Scott Walker just got re-elected: Evers campaign PLAGIARIZED sections of the Evers budget

[Still In Wisconsin]

This is the SAME goddamned thing that Mary Burke let happen when she lost to Walker four years ago. I swear Wisconsin Democrats just can't get out of their own way. The state Party continues to be just comically inept.

MADISON - State schools Superintendent Tony Evers submitted a budget request as his bid for governor heated up in September that included sections plagiarized from Wikipedia, a blog by an intern at a think tank and two other sources.

GOP Gov. Scott Walker's campaign ripped Evers for his handling of the budget plan on Friday, just hours before Walker and his Democratic opponent were to debate.


more at https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/10/19/state-schools-superintendent-tony-evers-office-submitted-budget-request-included-plagiarized-section/1693861002/

[standingtall]

1. If that is all it takes for Walker to get re-elected than Wisconsin is hopeless.

nt

[brush]

2. That's no small matter. That's incompetence. How does Evers' campaign let that happen?

[standingtall]

4. How do not see how this is a big deal

Says he plagiarized sections of his budget from one source and plagiarized other parts of it from elsewhere. I don't even believe that constitutes plagiarism more like his budget was inspired by other sources and if he did so what. Scott Walker pretty much let's his budget be written by the Koch brothers.

[brush]

6. Re-read my headline.

Of course it's a big deal. And come on, we can do better than to plagiarize, and wikipedia? Walker oppo research is going to catch such a public venue.

[beachbum bob]

26. You can't plagiarize a budget..how do you think any budget happens? They

take numbers from a number of sources. A budget is not a copyright material...duh, if this as stupid the people of Wisconsin are to think this matters, they deserve Walker

[brush]

28. You also don't leave yourself open to charges of copying and pasting from wikipedia.

Especially since a similar thing was done four years ago.

[Agschmid]

37. "Wikileaks" you sure?

[brush]

39. Sorry, wikipedia. Thanks for catching the typo.

[Still In Wisconsin]

12. Incompetence is right. It seems we're very good at finding inept bunglers to run things.

Scott Walker always wins because his opposition is always incompetent.

He's like the Forrest Gump of Republican politics, except in this story Forrest is an evil prick.

[KCDebbie]

44. Maybe deliberate SABOTAGE and not incompetence!

But who did the deed?

Seriously, do you think republican candidates and their supporters are above this sort of thing? You haven't been paying attention!

[bearsfootball516]

3. 2014 was also a massive red wave year.

The momentum is very, very different now.

[mikeysnot]

5. Let me guess

volunteer worker working for free....

[Still In Wisconsin]

9. Probably. Regardless of who did it, it's total fucking incompetence. Again.

Walker will win. He will win by the same goddamned 5-6 percentage points as he does every time, because our side is unable to run a single competent campaign.

[mikeysnot]

34. that is why you pay your workers

on campaigns. I do not work on campaigns unless I am being paid. Free workers are trouble.

And they are pain in the asses and can be moles.

[Greybnk48]

7. Nope. Evers will win in Wisconsin.

This will not have legs.

[Still In Wisconsin]

11. Yeah, because gross incompetence is the way to get swing voters.

[LanternWaste]

41. You're focusing on one, and only one misstep.

...rather than accepting the totality of the campaign as a whole. That, my concerned little friend, is a major flaw in your prophecies.

It will be a factor, but not THE factor. Let's not pretend otherwise...

[gabeana]

60. Then why even vote

Since it is already lost
Isn't that what you are saying?
Trying figure out the purpose of this screaming OP headline

[TheRealNorth]

8. Seems like a non-issue that the jock-strap carriers at

At the Milwaukee Urinal-sentinel always pull.

A budget is not an academic paper. God forbid we have to source out every working document.

[Still In Wisconsin]

16. Yeah there's always some kind of eleventh hour debacle.

And you're right, the Milwaukee Urinal-Sentinel is more than willing to run with it. But for God's sake can we just once run a competent campaign in this state?

[Greybnk48]

18. Exactly, TheRealNorth.

This is desperation and typical last ditch J-S garbage.

[brush]

19. No excuses please for plagiarism. There's no place for unforced errors.

Oppo research will catch it every time.

[Hortensis]

10. Budgets can't be plagiarized. They are adopted, and almost always

the politicians who adopt them for passage, or consideration of the electorate, are not the economists and other experts who develop various parts that are compiled into one.

Btw, the real things meant to be implemented are extremely expensive. Presidential campaigns that cost upwards of a billion dollars these days have the enormous resources required to develop their own, if they choose. Economists examined Hillary's and found it extremely detailed and well thought out, the kind of thing Republicans would demonize by wheeling it out in several wheelbarrows of paper.

State and local candidates aren't expected to do anything like that and adopt from previous budgets and other sources.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. I'm With Hortensis!

