Colorado GOP Gubernatorial candidate and erstwhile front-runner Scott McInnis settled the monetary element of an ongoing plagiarism scandal that threw the governor’s race into disarray and gave his opponent Dan Maes an opening in today’s primary. As promised, he returned the entire $300,000 of the Hasan Family Foundation fellowship at the center of the controversy:
Hasan Foundation was paid in full yesterday from personal funds. All matters between the Foundation and Scott McInnis have been fully resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.
While neither the McInnis campaign nor the Hasan Foundation is likely to comment further on the subject, the notion that the plagiarism issue might be “fully resolved to the satisfaction” of Republican voters is less clear, even if McInnis wins his primary this evening. As the Denver Westword notes, full repayment of the fellowship will do nothing to diminish the centrality of this issue as campaign fodder for McInnis’ expected opposition in Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) or Tom Tancredo (now of the Constitution Party).
**Update: McInnis has filed an extension to an ethics complaint brought by Colorado Ethics Watch, guaranteeing that this plagiarism story will not be going anywhere anytime soon.