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The leading Republican gubernatorial candidate in Colorado apologized Tuesday for lifting passages from the writings of a state Supreme Court justice without attribution and is now staving off calls to quit the race.

Republican candidate and prominent Colorado lawyer Scott McInnis privately apologized to Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs Tuesday for using several passages of Hobbs' work in producing a series of essays for which he was paid $300,000 to write, according to the Associated Press.

A spokesman for McInnis called the plagiarism a "serious mistake" and "completely regrettable." But speaking to Denver television station 9News Tuesday, McInnis called the story a non-issue.

According to the Denver Post, McInnis submitted the plagiarized documents - reports on Colorado water rights - in 2005 and 2006 as part of a two-year fellowship with the Hasan Family Foundation for which he was paid the massive six-figure sum.

The reports numbered more than 150 pages in 23 installments and lack any form of attribution, the post also reported, despite including several passages that mirror word-for-word a 1984 essay from Justice Hobbs entitled, "Green Mountain Reservoir: Lock or Key?"

When the Denver Post first reported the instances of plagiarism earlier this week, McInnis, a former U.S. congressman and current partner of the international law firm Hogan Lovells, said the error was primarily the fault of his then-research assistant Rolly Fischer.

"This is a guy I've known all my life," McInnis said. "He…was head of the water district. I think a reasonable person would have relied on that, and I think Rolly felt that he thought it was in the public domain, he wasn't required to footnote the thing."

But speaking to the Glenwood Post Independent, Fischer said that "Scott's responsible for it." He declined to speak further on the matter.

Meanwhile, the Hasan foundation is pledging to launch an investigation into the charge and possibly demand McInnis return the $300,000 he was paid.

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Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off