Scott Walker is starting to back away from attacks on his Democratic gubernatorial opponent’s wealth, implying that it is the state Republican Party — not him — who is responsible for those attacks.
The state GOP has created an entire website about “Outsourcing Million Mary” Burke and labeled her a “one-percenter, and Walker himself has criticized her outsourcing jobs to China. But the Huffington Post reported on Wednesday that Walker said he hasn’t “gone after her wealth at all” and instead is focusing on the “hypocrisy” of her company, Trek Bicycles, having a history of outsourcing.
The party’s attacks have received pushback from others on the GOP side. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) criticized the strategy, and a Wall Street Journal opinion writer singled out the outsourcing attack as unbecoming of a Republican.
“I haven’t gone after Trek, I haven’t gone after Mary Burke, I haven’t gone after her wealth at all,” Walker said about the controversy. “I could care less what her wealth is, what her personal wealth is.”
Walker’s campaign has run attack TV ads on the outsourcing issue, with lines like “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your fortune grow?”
But on the “Millionaire Mary” attack specifically, Walker said Wednesday: “You’re not going to hear me or my campaign talk about it. I prefer the party talk about the differences on jobs.”
The recent criticisms from the right have been a result of “the way the media portrayed” the campaign,” Walker said. He currently holds a 0.4 percentage-point lead over Burke, according to TPM’s PollTracker.
