Sections of Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke's veterans and rural communities plans appear to copy text directly from a variety of sources.
The sources include, but are not limited to, academic journals and reports, and a local newspaper column.
In other instances, the sources are linked in plan's footnotes, though Burke's plan makes little effort to indicate that not just the source, but the words themselves were taken from the sources.
BuzzFeed News has also found another section of Burke's jobs plan was copied from another gubernatorial candidate in another state, this time 2010 candidate Peter Corroon in Utah.
BuzzFeed News reported Friday that large portions of Burke's jobs plan for Wisconsin were copied directly from the plans of four Democratic candidates who ran for governor in previous election cycles.
Portions of the plan also used the same language as a White House press release and a Harvard report.
A spokesman for the Burke campaign placed blame on an "expert" named Eric Schnurer who also worked on the other campaigns as responsible for the similar text.
The campaign cut ties with Schnurer on Friday.
The campaign didn't immediately comment on the latest copied text.
The Walker campaign blasted Burke's latest copy-and-pasted plans in a statement to BuzzFeed.
"Mary Burke's plagiarism is clearly not an isolated incident as she claimed last week but a disturbing pattern of intellectual dishonesty. It's time for Mary Burke to come clean with Wisconsin voters."
In Mary Burke's Invest in our Rural Communities plan:
Here's a Council Of State Governments report from 2003:
At a time when U.S. manufacturing employment is generally on the decline, the production of wind equipment is one of the few potentially large sources of new manufacturing jobs on the horizon.
And here's Burke:
While manufacturing employment in general has been declining for years, the production of wind equipment is one of the few potentially large sources of new manufacturing jobs.
In Mary Burke's recent Plan for Wisconsin Veterans:
Here's a 2013 Dunn County News column:
The opposition argued that the bill would impose additional burdens on those that were injured — and in some cases plaintiffs could die before their cases made it through the lengthened court process.
And here's Burke:
This places additional burdens on those who were injured and in some cases plaintiffs could die before their cases make it through the lengthened court process.
In other instances, the sources are linked in plan's footnotes, though Burke's plan makes little effort to indicate that not just the source, but the words themselves were taken from the sources.
Here's the Wisconsin Food Cooperative's website:
The WFHC helps local farmers by providing them with the opportunity, through marketing, sales, aggregation, and logistics, to access wholesale markets they could not access easily before.
And here's Burke:
Promoting the replication of Food Hubs for helping small farmers get their produce to retail markets, profitably. The Food Hub model, exemplified by the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative (WFHC), helps local farmers – through marketing, sales, aggregation, and logistics – to access wholesale markets.
Here's the National Rural Health Institute:
Although only one-third of all motor vehicle accidents occur in rural areas, two-thirds of the deaths attributed to these accidents occur on rural roads.
And here's Burke:
And although only one-third of motor vehicle accidents occur in rural areas, two-thirds of automobile fatalities occur on rural roads.
Here's the Journal of Extension on incubator farms:
An incubator farm is typically a place where people are given temporary, exclusive, and affordable access to small parcels of land and infrastructure, and often training, for the purpose of honing skills and launching farm businesses.
And here's Burke:
An incubator farm, like other entrepreneurial incubators, is a place where aspiring farmers can have temporary affordable access to small parcels of land and infrastructure, training, practice, and mentorship for the purpose of honing skills and launching farm businesses.
Here's 2010 Utah Peter Corroon's plan for jobs:
Foster next-generation career and technical education (CTE) programs by supporting the Office of Career and Technical Education's Career Clusters Initiative. This initiative will ensure that students across the state are offered the opportunity to begin training in high school for a high-wage "clean tech" career by taking a series of progressively more advanced courses in a particular area, such as electronics, computer programming, allied health care, or engineering. Career Pathways programs blend academic science, technology, engineering, and math coursework with cutting-edge vocational training to give students the knowledge and the background to be able to compete in the new economy; students would complete the regular high school curriculum, but they would also have the opportunity to take specialized college courses in their career path or professional discipline.
Here's Burke:
This initiative, offered through the Wisconsin Technical College System, in a partnership with the Department of Workforce Development called RISE (Regional Industrial Skills Education),31 enables Wisconsin high school students to begin training for a high-wage, high growth career before they graduate from high school by taking a series of progressively more advanced courses in a particular area – like electronics, computer programming, allied health or engineering. Career Pathways programs blend academic science, technology, engineering and math coursework with cutting-edge vocational training to give students both the knowledge and the know-how to compete in the new economy.32Students complete the regular high school curriculum, but they also have the opportunity to take specialized college courses in their "career path" or professional discipline, creating a seamless pathway from high school to a credential or further education.