(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin state senate candidate says she is a Wisconsin resident and her husband’s primary residence is in Georgia, making her eligible for a Wisconsin tax credit and her husband eligible for one in Georgia, she said.
The tax credits at the two residences led Wisconsin Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein to call for Michele Magadance Skinner to drop out of the Senate District 31 race against incumbent Jeff Smith to represent all of Eau Claire County and parts of Chippewa, Dunn, and Trempealeau counties.
“My opponent is trying to win this election with insinuations instead of facts,” Skinner said in a statement. “Here’s the truth: I am a Wisconsin resident. My husband is a Georgia resident, and a 100% VA disabled veteran – that may be a source of confusion, but is not evidence of any wrongdoing.
“We asked an independent certified public accountant to review our tax records. He found nothing illegal. The accusation that we improperly claimed tax benefits in more than one state is simply false. The accusation that I ‘cheated taxpayers out of thousands of dollars’ is nothing more than a lie designed to distract voters.”
Hesselbein said that the allegations make Skinner “unfit for elected office.”
“Michele Magadance Skinner should drop out, end her campaign today, and pay back the taxpayers of both Wisconsin and Georgia she’s taken advantage of, and if she does not take those actions of self-accountability, we’ll be working with attorneys and the proper authorities to seek to compel her to do so,” Hesselbein said in a statement.
Skinner said that the Senate race should instead be focused on issues such as a budget surplus deal that would have sent portions of the surplus back to Wisconsin taxpayers, a bill that Smith voted against.
“I believe taxpayers deserved the state’s budget surplus back, and I would have supported returning that money to Wisconsin families,” Skinner said. “Jeff Smith did not, and that’s the difference in this race.”
Wisconsin Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, came to Skinner’s defense as the leader of the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate, saying the story defames Skinner.
“An elected Senator falsely accusing an upstanding citizen of our state of a crime for political gain should shock and appall us all,” Testin said in a statement. “Governor Evers said Hesselbein has Democratic Senators (like Jeff Smith) ‘wrapped around her finger.’
“I hope members of her caucus are willing to draw the line at falsely accusing their political opponents of crimes. If this witch-hunt is how Minority Leader Hesselbein is leading her caucus, I’m deeply concerned for the future of our state.”
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