DALLAS — It is a common refrain from Dallas mayoral candidate Darrell Jordan.

"I'm the only candidate who has put up on his Web site a plan to reduce crime in this city," Jordan said at a recent forum of candidates hoping to replace Mayor Laura Miller. With 13 contenders for the City Hall post, Jordan is hoping his crime reduction plan will set him apart on a major issue: Crime.

"The expectation of voters is that this is Darrell Jordan's best thinking on a key problem confronting the city of Dallas," said Cal Jillson, SMU political scientist and political analyst for News 8.

But some of that thinking is not Jordan's.

Using the Google search engine, News 8 found several sections of Jordan's Web site that matched a 2003 Heritage Foundation article analyzing community oriented policing (COPS).

Here is a portion of Jordan’s plan:

Here is a very similar passage from the Heritage Foundation report published four years ago:

And there's Jordan's large section outlining specific initiatives for criminal justice and youth.

Compare that with Kansas City's Commission on Crime Report for 2006; it is almost word-for-word, with no attribution.

“Darrell Jordan has said this is my lead issue,” Jillson said. “He says, 'This is important. I've studied it closely, and said this is my program,' when it turns out it's not his program, but it's cobbled together from other sources, he has some explaining to do.”

But Jordan doesn’t see a problem.

“I think I have fairly dealt with the sources that I have used. I haven't said I borrowed this from this plan by so-and-so,” Jordan explained. “I don't think anyone's concerned where I got them; they want to know what I'm going to do.”

Jordan’s crime reduction plan does contain some very specific ideas regarding the crime problem in Dallas, such as his plan to hire more officers. But the broader sweeps are where the borrowing comes in.

Jordan says he's received good ideas from all over, and he wants voters to hold him to his plan with his "accountability pledge"—which also came from someone else.

Last year, Bob Beauprez was the Republican candidate for Colorado governor. Here is part of his "accountability pledge":

"It's time Coloradans received greater value from government and straight talk from those we elect."

Jordan wrote:

"It's time the people of Dallas received greater value from government and straight talk from those we elect. "

Beauprez:

"It's your future, and you have a right to expect more."

Jordan:

"It's your future, and you have a right to expect more."

Replace "mayor" with "governor" and "Dallas for "Colorado," and it's almost exactly the same text. Jordan's Web site offers no attribution .for the source.

Jordan said he does not think this is plagiarism. "I'm familiar with plagiarism rules, and in this context, no. I don't think it's plagiarism at all."

The similarities did raise eyebrows, though, among several of Jordan's opponents, none of whom wanted to go on the record.

And Jordan's pledge was a surprise to former gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez. In a statement, he said:

"Mr. Jordan's Accountability Pledge bears a remarkably strong resemblance to the Accountability Pledge I put forward last fall. You know what they say—imitation is the highest form of flattery."

E-mail cheinbaugh@wfaa.com