New Mexico Congressman's Press Secretary Resigns After Acknowledging Plagiarism in Column

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The press secretary for Republican Rep. Steve Pearce resigned after admitting he plagiarized material in a newspaper column published under the congressman's name.

Jim Burns said he copied large parts of a column that ran in the El Defensor Chieftain of Socorro last month from the Web site of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington.