GOP Senate candidate's book appears to contain plagiarized portions
By Darrell Ehrlick for Daily Montanan
When Montanans see an advertisement or hear U.S. Senate candidate and political newcomer Tim Sheehy speak, he’ll likely talk about his experiences as a businessman and pilot who launched an aerial firefighting company in Bozeman. It’s a central part of the campaign and the candidate’s identity.
The Republican who is challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester has built that backstory: First he was a U.S. Navy SEAL, combat wounded, and then a businessman who even wrote a book on aerial firefighting. That book was widely seen as a prelude or introduction of Sheehy as a public figure.
The book, “Mudslingers: A True Story of Aerial Firefighting,” was also subtitled, “An American Origins Story.” It’s part history, part travelogue and part autobiography, published in 2023 by Permuted Press and distributed by publishing giant Simon and Schuster.
But, the book which has helped solidify his place as a candidate and authority on aerial firefighting seems to have at least four different passages that were plagiarized—sourced, but not credited in the book, according to an investigation by the Daily Montanan.