How the heck does one plagiarize a budget? By seeing budgetary proposals and liking some and therefore adopting them as good ideas? And that's plagiarism? I think not.

[Still In Wisconsin]

17. I agree with you in principle but there's history here.

Mary Burke lost four years ago for similar reasons. Was it a big deal then? maybe we can say not, but it gave Walker the opening he needed to change the narrative.

Besides, is it really THAT hard to put in some goddamned footnotes?

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Then The Burke Campaign Got Needlessly Steamrolled

One cannot be accused of plagiarism where the action does not constitute plagiarism.

[Still In Wisconsin]

27. We don't disagree on that.

But do you really expect idiot* Wisconsin voters to be that astute? No, it goes like this: "I' don't like Walker all that much but this Evers fellow looks like he can't be trusted! After all, he copies! Better play it safe and stick with Walker. He's not great but at least we know what we're getting."


*I say "idiot Wisconsin voters as a person who has liven in Wisconsin for 51 of my 53 years.

[ProfessorGAC]

42. I Get Ya!

I live in the district in IL that elected Jerry Weller 4 times and Adam Kinzinger twice, so i know what you mean by idiot* voters.

[Hortensis]

43. Agree on the "goddamned footnotes," but always realizing

that any attack is chosen from a pile of possible lines of attack being discussed. None ever have to be true, the only criteria being how effective they might be and what kind of nasty synergy might be developed, with no doubt plenty of argument over which should they should go with and in what order.

[Hortensis]

23. I did try to patent the phrase "school funding formula"

once, thinking it might be a gold mine, but was denied.

[Atticus]

36. Totally agree. This is exactly as big a deal as Democrats allow it to be. nt

[WillowTree]

50. It isn't the budget figures that are in question.

There are paragraphs upon paragraphs of narrative in the budget proposal that have been lifted virtually word-for-word from various sources without crediting those sources. That certainly is plagiarism by any definition. It'll be hard to talk his way around that.

[JaneQPublic]

13. Is this really still an issue in the age of Trump?

Seriously, it's hard to believe Evers' campaign could sink for cutting and pasting some verbiage in these times when a big chunk of the electorate is fine with the mountains of evidence pointing to illegal and unethical actions by Trump and his cohorts, not to mention the two MAGAts GOP House members -- Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter -- who have been indicted yet remain competitive in their re-election bids.

[Greybnk48]

20. LOL! Melania plagiarizes Michelle Obama

every time she has to write so much as a thank you note!

I am not saying that stealing other's ideas or work is ok; I actually loathe it. But I can't imagine this being an issue for all the reasons already stated.

[JaneQPublic]

29. Yep and even Trump stole "MAGA" from Reagan's 2nd campaign.

I agree that plagiarism stinks, but having worked as a federal contractor for 29 years, I know it's common practice to cut and paste from similar government pubs. Someone on Evers' staff apparently cast the net too widely beyond government documents.

Besides, in a government budget, the only things that matter are the NUMBERS. Any introductory verbiage or background statements, etc. are almost always skipped over by the reader to get to the meat of the matter: that is, how much money is my pet project getting?

[Still In Wisconsin]

25. You're forgetting the IOKIYAAR principle:

It's OK If You Are A Republican!

[JaneQPublic]

30. Then Wisconsin Dems should expose the hypocrisy...

...of any voter who accepts IOKIYAAR as standard operating procedure.

Remind them of the many ethical slips of their current GOP gov they've already forgiven and refuse to curl up in a ball assuming Evers has already lost the election.

Fight back, ya Cheesehead Dems!

[Greybnk48]

31. Or just let it drop like a wet rag that it is.

Why help promote the story for the repukes? People's minds are made up here and they won't be swayed by this nonsense.

[treestar]

65. Yes, the reaction should be

So what? It's only a budget, not a novel. It's not important. And if it is, it is not plagiarized.

Donald can deny saying things on video. Well then we can deny the candidate even wrote this budget.

[Blue Owl]

14. Only way Focker will "win" election is by fraud

If he "wins" this will be the patsy excuse, that Evers so-called "plagiarism" cost him tens of thousands of votes.

But I don't see it happening, Focker should be on his way out...

[ooky]

22. Plagiarizing a budget?

I doubt this will resonate with anyone who has already made up their mind to vote Walker out.

[Still In Wisconsin]

24. No, it won't change the minds of those who have chosen to vote against Walker.

But you know what it will do? It will be just enough to allow Walker to convince undecideds that they can't trust unknown quantity Evers.

You know how it goes... "I don't love Walker but at least I know him. Evers looks like a cheater! Better play it safe and vote for Walker."

[pwb]

32. I'm not convinced.

Your pushing a devide? For what? Walker is finished by the wave.

