Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski reports that Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke plagiarized portions of her “Invest for Success” jobs plan:
Large portions of Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke’s jobs plan for Wisconsin appear to be copied directly from the plans of three Democratic candidates who ran for governor in previous election cycles.
Burke’s economic plan “Invest for Success” copies nearly-verbatim sections from the jobs plans of Ward Cammack, who ran for Tennessee governor in 2009 before withdrawing from the race, a 2008 plan from Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, and John Gregg who ran for governor of Indiana in 2012 and lost to Mike Pence.
Burke’s economic plan “Invest for Success” copies nearly-verbatim sections from the jobs plans of Ward Cammack, who ran for Tennessee governor in 2009 before withdrawing from the race, a 2008 plan from Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, and John Gregg who ran for governor of Indiana in 2012 and lost to Mike Pence.
What makes the plagiarism especially pathetic is the stolen ideas are unoriginal and rather vapid. See examples here.
Burke isn’t the only politician who’s been caught plagiarizing this year: Buzzfeed also reported that Oregon Republican senatorial candidate Monica Wehby plagiarized portions of her health care plan from a survey conducted by American Crossroads. Montana’s Democratic senator John Walsh dropped out of the Senate race after the New York Times reported he had plagiarized his final paper to receive a master’s degree at the Army War College.
