Mary Burke (Photo: WRN)
The Democratic challenger for governor is standing behind her plan to create jobs and grow the economy.
Republicans on Friday hurled accusations of plagiarism against Democrat Mary Burke, following a BuzzFeed report that found paragraphs in her jobs plan matched language in proposals offered by Democratic candidates for governor in other states in previous elections. The language was added by a consultant to the campaign, Eric Schnurer, who had worked on the other campaigns where the wording had been used.
Speaking to reporters in Appleton late Friday afternoon, Burke said that Schnurer was one of many experts her campaign worked with in developing the jobs plan. Much like in the private sector, Burke said she studied ideas from around the country because “the good ones are the ones that are based on ideas that have worked in other places.” She said the state does not have to “reinvent the wheel” to move the economy forward.
AUDIO: Mary Burke defends jobs plan.
While Burke stood by her plan, she also noted the Schnurer was never supposed to submit the exact same words he used when contributing to other plans. As a result of that, Burke said the campaign has terminated its relationship with him.
Affiliate WHBY contributed to this report.