I know there are folks around here with first hand knowledge. Anyone here care to comment?
And was anyone who worked at Trek there for her big apology she was forced to give at the company?
You can pm me if you prefer to remain anonymous.
EDIT:
Sorry, a link to the first story. http://watchdog.org/...ry-burke-trek-sales/
Thanks to JSA for posting the relevant info.
What are you talking about?
It sounds like a lot of he said, she said just a few days before the election. Usually a desperate move from whichever side leads with it. Trek apparently says the accuser was fired from the company and is disgruntled. Conveniently, the accuser is “out of the country” when news groups tried to reach him for comment.
This story “broke” this week, which was quite a surprise to many of us in WI b/c we did not know this was new news. This is not new. There have been reports of this for years. There are multiple sources who confirm it. Burke claims she left b/c she was “burned out.” Truth is, no one could work with her and she did not understand the market, so, she was relieved of duty.
http://watchdog.org/179822/mary-burke-trek-sales/
This is the same woman who served as commerce secretary for Gov. Jim Doyle and was described by her predecessor as “a disaster.” This is the same woman who plagiarized her jobs plan and stumbled to define plagiarism.
Here is the statement by Trek:
In a statement from Trek Bicycle Corp. concerning the Wisconsin Reporter story:
"This last-minute attempt to disparage Mary’s contributions to Trek is attributed to Gary Ellerman, Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. Mr. Ellerman was fired from Trek in 2004. His politically motivated characterizations of Mary and her tenure at Trek are inaccurate.
When Mary was in charge of Europe, she grew sales from $3 million to $50 million. In 1993 Mary decided that it was time for her to make a change and she left Trek. In 1995, John Burke asked Mary Burke to return to Trek to help with some key areas of the business. After she returned, Mary assumed the lead of Trek’s Global Forecasting department.
“Mary worked tirelessly and made an amazing difference in Global Forecasting,” said John Burke, President of Trek Bicycle. “We had some difficult years in the late 90s, and the changes that Mary implemented are one of the key reasons Trek is the successful company it is today.”
http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2014/oct/29/mary-burke-calls-claims-of-trek-firing-ridiculous/
Here is what Mary Burke says happened:
“We reorganized and eliminated the position that I had, and I left that organization in charge of two other people who reported directly to the U.S.,” said Burke, the Democratic candidate for governor. Burke is running against incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Tuesday’s election.
http://watchdog.org/180258/mary-burke-trek-scott-walker/
Also:
In her campaign against Republican incumbent Gov. Scott Walker, Mary Burke has bragged that European sales climbed to $50 million on her watch. She originally said the increase was closer to $60 million in a 2004 resume to officials in Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration, the Democrat who in 2005 tapped Burke to be his secretary of the now-defunct state Commerce Department.
But, hey, what’s $10M here or there …
Really Mary?
So is she going to get nearly 50% of the votes? Sad.
Really Mary?
So is she going to get nearly 50% of the votes? Sad.
Burke has a 38% favorable rating and a 45% unfavorable rating. No one likes Burke. She is an empty suit. This race is about Walker or Not Walker. No one really thinks Burke is competent to be Gov, but, she was the best they could find to run against Walker.
Marquette Poll, the final and the gold standard, has Walker up by 7, 50-43 among likely voters. The final Marquette Poll has been w/in 1% of the actual results in nearly every election for the past several cycles.
the best they could find to run against Walker.
This is pretty surprising to me, honestly. I have the same reaction about Charlie Crist in Florida.
These are some deeply flawed candidates. This year’s election wasn’t going to be an easy one for the D gov candidate in WI, but it was still an entirely winnable race for the right candidate, though I admit they didn’t have many good options. Ron Kind, maybe?
Florida, however… the Ds should have had a really deep bench to choose from before Crist they would ever consider Christ.
Usually my side fails in the candidate recruitment department, but it looks like the Ds are sucking the big d this time.
