Sheboygan…Over the weekend, Jamie Aulik and his campaign for state senate issued an untrue and baseless attack on State Senator Joe Leibham regarding body armor for Wisconsin troops.  Unfortunately, for the citizens of the 9^th Senate District, this dishonest attack was followed by pre-recorded phone calls from Aulik to veterans across the lakeshore region reiterating this partisan lie. 

Earlier this year, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) made the exact same false attack against Senator Leibham’s republican colleagues in the Wisconsin State Senate.  In response to DPW’s baseless accusations, General Wilkening of the Wisconsin National Guard expressed his disappointment in a statement regarding the “careless misrepresentation of the facts about body armor provided to Wisconsin service members.”  General Wilkening went further to say, “These misrepresentations created unnecessary alarm for the families of our troops at the same time they unfairly criticized elected public officials.”  In response, DPW Chair Joe Wineke issued a statement apologizing for the party’s comments saying that “after issuing a news release on the subject in recent days, we spoke with representatives of the Wisconsin National Guard who assured us that all Guard soldiers on active duty have the proper equipment and training they need.”

Now, Jamie Aulik and his campaign have decided to launch the same untrue attacks against Senator Leibham through statements to the media and pre-recorded phone calls to veterans across the district.  In response, Senator Leibham issued the following statement:

“It is appalling that Mr. Aulik has decided to start his campaign with these dishonest and untrue attacks that the Chair of his own party has already admitted were baseless and wrong.

“Furthermore, I am embarrassed that Mr. Aulik would cause unnecessary alarm for the families of our troops as they so courageously serve our country.  I believe that support for our troops should transcend party lines and should be above cheap partisan politics.

“Mr. Aulik’s dishonest approach to this issue should cause area voters much concern over what lies ahead in the days leading up to election day.  It is clear that he will stop at nothing to distort my record on this issue, and many others. 

“I am calling on Mr. Aulik to issue a public apology to area families of local servicemen and women who are currently serving our country for his baseless attacks and to contact each and every veteran that received one of his dishonest phone calls and apologize for his unnecessary and deceitful message and approach to this race.” 

A copy of DPW Chairman Joe Wineke’s apology may be found by visiting - http://www.wisdems.org/ht/display/ReleaseDetails/i/769546.