Whose line is it anyway? New accusations accuse Mary Burke of using the words of others as her own



MADISON (WITI) -- Whose line is it anyway? Republicans say that's a serious question for Democratic candidate for governor Mary Burke to answer about the author of her campaign plans. The Burke campaign says accusations of plagiarism are part of a political "silly season."

A week after the website "BuzzFeed" uncovered sections of Burke's "jobs plan" were plagiarized from other Democratic candidates, there are more accusations that Mary Burke may have stolen the words of others and passed them off as her own -- in her plans on rural communities, and on veterans issues.

"We've seen now multiple things. Another example from a Utah campaign, two other examples from two other plans. I think you start to see a pattern that raises some serious questions about not just her campaign, but how she'd perform in this office," Governor Scott Walker said.

Burke's campaign issued a statement, saying: "The allegations are false. The only explanation for so transparently ignoring reality is that Walker's team is in panic mode over the fact that Wisconsin lost 4,300 jobs in August." 

Burke's campaign release an ad on Tuesday -- hammering that point.



Meanwhile, Governor Walker was touring a Racine manufacturer on Tuesday -- touting his record of economic reforms.

"The bigger indicator is unemployment is down 5.6 percent," Governor Walker said.

The Republican Governors Association on Tuesday launched a new ad hitting Burke on the plagiarism accusations.



Marquette university professor John McAdams says there are two critiques of the so-called plagiarism situation: one is superficial, and the other is serious.

"Sometimes superficial things that can be in the headlines can be important -- especially with low-information voters," McAdams said.