Linda McMahon Accused of Writing Keystone Op-Ed Parroting TransCanada

After calling out an opponent for plagiarism, Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon pulled key parts of her own Keystone XL op-ed, which ran last week on a Connecticut news site, from the website of the corporation that stands to profit from construction of the $7 billion pipeline: TransCanada.

In her op-ed, McMahon, who is running for the seat held by retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), wrote of TransCanada's pipeline: "Keystone XL stands ready to put some 13,000 Americans to work to construct the actual pipeline. These would be pipefitters, welders, mechanics, electricians, and heavy equipment operators, among others."

That sounds strikingly similar to what TransCanada itself wrote of the Keystone project on its website: "TransCanada is poised to put 13,000 Americans to work to construct the pipeline -- pipefitters, welders, mechanics, electricians, heavy equipment operators, among other jobs."

McMahon also wrote: "Another 7,000 manufacturing jobs would be created across the U.S. What's more, thousands of additional spin-off jobs likely would be created by the increased demand for local goods and services along the pipeline route."

Compare that with what's on the TransCanada site: "... in addition to 7,000 manufacturing jobs that would be created across the U.S. Additionally, local businesses along the pipeline route will benefit from the 118,000 spin-off jobs Keystone XL will create through increased business for local goods and service providers."

McMahon's office on Tuesday defended the language, arguing she is hardly alone in parroting TransCanada's numbers.

"These are factual statements widely used by advocates for the Pipeline," said McMahon spokeswoman Erin Isaac via email. "In researching the project and arguments both for and against it, the most compelling language revolves around job creation. These stats are repeated by respected industry experts and across multiple sources including TransCanada's website, which we should have cited in our piece. Ultimately, this project represents thousands of jobs and it remains unacceptable that this administration would continue to put up roadblocks when millions of Americans are still looking for work."...More?

source: huffingtonpost.com