State Sen. Greg Ball has fired an employee who used bits and pieces of other people's writings—including a 17-year-old's opinion piece—without giving credit, reports the Albany Times Union.
"The action comes a day after the Hudson Valley Republican's spokesman refused to comment for a Times Union story about a bill banning killer whales from New York aquariums and sea parks that used writing from a 17-year-old's Huffington Post opinion piece and a Los Angeles Times article on the documentary "Blackfish," Casey Seiler reported on timesunion.com.
Ball is running an online petition to gather support for that legislation.
There are no captive killer whales currently in New York State, the paper said. Ball is often vocal on animal cruelty issues.
The Times Union also reported:
After Ball's office was asked about those bills on Thursday afternoon, the memos from both measures as well as the killer whale bill disappeared from the Senate website.
Ball himself spent the day on Twitter, where he joshed reporters over the matter and collected thanks from killer whale advocates who hope to see the measure passed. There are currently no captive killer whales in New York state.
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Before his office was asked about the other questionable bills, Ball tweeted out a picture of him feeding his Labrador puppy a piece of paper.
"OMG I caught Tito destroying the evidence," he wrote.
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