Mary Burke Plagarized Jobs Plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 19, 2014
Contact: Jesse Dougherty
(608) 257-4765

Mary Burke Plagiarized Jobs Plan, Violates MMSD Policies and Schools Where She Studied
 
[Madison, Wis.] – In a shocking revelation, Madison liberal Mary Burke had the audacity to plagiarize major portions of her jobs plan - the foundation on which she has built her entire campaign. The plan, which was drafted by a Philadelphia-based consultant Eric Schnurer, includes widely used rhetoric employed by several other gubernatorial candidates across the country. Oddly, the consultant never appeared on a Burke finance report, and Burke has even said she will not alter her plan given these shocking revelations.

Perhaps most disturbing, Mary Burke’s blatant plagiarizing flies in the face of her long-standing rhetoric on ethics and integrity. In fact, Burke’s actions directly conflict with the policies of the Madison Metropolitan School District, where she serves as a school board member.

• Plagiarism and Cheating Advance procurement of a test, representing another's work as one’s own, plagiarism, or sharing of answers or solutions on any assigned individual effort is unacceptable behavior and may result in a zero grade or other disciplinary action. (Madison Metropolitan School District, “Behavior Education Policy Secondary,” Accessed 9/19/14)

Further, Mary Burke has also violated the ethics codes of the schools where she studied - including Georgetown, London School of Economics, and Harvard.

• Georgetown
• “Plagiarism, in any of its forms, and whether intentional or unintentional, violates standards of academic integrity. Plagiarism is the act of passing off as one’s own the ideas or writings of another. For the most serious offenses against the Honor System, a student may be suspended or dismissed from the University. These sanctions are permanently noted on the student’s transcript as follows: “Suspension (Dismissal): Violation of Honor System, [mm-dd-yyyy, signed by Dean].” A student cannot receive credit toward a Georgetown degree for work completed elsewhere during a period of active suspension for a violation of the Honor System. (Georgetown University, Regulations, http://bulletin.georgetown.edu/regulations/honor/, accessed 9/19/14).
• London School Of Economics
• Plagiarism refers to any work of others, whether published or not, and can include the work of other candidates. Any quotation from the published or unpublished works of other persons, including other candidates, must be clearly identified as such and a full reference to their sources must be provided in proper form. (London School of Economics, Regulations on Assessment Offences - Plagiarism, accessed 9/19/14).
• Harvard University
• Harvard Students Can Be Required to Withdraw from the College for plagiarizing. Students who, for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including requirement to withdraw from the College. (Harvard University, “Harvard Plagiarism Policy,” Accessed 9/19/14).

“Mary Burke’s willingness to so pathetically plagiarize her jobs plan speaks volumes about her character, and her actions directly conflict with the policies of Madison Metropolitan School District and the very schools where she studied,” said Joe Fadness, Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. “The foundation on which Burke has based her campaign is crumbling, and no amount of spin will cover the fact that Mary Burke’s jobs plan is built on the ideas of others, not hers.”

Read the release online: http://www.wisgop.org/2014/09/mary-burke-plagiarized-jobs-plan-violates-mmsd-policies-schools-studied/