Stephen Scott Emory McInnis (born May 9, 1953) is an American politician and lawyer who was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado from 1993 to 2005. In August 2010, McInnis lost his bid to become the Republican nominee for Governor of Colorado after a plagiarism accusation and apology hurt his standing. In November 2014, McInnis was elected a member of the Mesa County Board of County Commissioners to succeed Steven Acquafresca in January 2015, and was succeeded by Bobbie Daniel in January 2023.
The McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area, west of Grand Junction, is named for him.
Education and professional history
Born in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, McInnis graduated from Glenwood Springs High School and attended Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado. He earned a B.A. from Fort Lewis College in 1975 and a J.D. from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, in 1980. He served as a police officer in Glenwood Springs, worked as a hospital director, and started a law practice in Colorado.
McInnis is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and is an honorary adviser for the National Student Leadership Conference.
Political career
Colorado House of Representatives
From 1983 to 1993, McInnis served in the state house of representatives, where he was elected House Majority Leader and served as Chairman of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
U.S. Congress
In 1992, McInnis was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Colorado's 3rd district and served six terms, from January 1993 to January 2005. While in Congress, McInnis held a position on the powerful Committee on Ways and Means. In 2000, McInnis and former senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Wayne Allard authored the Great Sand Dunes National Park Act, and four years later the Great Sand Dunes became the country's 58th national park.
While in office, McInnis received numerous awards. He was named "Person of the Decade" by The Glenwood Post in 1999 and "Best Local Government Official" by The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel from 1999 to 2003. Other awards Scott has received include the Colorado Association of Homebuilders' Award for Government Service, the Legislator of the Year Award from the Colorado Wildlife Federation, the Golden Bulldog Award from Watchdogs of the Treasury, the National Security Leadership Award from the American Security Council, the Sound Dollar Award from the Free Congress Foundation, the Spirit of Free Enterprise Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Hero of the Taxpayer Award from The Americans for Tax Reform, the Tax Fighter Award from the National Tax Limitation Committee and the Friend of Farm Bureau award from the American Farm Bureau Federation.
McInnis once employed Josh Penry, who is now a former Colorado state senator, and McInnis has been described as Penry's political "mentor."
Campaign Scrutiny
McInnis's Congressional campaign committee came under scrutiny in 2005 by the Federal Election Commission after Democrats filed a complaint alleging that the campaign improperly issued payments to McInnis's wife for her work as campaign manager in 2004 when Scott McInnis was not actively seeking office. McInnis's campaign explained that Lori McInnis was employed by the campaign committee to maintain campaign archives, direct money to other campaigns, and act as liaison with the accounting firm retained by the campaign. McInnis's chief of staff stated that it was "naive to assume that simply because Congressman McInnis is not seeking re-election that we aren't participating in the election." The FEC ultimately dismissed the complaint and found no evidence of wrongdoing by the McInnis campaign.
After being regarded as the early Republican frontrunner in Colorado's 2008 U.S. Senate election, McInnis decided not to enter the race, citing family reasons.
2010 gubernatorial election
200px|right|thumb|McInnis [[gubernatorial sign in Denver, Colorado]]
McInnis had been mentioned as a possible candidate for either the United States Senate or the Colorado governorship in 2010. Although he stated that he was not planning to seek the Senate seat, he did indicate some interest in challenging incumbent Bill Ritter for Colorado's top executive office. Ritter later announced his retirement. On May 21, 2009, McInnis officially announced his candidacy for Governor. Though he did not gain the nomination at the party convention, he was widely considered the front runner for the Republican nomination until accusations of plagiarism gained attention. In the August 10 primary he lost the nomination by slightly more than 1 percent of the ballots cast to entrepreneur Dan Maes.
Plagiarism story
In 2005, after leaving Congress, McInnis received a two-year fellowship at the Hasan Family Foundation. He was paid $300,000 to do speaking engagements and "research and write a monthly article on water issues that can be distributed to media and organizations as well as be available on the Internet." Soon after he started his fellowship, McInnis took a full-time job at the firm Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells).
