Goncalves Joins List of Plagiarists in Politics - Most Amazing Was Plagiarizing an Apology Letter

Goncalves Joins List of Plagiarists in Politics - Most Amazing Was Plagiarizing an Apology Letter

There have been many cases of plagiarism in politics.

President Joe Biden had a number of instances -- and The American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara has an entire micro-website dedicated to Biden’s plagiarism.

As GoLocal reported on Tuesday, Providence City Councilor John Goncalves lifted a portion of his environmental policy from a plan in New York City.

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Locally, he is just one of a number of cases.

The most amazing may have been when Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza was first running for mayor, and when it became known he had once stolen from a store in Warwick, he issued an apology.

Just one problem, he plagiarized the apology letter.

In 2014, Elorza admitted that he had been arrested for shoplifting and his letter of apology was taken word for word from a letter Central Falls Mayor James Diossa issued to constituents explaining his arrest on the same charge.

Elorza’s campaign confirmed that Elorza had been arrested as an 18-year-old for shoplifting a shirt from a department store in Warwick. Elorza pled no contest to the charge and served 20 hours of community service.

In a June 20, 2014, letter to 7,000 Providence voters, Elorza said he had learned an important lesson from the incident and had turned his life around.

He wrote: “I want to be upfront about a mistake I made years ago as a young man, because I want you to hear the story directly from me. When I was 18 years old, I was caught shoplifting a shirt from a department store. Why did I do it? I don’t have a good answer. Like a lot of teenagers, I wanted to impress my friends. I knew it was the wrong thing to do, and I accepted full responsibility immediately. I faced a judge and served my community service hours, grateful that I had adults who loved me unconditionally and supported me when I needed it. I learned a valuable lesson and I’ve never been in trouble with the law again.”

His confession is taken nearly word for word from a letter Diossa sent on Oct. 6, 2012.

“Like many people, I have had my share of ups and downs. I want to be upfront about a mistake I made years ago as a young man, because I want you to hear the story directly from me and not from an opponent of mine.  When I was a teenager, I was arrested for shoplifting a bottle of cologne from a store.  Why did I do it?  I don’t have a good answer.  Like a lot of teenagers, I wanted to impress my friends.  I knew it was the wrong thing to do and I accepted full responsibility immediately.  I faced a judge and served my community service hours, grateful that I had caring adults who loved me unconditionally and supported me when I needed it. I learned a lot from that experience.”

When first asked why Elorza brought up the arrest, his campaign manager, Marisa O’Gara said, “Much of his story is about his struggles as a young man, and how he turned his life around. He chose to be forthright about this because he believes strongly in transparency and ethics, and he wants to be completely upfront with the people of Providence. He wants them to hear directly from him how these struggles shaped his vision for Providence.”

Asked tonight why his confession was nearly identical to Diossa’s, O’Gara said an advisor had drafted the letter. She confirmed the advisor, whom she did not name, had also worked for Diossa. She said the campaign had not been aware of the similarity in language.

“A former advisor helped our campaign write the first draft of this letter, and this same advisor had also worked on James Diossa’s letter. Jorge relayed his personal story, our advisor presented us with this language, and Jorge felt it accurately described his personal struggle. If we had known the language was the same as Mayor Diossa's, we would have immediately corrected it. What was really important to Jorge was disclosing the truth about the mistakes he made as a young man, mistakes about which he has been forthright and upfront,” O’Gara said.