Wisconsin Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Fires Campaign Consultant For Large Portions Of Copied Jobs Plan

From three previous Democratic campaigns.

Facebook- Burke for Wisconsin / Via Facebook: burkeforwisconsin

Large portions of Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke's jobs plan for Wisconsin appear to be copied directly from the plans of three Democratic candidates who ran for governor in previous election cycles.

Burke's economic plan "Invest for Success" copies nearly-verbatim sections from the jobs plans of Ward Cammack, who ran for Tennessee governor in 2009 before withdrawing from the race, a 2008 plan from Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, now-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe's plan from his failed-2009 bid, and John Gregg who ran for governor of Indiana in 2012 and lost to Mike Pence.

Another section takes the same language as a White House press release.

Gregg's plan is no longer online but BuzzFeed News accessed the text through an archiving service, while Cammack's plan is available here.

Markell's plan can be seen online here.

McAuliffe's plan is likewise no longer online but BuzzFeed News has seen the text through an archiving service as well.

A spokesman for the Burke campaign told BuzzFeed News an "expert" named Eric Schnurer who also worked on the other campaigns as responsible for the similar text, a case of self-plagiarism.

Schnur is not listed as an advisor to the campaign nor or his ideas attributed to previous campaigns in Burke's plan.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Friday that Schnurer had been fired.

Here's Cammack:

Requiring our land-grant institutions to make supporting small farms a priority. These institutions can provide a wide range of support to small farmers to help them to improve farm profitability. Research and new technologies have played a significant role to increase yields and reduce costs throughout the agricultural system. Many of these advances can be targeted to help small farmers who could and benefit greatly from having site-specific information to increase yields, and therefore, improve economic performance. We can make new advances in technology – GPS systems to guide farm machinery and reduce overlap, early pest detection, identification of soil nutrient deficiencies, detection of plant stress, use of yield monitoring equipment – all advances that can significantly help the small farmer.

And here's Burke:

These institutions can provide a wide range of support to a new generation of small farmers to help them to improve productivity and profitability. Research and new technologies have played a significant role to increase yields and reduce costs throughout the agricultural system. New technologies – like GPS systems to guide farm machinery and reduce overlap, early pest detection, identification of soil nutrient deficiencies, detection of plant stress, use of yield monitoring equipment – can significantly help farmers be more productive.

Here's Cammack:

Expanding intern programs to provide help to small farmers and also give students direct agricultural education and experience.

And here's Burke:

Expanding intern programs to provide help to small farmers and also give students direct agricultural education and experience.

Here's Cammack:

Helping farmers with succession planning by developing new programs that match new farmers with those retiring who have no successors interested in continuing the family farm.

And here's Burke:

Developing new programs that match new farmers with those retiring who have no successors interested in continuing the family farm.

Here's Cammack:

Supporting the development of public-private partne