[ooky]

35. It just seems like a stretch to me that many people who are thoughtful enough

to be on the fence will even see this as cheating. Especially if they balance this with the reasons they are voting against Walker, he isn't exactly the model of great ethical behavior himself. There's nothing "safe" about him. Just my opinion but piecing together a budget from several economic sources doesn't seem unusual. Its not like plagiarizing a speech or some written article taking credit for someone else's original ideas. Its a budget. Evers needs to push back on this even being plagiarism and rather just a desperate 11th hour attempt by Walker to make up for the fact that he is hemorrhaging votes because he is trying to dismantle their health care and pre-existing conditions with his lawsuit, and then lying about it, and people aren't buying his lies.

[WillowTree]

51. It's *exactly* "like plagiarizing a speech or some written article".

He, or whoever put the budget proposal together for him, lifted huge tracts of narrative from several different writings without giving credit to the sources of those passages. That's definitely plagiarism.

[ooky]

62. Okay, but

I'm not equating budget process to giving speeches, admittedly not familiar with putting together an educational budget process. Before today I didn't know it was possible to plagiarize a budget. It doesn't seem like a deal breaker to me, although I'm sure Republicans will try to blow it up into a first degree felony.

[treestar]

66. It is not an academic paper

It is more like a legal complaint. There are published forms for those. You can use those forms. It is not plagiarizing. And it's irrelevant. People will look at numbers, not verbiage.

[WillowTree]

67. That doesn't make it any less plagiarism.

But I still don't think that you know what's being referred to here. It's not the numbers and this isn't verbiage on a "form". You might want to do a little more research into exactly what's happened here.

Or not. Your choice.

[ananda]

52. I know!

WTF does that mean ?!!!

[Liberalhammer]

33. I don't think it will have the staying power

Of 4 former Walker department heads coming out against him and supporting Evers. This horse will be dead by monday.

[Joe941]

38. How in the world did Evers allow this to happen...

I'll still vote for him but he really dropped the ball here.

[Still In Wisconsin]

40. Yeah, once is a mistake, twice is a pattern.

Was it evil when Mary Burke allowed the same thing to happen? Was it plagiarism? No, and almost certainly not. But it hurt her with undecideds, and she lost.

How the Evers campaign could have let this happen at this stage of the game is beyond me. It's not cheating or unethical as Walker will make it out to be, but it is unquestionably incompetent.

[TheRealNorth]

45. Republican plagiarism

A lot of Republican bills are lifted from "model" legislation written by ALEC. The press isn't calling that plagiarism.

[rusty fender]

46. Don't Repukes copy, word for word, all their

proposed budgets and laws from ALEC

[Dawson Leery]

47. The GOP is using the Nixon/Trump Strategy of accusing opponents of

non-provable misdeeds. They have also accused Kristen Sinema of being a terrorist sympathizer, Tom Carper of beating his first wife, and Bob Menendez of everything he did not do.

Ignore it and move on.

[TheRealNorth]

48. Unfortunately

That does not work if the media picks it up and runs with it. Hilary tried to do that with Benghazi and the media never let it go.

[VOX]

49. But it's okay for Melania T. to crib a speech by Michelle Obama.

IOKIYAR.

[Luciferous]

53. As a Wisconsin voter I have to say that it doesn't change anything for me.

I will still vote for Evers because Walker is vile and needs to be defeated!

[Talitha]

58. AMEN TO THAT!!!!

[Hassler]

54. With Blimpie coming to campaign for the Oaf, won't he suck up all the media attention?

[Iggo]

55. Oh, wow! Oh my god! That's it! Everybody go home!

[Cha]

59. Game Over Dude!

Not. OP is ridiculously depressing!

[marble falls]

56. Say 'Good night', Gracie.

[Talitha]

57. That doesn't matter a bit to me....

I'm voting for Evers anyway.
Admittedly, he wasn't my choice in the primary.
But he's a Dem...
And Dems rock!

[retread]

61. Another one of these! Expect a lot more as election day approaches. Right comrade?

[elocs]

63. I was with the 100,000 who marched in Madison in February of 2011 to protest Walker's policies.

It's been a long nearly 8 years with ups and downs seeing people hail us for our efforts and then throw us under the bus when we failed to defeat Walker. The recall of Walker was a great example of the Law of Unintended Consequences when the election could not be held for nearly a year and a half, giving Walker and the GOP time and with lots of Koch brothers money to build a powerful political machine and to gerrymander the state to assure maintaining their power.
Then in 2014 we had a candidate to run against Walker who only elective office experience was to a school board. If Walker could have chosen somebody to run against I'm sure it would have been her.
Russ Feingold would have been a good choice but he was hellbent on winning back his Senate seat.

Until Evers is actually elected, I won't believe the polls. Everybody on the Left here in Wisconsin needs to show up and vote for him and start to retake the state that we handed over to Walker and the Republicans in 2010.

[lancelyons]

64. No no

It's only over if democrats don't vote. 4 former walker officials came out recent about how walker lacks integrity and is fraudulent