12-2-13 democratic gubenatorial candidate makes campaign stop in fdl

The only announced Democratic candidate for governor has made her first official campaign stop in Fond du lac.  Trek Bicycle Company executive Mary Burke met with local Democratic party members and the public at Irish’s bar last week.  Burke says she’s getting a lot of positive feedback on  the campaign trail.   In an exclusive interview with WFDL news Burke criticized the governor on a wide range of topics including his promise of creating 250,000 jobs by the end of his first term.  "Well we have a long way to go and I hear from people all over the state that they're struggling,"  Burke said. 

The former state Commerce Secretary  says the governor made a mistake right off the bat when he rejected federal stimulus money for a high speed rail system.  "I can tell you that as governor I'm going after every single dollar of federal money, which is Wisconsin taxpayer money that we pay into Washington."   Burke says the governor was wrong in rejecting billions of federal dollars to expand Medicaid.  "Not only was that defying common sense, we need that money back here to fuel our economy and to support affordable health care for people."    Burke says expansion of school vouchers will not improve student learning, and only drains resources for public education.  Burke says she opposes Act 10, but would not say if she would try to reverse it if  elected.   "As governor I would have negotiated firmly but fairly to get the changes that were needed to balance the budget, but I do believe our public sector workers should have the right to collectively bargain."