Writer behind plagiarized $1 million county history book was privately accused of misreporting pay invoices
The cancellation of a heavily plagiarized Santa Clara County-commissioned history book appeared to be the final chapter in a breathtaking scandal that brought major scrutiny to local government’s contracting practices.Months before the project was officially nixed this spring due to widely known plagiarism concerns, the county privately accused writer Jean McCorquodale of misreporting invoices she submitted for the project that ultimately cost the county over $1 million.
“They should be very open and transparent about why they’re not pursuing money if a determination was made that wrongdoing occurred,” said Sean McMorris, a member of government transparency nonprofit California Common Cause. “This comes down to transparency in government and about trust in government.
“The County has significant concerns about the work performed by the McCorquodale Corporation under the contract, which expired in July 2020,” Williams wrote in the two-page letter. “In particular, the manuscript produced to the county appears to borrow significantly from other sources, does so without adequate citation to those sources, and content from some meetings and interviews for which you invoiced the County do not appear to be included anywhere in the draft.
Santa Clara County Counsel James Williams speaks during a press conference in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 5, 2020.
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