In 2010, McInnis's work for the Hasan foundation, a total of 150 pages in 23 parts, was posted to the foundation's website. Teresa Fishman, director of the Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University, reviewed McInnis's work and called several of the parts a clear case of plagiarism. "Both ... ideas and words [were] lifted" from a 20-year-old essay by now-Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory J. Hobbs. A McInnis spokesperson said that McInnis "relied on the research and expertise" of Rolly Fischer, a Glenwood Springs engineer who worked at the Colorado River Water Conservation District, and Fischer was the one who handled the parts that were accused of being plagiarism. In a televised interview with KMGH-TV investigative reporter John Ferrugia, McInnis was asked several times who actually wrote the articles and he would not give a definitive answer. McInnis continued to evade the question until finally, in a written apology statement, McInnis said "I should have been more vigilant in my review of research material Rolly submitted." The 82-year-old Fischer subsequently told KMGH-TV investigative reporter John Ferrugia he had not known the articles were to be published; had not known McInnis had a foundation grant; had been paid a few hundred dollars for each article; had considered them private communications; and had been asked by the McInnis campaign as the story broke in July 2010 to sign a letter apologizing for his, Fischer's, failure to provide attribution. Fischer said he would never sign the letter, and felt that McInnis had lied to him.
An aide said McInnis had offered an apology to the judge and said McInnis hoped to meet with the judge, and in his statement McInnis apologized to voters for his "mistake.... It's unacceptable, it's inexcusable, but it was also unintentional."
Also in the 2010 election cycle, Dr. and Mrs. Hasan's son Ali failed to receive the nomination for the position of state treasurer, and did not receive endorsement from McInnis in his bid. Dr. Hasan said that "while he and his wife were upset that McInnis refused to endorse their son ..., it had nothing to do with asking McInnis for the foundation's money back."
On Jan. 6, 2011, Hogan Lovells confirmed that McInnis would not return to its Denver office.
As of May 20, 2011, McInnis has been cleared of any official ethics violations as an attorney by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel (OARC). Upon review of the evidence and interviews with key witnesses, the Attorney Regulation Counsel determined there was insufficient evidence to support a claim of a violation of the disciplinary rules. Additionally, "Regulation Counsel John S. Gleason says the Denver Post reported erroneous facts. 'While both Fisher and [Hasan Family Foundation Chairwoman Seeme] Hasan provided contradictory accounts to the press at the time this issue was raised by the Denver Post, a more thorough review of their archived materials demonstrates that both had forgotten several specific communications with McInnis that had occurred several years before,' states Gleason."
! Year
!
! Democrat
! Votes
! Pct
!
! Republican
! Votes
! Pct
!
! 3rd Party
! Party
! Votes
! Pct
!
! 3rd Party
! Party
! Votes
! Pct
!
|-
|1992
|
| |
| align="right" |114,480
| |44%
|
| |
| align="right" |143,293
| |55%
|
| |Ki R. Nelson
| |Populist
| align="right" |4,189
| align="right" |2%
| |*
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1994
|
| |
| align="right" |63,427
| |30%
|
| |
| align="right" |145,365
| |70%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1996
|
| |
| align="right" |82,953
| |31%
|
| |
| align="right" |183,523
| |69%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1998
|
| |
| align="right" |74,479
| |31%
|
| |
| align="right" |156,501
| |66%
|
| |Barry Maggert
| |Libertarian
| align="right" |5,673
| align="right" |2%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2000
|
| |Curtis Imrie
| align="right" |87,921
| |29%
|
| |
| align="right" |199,204
| |66%
|
| |Drew Sakson
| |Libertarian
| align="right" |9,982
| align="right" |3%
|
| |Victor A. Good
| |Reform
| align="right" |5,433
| align="right" |2%
|
|-
|2002
|
| |Denis Berckefeldt
| align="right" |68,160
| |31%
|
| |
| align="right" |143,433
| |66%
|
| |J. Brent Shroyer
| |Libertarian
| align="right" |4,370
| align="right" |2%
|
| |Gary Swing
| |Natural Law
| align="right" |1,903
| align="right" |1%
| |*
|-
|}
Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1992, write-ins received 2 votes. In 2002, Jason Alessio received 106 votes.
References
External links
- McInnis for Colorado official campaign site
- <!--
Links formerly displayed via the CongLinks template:
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Financial information (federal office) at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
- Financial information (state office) at the National Institute for Money in State Politics
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- -->
|-