel flattered that Mr. England felt the project for which I fought so hard represents a thing of sufficient political value for him to try to appropriate and foist it on the public as his own.
However, in an age where fact checking is as easy as clicking a mouse, Mr. England seems to think that the electorate is not smart enough to do its due diligence and catch him.
Cathedral City voters deserve better than that, and because taking credit for the work of others is an honor violation, should give him his pink slip next Tuesday.
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Paul S. Marchand is an attorney who lives and works in Cathedral City, California, where he served from 2002 until 2010 on the city Council, and where he is a candidate for council this fall. Between 2003 and 2005, Mr. Marchand was instrumental in introducing and carrying Cathedral City’s downtown energy conservation plan, which is saving the city well over $100,000/year off its Edison bill, and which is also helping to reduce Cathedral City’s carbon emissions by more than 500 tons/year. The views set forth herein are his own, and not necessarily those of any organization or entity with which he is associated.
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