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A liberal group injected $737,000 in a TV ad campaign Wednesday against Gov. Scott Walker — providing outside help on the airwaves for the first time in Democrat Mary Burke's campaign.

The new ad from the Greater Wisconsin Committee builds on a theme Burke has hammered on for weeks: how Wisconsin's job creation efforts have lagged behind its neighbors. From there, it goes on to contend Walker has doled out state money to help campaign supporters.

"Scott Walker gave Wisconsin job creation money to his cronies, corporate friends who contributed to his campaigns — $570 million of our jobs money to Scott Walker's friends," a narrator says.

Walker hastily called a news conference to respond, citing jobs data he'd previously dismissed as less-than-reliable to argue the state's economy is rebounding.

Walker also pushed back against the ad's allegation that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. funneled financial support to his campaign donors. The ad's allegation is based on a May report from the liberal group One Wisconsin Now.

"This is typical of some of the shadowy groups you're going to see, particularly with the big-government unions," Walker said, adding that "WEDC and the grants the state provides are performance based. "They're actually based on jobs created and capital investments made, regardless of any background."

Walker said that was "in stark contrast" to Burke's time as state commerce secretary under former Gov. Jim Doyle. Walker last month ran an ad criticizing Burke for a deal aimed at drawing Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories to expand in Wisconsin. That effort failed and federal authorities are now demanding the state return $12.3 million in funds used to purchase land in Kenosha County.

In arguing that Wisconsin'economy is rebounding, Walker said, "Wisconsin now ranks third in the Midwest for actual private sector job creation. That's just this week announced as data came out from the Current Employment Statistics by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."

Relying on those statistics is a reversal for Walker. Those monthly figures are based on a survey of a sample and can fluctuate significantly; Walker's office has dubbed quarterly figures based on an actual count of jobs as the "gold standard."

For two years, Walker has argued against using the monthly Current Employment Statistics.

Burke seized on that shift in a statement she issued after Walker's news conference.

"This is what career politicians do — cherry pick numbers as they see fit, even if they directly contradict past commitments to use the numbers they've called 'the gold standard,'" her statement said.

The ad campaign against Walker marks the first time an outside group has weighed in on the air to help Burke. It comes two weeks after Greater Wisconsin received nearly $1.3 million from the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union.

Greater Wisconsin often enters the fray to help progressives in gubernatorial races and other key contests; most recently it ran a blitz of ads in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat conservative Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke in last week's Democratic primary.

The ad debuted Wednesday and is running in all Wisconsin markets except Madison, said Greater Wisconsin consultant Rich Judge. A campaign finance report filed Tuesday by the committee shows it is spending $737,183 on the effort.

Walker benefitted earlier in the campaign from $1 million in ads attacking Burke run by the Republican Governors Association. That group is not now on the air, but has booked more than $2 million more in ad time starting next month.

Walker has also received help from ad campaigns over the last year by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business lobbying group, and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a national conservative group largely funded by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.