No one can deny WI’s economic success under Walker. This race is about Walker’s actions regarding the unions. So, there isn’t anyone out there who has better ideas than Walker. That’s why recruitment was so difficult. Also, the unions fueled this fight. So, the dem candidate had to be someone willing to be a puppet of the unions. That turned off most of the serious candidates.
I would not vote for her if I lived in Florida. Trek is just a dumb name for a bike. It sounds either techno-geeky or cartoonish (Shrek). Bikes should have real names, Italian ones preferably, but names. Pinarello, Colnago, DeRosa are best examples, but Cannondale is fair. I’m neutral on Giant, but Specialized crosses the line to bad. I’d buy bike from that Waterloo-based company if it had another name on it – Gary Fisher, Lemond, or even Burke – since they are a USA based company. But not one with the name Trek.
Whoops, I just realized I’m in the wrong forum to argue bike name aesthetics. I’m sorry for derailleur this thread. I confess that the first sentence of this post is a troll, because that bike company sounds like one.
Here is the statement by Trek:
In a statement from Trek Bicycle Corp. concerning the Wisconsin Reporter story:
"This last-minute attempt to disparage Mary’s contributions to Trek is attributed to Gary Ellerman, Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. Mr. Ellerman was fired from Trek in 2004. His politically motivated characterizations of Mary and her tenure at Trek are inaccurate.
When Mary was in charge of Europe, she grew sales from $3 million to $50 million. In 1993 Mary decided that it was time for her to make a change and she left Trek. In 1995, John Burke asked Mary Burke to return to Trek to help with some key areas of the business. After she returned, Mary assumed the lead of Trek’s Global Forecasting department.
“Mary worked tirelessly and made an amazing difference in Global Forecasting,” said John Burke, President of Trek Bicycle. “We had some difficult years in the late 90s, and the changes that Mary implemented are one of the key reasons Trek is the successful company it is today.”
http://wtaq.com/...k-firing-ridiculous/
Here is what Mary Burke says happened:
“We reorganized and eliminated the position that I had, and I left that organization in charge of two other people who reported directly to the U.S.,” said Burke, the Democratic candidate for governor. Burke is running against incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Tuesday’s election.
http://watchdog.org/...e-trek-scott-walker/
Also:
In her campaign against Republican incumbent Gov. Scott Walker, Mary Burke has bragged that European sales climbed to $50 million on her watch. She originally said the increase was closer to $60 million in a 2004 resume to officials in Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration, the Democrat who in 2005 tapped Burke to be his secretary of the now-defunct state Commerce Department.
But, hey, what’s $10M here or there …
Could totally all be true. sadly, my time has not allowed me to remain expert in local Wisconsin politics. The timing seems odd, just a few days before election, especially when it seems like this has been public knowledge for a long time.
Could totally all be true. sadly, my time has not allowed me to remain expert in local Wisconsin politics. The timing seems odd, just a few days before election, especially when it seems like this has been public knowledge for a long time.
There were quite a few of us who wondered why this was not being reported when she first entered the race. Today, it was revealed the Milwaukee paper had the story 8 -10 months ago and buried it. The first time I heard about it was in 2008 when she applied for the position of commerce secretary. Quite a few people knew the scoop back then.
Like I said, many in my circle were very surprised this story “broke” this week. We thought it was old news. No one is voting for Mary Burke, so, we did not think it would sway any voters. Still don’t.
“We had some difficult years in the late 90s, and the changes that Mary implemented are one of the key reasons Trek is the successful company it is today.”
Are they saying she sourced LA’s drugs? Isn’t his success pretty much the only reason Trek became popular?
Kidding. Please don’t sue me, I have nothing anyway.
I know nothing about this situation. I was pretty interested in following it when Walker was first elected and slashed union benefits, and was curious about how successful his plan would be. However, out here in BC we don’t get much in the way of WI political news. I’m guessing things have done well with him making decisions?
I know nothing about this situation. I was pretty interested in following it when Walker was first elected and slashed union benefits, and was curious about how successful his plan would be. However, out here in BC we don’t get much in the way of WI political news. I’m guessing things have done well with him making decisions?
