State Senator Leah Vukmir (R-Brookfield) told WTAQ’s Jerry Bader she is not a “RINO,” and she has the record to back it up. According to Media Trackers’ Sam Morateck, Vukmir responded to the charge of being a RINO by the national Club for Growth by telling Bader that if she’s a RINO then Governor Scott Walker is a RINO, too.
“I mean, are we going to call Governor Walker a RINO as well?” Vukmir asked Bader. “We have all worked together on one reform after another since 2010 when we took control of both houses and when Scott became governor. So this is something that I think most Wisconsin voters, the discerning voters, know my record, they know I’m a proven consistent conservative, and it’s ridiculous.”
“But it is a way for the Club for Growth to raise funds,” Vukmir said. “It’s dishonest, but it’s the nature of campaigns.”
The national Club for Growth endorsed Kevin Nicholson, Vukmir’s opponent in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The winner of next August’s primary election will face Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin in the November election in 2018. The national Club for Growth is not affiliated with the Wisconsin Club for Growth.
In a fundraising email, the national Club for Growth listed the Wisconsin Republican primary as a race where they are hoping to have an impact.
“Wisconsin offers another conservative vs. RINO primary and a chance to pick up a GOP seat in a swing state,” the Club for Growth email said. “As a US Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and a private businessman, Kevin Nicholson knows a thing or two about making America great. He is running against career politician State Senator Leah Vukmir in the Republican Primary and against progressive Senator Tammy Baldwin in the general.”
Contrary to being a RINO, Vukmir told Bader that her record shows that she fights for conservative causes.
“That’s what I got elected to do, that’s what my constituents expect me to do, and we have been surrounded by an amazing team to be able to do things like Act 10, Right to Work, dismantling the GAB – which was my legislation,” Vukmir said. “I helped with reforming John Doe. We have worked very hard to protect the unborn, protecting second amendment rights, this list goes on and on.”
She also pointed to her support of conservative reforms on education.
“I’ve been involved in the school choice movement,” Vukmir said. “I have pushed many of those bill forward, I introduced the special needs voucher program that finally got adopted and passed into law last session.”
Vukmir didn’t believe that the Club for Growth’s attack would affect the campaign.
“So Wisconsin voters have been there with us through all of these battles and remember as those liberal snowflakes whined and protested and stormed the capital,” Vukmir said. “And Wisconsinites know that I’m a fighter, a true conservative, and I don’t think they are going to buy this BS that’s coming from the Club for Growth.”
The entire interview by Jerry Bader of Leah Vukmir, including the podcast, is posted at the Media Trackers website.
