Patrick Marley and Mary Spicuzza

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

GLENDALE - GOP Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch on Monday accused her opponent of kneeling during the national anthem at a public event last month but said she did not see it herself and was unable to name any witnesses who did.

Mandela Barnes, the Democrat seeking Kleefisch's job, said he hadn't knelt and that she was lying about him.

"This is like me saying my neighbors saw her buying a tiki torch at Menards," Barnes said in a text message.

The exchange between Kleefisch, who is white, and Barnes, who is black, escalated a 2-week-old fight over the treatment of minorities and protests during the national anthem.

"But here’s the thing: the national anthem is not like tiki torches. It’s a big deal that matters," Kleefisch wrote on Twitter, responding to Barnes' reference to the tiki torches used by white nationalists in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Kleefisch claimed the kneeling incident happened at the opening of the Wisconsin State Fair at a ceremony Kleefisch and Barnes attended. In an interview, Barnes denied it happened and said "the whole damn program would have stopped" if he had taken a knee at the event.

"I was around so many people. I was right next to the cameras," Barnes said. "This is too stupid to respond to."

RELATED:Twitter fight: Scott Walker, Mandela Barnes battle over NFL protests, military service

Kleefisch made her claim — first alleged in less detail on Twitter two weeks ago — at a Monday news conference in Glendale.

Asked Monday if she had seen Barnes kneeling during the national anthem or had seen evidence of him kneeling, she answered, “What I mentioned was that people had told me this.”

She did not say who those people were.

“It was at an event that we both attended at the opening of State Fair Park at the Wisconsin State Fair, during the playing of the national anthem,” Kleefisch said. “As I always do, I was looking at the flag with my hand over my heart.”

Kleefisch first made her claim about Barnes kneeling during the national anthem on Sept. 6, when Gov. Scott Walker posted a stream of Twitter messages criticizing NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.

Kleefisch chimed in then by saying she had heard her opponent knelt during the anthem, a claim Barnes called a lie.

On Monday, Kleefisch stuck by her story but provided no evidence and no witnesses.

Also attending the Aug. 2 event were Walker; Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett; state Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee); state Rep. Daniel Riemer (D-Milwaukee); John Yingling, chairman of State Fair Park; and Sheila Harsdorf, Walker's agriculture secretary.

Barrett, Carpenter and Riemer said they did not see Barnes kneel.

Walker spokesman Austin Altenburg said Walker was looking at the flag and didn't see Barnes.

Yingling did not respond to a phone call and Harsdorf spokesman Bill Cosh did not respond to questions about what Harsdorf remembered.

Carpenter said, "I think that's dirty politics. I think it's a made-up lie, to be honest with you. ... I think they'll do anything to get elected, including something as stupid as this."

Riemer, who was on stage next with Kleefisch and Walker at the fair’s opening ceremony, said Kleefisch was making an “absurd accusation” and said he did not see Barnes kneel.

“I know Mandela to be a guy who loves his country and his state and his community,” Riemer said. “This is Joe McCarthy stuff.”

“We played peewee football together. I’m pretty sure he stood for the national anthem back in 1999," said Riemer, who like Barnes is 31.

Barrett said Barnes didn't take a knee.

"I was there. Didn't see anything of the sort, and it would have created a stir," Barrett said. "What's sad to me is this is beneath Rebecca Kleefisch. This is what happens when you have a governor who's getting desperate."

Barrett, who twice ran unsuccessfully against Walker, called the Kleefisch comments "indefensible."

The mayor said he believes the allegations are "racially tinged."

"Here in the state they've perfected the dog whistle," Barrett said.

He added that the only difference is at the national level President Donald Trump instead uses a "circus whistle."

Mary Spicuzza reported for this story in Glendale with Patrick Marley in Madison. Molly Beck of the Journal Sentinel staff in Madison contributed to this report.