In the home stretch: With five days to go, Governor Walker, Mary Burke talk manufacturing

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- On Thursday, October 30th, both gubernatorial candidates were making the most of the final days left until the election.

There are only five more days until November 4th, when voters head to the polls in the General Election -- and in the final stretch a big focus has been on some recent allegations against Democratic challenger Mary Burke that she was fired from Trek Bicycle -- a job that she has highlighted many times on the campaign trail.

Manufacturing was the topic of discussion for both gubernatorial candidates Thursday. Governor Scott Walker was at Astro Industries in Green Bay.

"Really the highlight today, particularly in manufacturing, not just being here at Astro Industries, but talking about this expansion," Governor Walker said.

Mary Burke spent time touring Molded Dimensions in Port Washington.

"Manufacturing is at the heart of Wisconsin's economy. We need to continue to be as competitive as possible. We need to grow Wisconsin's companies," Burke said.

That's where the comparisons end.

While Governor Walker then answered questions specifically relating to the campaign...

"I thought our target was the people that had not yet committed to vote for someone on the ballot, but who felt the state is headed in the right direction," Governor Walker said.

Burke fielded questions almost entirely about recent allegations from two Trek managers.

"I'm certainly happy to answer any questions around this, but these are lies and the voters should look at my track record of exactly what I have accomplished," Burke said.

Former Trek President, Tom Albers, tells Newstalk 1130 that Mary Burke was fired from the company after her family had concerns with the European division that she was in charge of.

Albers says he was sent to Europe to investigate.

"I pretty much came back with the same conclusions that John Burke had made, and that was that we had major people problems over there and were in a situation where we could lose a lot of people. We were losing a lot of money and I couldn't see where Mary Burke was going to turn this thing around," Albers said.

"Tom had an axe to grind. Gary Allerman has an axe to grind with Trek and it just shows Scott Walker is not going to stop at anything," Burke said.

"I don't have any knowledge of that so I will have to leave that to them. I really can't comment on something I don't know much about," Governor Walker said.

Both candidates on Thursday also addressed the latest Marquette University Law School Poll -- acknowledging the tight race, saying it will be that way until Election Day.