Washington - A White House aide resigned Friday after it emerged that he had plagiarized parts of at least 20 articles written for a local newspaper over the last eight years. Tim Goeglein, a special assistant to President George W Bush who helped in establishing faith-based programmes and getting conservative judicial appointments confirmed, wrote a number of guest columns since 2000 for the News-Sentinel, a paper in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.
The plagiarism allegations only emerged about a column published Thursday, parts of which another columnist found had been taken from a story in the Dartmouth Review. The News-Sentinel Friday said an internal review had since discovered at least 20 instances of plagiarism in 38 columns written between 2000 and 2008.
"The president was disappointed to learn of the matter, and he was saddened for Tim and his family," White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement. "President Bush accepted Tims resignation today."
News Sentinel Editor Kerry Hubbartt apologized to the paper's readers and said they would no longer publish Goeglein's columns.
