(Updated: 9/26/14) Madison liberal and candidate for Governor, Mary Burke, made news recently (broken first on BuzzFeed News) when it was revealed that her economic plan for Wisconsin was copied from multiple, other, out of state plans.  Furthermore, it was then revealed that it was the work of a consultant who has since been fired.  As the centerpiece of her campaign and supposedly the result of her "extensive" business experience this is an extremely embarrassing revelation.  It also reveals a lot about the character of someone willing to put forth someone else's work as her own.

Mary Burke in her own words on the importance of her job plan when it was first released:

Instead of demonstrating leadership, she's demonstrated the trouble you can get into when you copy your work.  To quote Mary Burke, we've "seen better 8th grade term papers that had more work put into them."  For the record, we also suspect the typical 8th grader could do a better job of not so obviously copying their assignment.

Finally, we have Mary Burke, in her own words, defining 'plagiarism':

"Cut-And-Paste" In The News

• Red State: Why The Mary Burke "Plagiarism" Story Matters
• BuzzFeed News - Wisconsin Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Fires Campaign Consultant For Large Portions Of Copied Jobs Plan
• BuzzFeed News - Wisconsin Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Also Copied Some Text In Other Plans
• Human Events - The Cut-And-Paste Candidacy Of Mary Burke
• Senators Vukmir, Darling call on Mary Burke to Immediately Withdraw from Race
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Plagiarism charge could stick to Mary Burke
• The Badger Herald - College Republicans: Burke’s plagiarized plan makes election choice simple
• Wisconsin Club for Growth - Burke's cut-and-paste economy
• BuzzFeed News - More Copied Text In Mary Burke’s Rural Communities Plan