Adam Rodewald

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke said a report claiming she was fired from her family's business is a "desperate" attempt by Republicans to "undermine my credibility."

The former Trek Bicycle executive addressed the report while speaking Wednesday with Press-Gazette Media's editorial board. She also answered questions about how her mix of private and public sector experience shaped her positions and aspirations for the governor's office.

Burke faces Republican incumbent Gov. Scott Walker on Nov. 4.

A report published Tuesday by online news organization Wisconsin Reporter, which has been criticized by some as having a conservative bias, claims Burke was fired by her family, who founded Trek Bicycle, following financial losses and low morale among staff.

The report relies on statements by several anonymous sources and Gary Ellerman, who the Wisconsin Reporter identifies as a former Trek human resources director and current chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party.

"I read the report. It's ridiculous," Burke said. "Frankly, we're in the last six days of the election, and I think it's a desperate attempt to undermine my credibility based on absolutely no evidence at all."

Trek president John Burke released a statement Wednesday saying the report was inaccurate and noted that Ellerman had been fired from Trek in 2004.

According to the statement, "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."

An abbreviated transcript of Burke's comments Wednesday:

How does your record at Trek make you a qualified candidate for governor?

I grew the European business for Trek. This is something that is incredibly valuable and provides a lot of potential for Wisconsin. We are in a global economy and we need to be a global player to continue to grow. That experience, boots on the ground and actually doing this, I think is something I uniquely bring to this position. The next position I had with Trek was heading up strategic planning and forecasting. I know what the important elements are to be successful and competitive in business.

If elected, what is the first issue you'd address?

Education. Education has to be at the core of what we do. We will not thrive and survive unless we create the jobs that are skilled jobs, and those are ones that require education. We also have to do this all within a balanced budget. The reality is that unfortunately going into the next budget we're facing a $1.8 billion deficit. I think we got here because of fiscally irresponsible decisions by Gov. Scott Walker, spending money we don't have.

Describe your jobs plan.

What is unique about my plan is these are five strategies particular to Wisconsin that will work here. First is aligning economic development and public policies around economic clusters. It's not a new concept. I would actually take this and create a position in the governor's office that heads up the entire economic process.

Another is workforce training and education. We need to increase the whole capacity of our post-high school training, technical colleges and universities. And we still have to keep our costs down. We also have to align that education around workforce needs. Also there's entrepreneurialism. I want people around the country to be looking and thinking that if they want to start a business they hear there's great things for them in Wisconsin.

Last is just overall climate, whether it's our tax climate or issues that affect our rural communities.

Why do you support raising the minimum wage?

The reason I support going to $10.10 an hour over three steps is it has been proposed on a national basis. I think it's a good compromise. I've talked to businesses, and they support it. It puts additional money into our economy. The other thing is that without raising it, we are ensuring that people are depending on public assistance. We're using taxpayer dollars to subsidize lower wage jobs because people can't live on $7.25 per hour.

Where do you stand on Act 10?

I've said it's fair to pay more for pension and benefits. I don't think we should have one set of benefits in the public sector and another in the private. But there are a lot of different parts of Act 10 that went well beyond the budget repair part of it.

People need to be compensated fairly. Organizations are only as good as the people who work in them. I want to make sure we're able to attract and retain people in our public sector.

The partisan tone of Act 10 is one Gov. Walker set. The tone I'm going to set as governor is how are we going to work together to address the issues we have.

— arodewal@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @AdamGRodewald and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AdamGRodewald.