Tim Lee’s newsletter lifts text from Marietta newspaper
Kellie Brownlow, a $105,000-a-year chief deputy in Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee's office, lifted two paragraphs from an article in the Marietta Daily Journal without attribution in a March newsletter. It's the second known instance of plagiarism in Lee's office this year.
The plagiarism in the newsletter was brought to light in a complaint by MDJ editor Jon Gillooly.
"Why are passages from (MDJ) articles being lifted and used in the chairman's newsletter without attribution?" Gillooly wrote to Robert Quigley, who was the county's communications director at the time. "This is plagiarism."
Quigley responded that the information came directly from the chairman’s office and his staff wasn’t involved: “Kellie will be contacting you soon, if she hasn’t already.”
About the Author
Dan Klepal is editor of the local government team, supervising nine reporters covering county and municipal governments and metro Atlanta. Klepal came to the AJC in 2012, after a long career covering city halls in Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky. He has covered Gwinnett and Cobb counties before spending three years on the investigative team.