Walker took a $3B deficit and turned it into a $500M surplus. He reduced property taxes for the first time in a couple decades. Despite the claim that he would kill education, graduation rates and reading rates have increased during the time Walker has been in office. Yeah, things have gone very well.
Do his “politics” play to getting support for running for POTUS? Would he be interested? Would he be able to effect similar changes on a national scale, or would he be neutered by the national political machine?
if you google Walker’s economic/jobs numbers - you’ll find them all over the place . . . JSA cherry picked the numbers that show his boy toy in the best light . . . and because of the ambiguity build into economic projections, the numbers are all correct from one point of view.
It’s doubtful he could be a strong POTUS candidate, he is too divisive and socially conservative, and realistically, the state of WI is not a big enough player in national politics to support a candidate.
Without getting into a discussion on if his policies are the best option for the community he represents, it is interesting to see a politician say “this is what I am going to do”, then do it without watering it down, stick with it to see the results, and promise to continue to do it following re-election. Most politicians these days seem to talk lots, do little, talk about how great they are, take credit for improvements that occurred due to outside factors. It doesn’t sound like he was doing things for political gain, he was doing the things that he felt would make his state better, knowing that he would piss off a lot of people.
Do his “politics” play to getting support for running for POTUS? Would he be interested? Would he be able to effect similar changes on a national scale, or would he be neutered by the national political machine?
There is a lot of chatter about Walker running for POTUS, but, I think he is too polarizing. Chris Christie screwed him over a bit with cash for this campaign in large part b/c Christie is worried about Walker getting national support.
Regarding LorenzoP’s comments - Lorenzo’s wife is a teacher and Lorenzo is a state employee. She is one of the people who “occupied” the capital, screaming and yelling like fools, when Walker’s Act 10 went into effect. She was among the group that obtained fake doctor notes to excuse them for reporting to work, as required under Wisconsin law. So, Lorenzo can try to dispute the numbers all he wants, but, there is no arguing that WI has seen enormous fiscal success.
Regarding Walker’s Act 10 (union) initiatives, it was bad for my business (I am a labor lawyer). Less work for labor lawyers, less legal fees being spent by schools and municipalities, so, personally, not good for my bottom line. But, unlike Lorenzo, I do not have tunnel vision. I can see how WI being open for business (finally) is, long term, good for all of us.
Without getting into a discussion on if his policies are the best option for the community he represents, it is interesting to see a politician say “this is what I am going to do”, then do it without watering it down, stick with it to see the results, and promise to continue to do it following re-election. Most politicians these days seem to talk lots, do little, talk about how great they are, take credit for improvements that occurred due to outside factors. It doesn’t sound like he was doing things for political gain, he was doing the things that he felt would make his state better, knowing that he would piss off a lot of people.
Exactly. This is why he is in the national spotlight. The far Right absolutely loves him. If you look strictly at his policies/platform, he is the antithesis of Pres. Obama.
Do his “politics” play to getting support for running for POTUS? Would he be interested? Would he be able to effect similar changes on a national scale, or would he be neutered by the national political machine?
There is a lot of chatter about Walker running for POTUS, but, I think he is too polarizing. Chris Christie screwed him over a bit with cash for this campaign in large part b/c Christie is worried about Walker getting national support.
Regarding LorenzoP’s comments - Lorenzo’s wife is a teacher and Lorenzo is a state employee. She is one of the people who “occupied” the capital, screaming and yelling like fools, when Walker’s Act 10 went into effect. She was among the group that obtained fake doctor notes to excuse them for reporting to work, as required under Wisconsin law. So, Lorenzo can try to dispute the numbers all he wants, but, there is no arguing that WI has seen enormous fiscal success.
Regarding Walker’s Act 10 (union) initiatives, it was bad for my business (I am a labor lawyer). Less work for labor lawyers, less legal fees being spent by schools and municipalities, so, personally, not good for my bottom line. But, unlike Lorenzo, I do not have tunnel vision. I can see how WI being open for business (finally) is, long term, good for all of us.
Well Lorenzo could spend his time trying to talk up all of Mary burkes qualifications… Never mind