Contact: Brad Bainum, bradb@wisdems.org

WisDems: Vukmir stands by gutting nursing home safety accountability
Vukmir championed a measure that has made it harder for Wisconsinites to hold abusive and neglectful nursing homes accountable

MADISON — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir is continuing to stand by the 2011 measure that she championed that “has made it more difficult to hold nursing homes accountable for wrongdoing.”

Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Vukmir’s 2008 and 2011 efforts to gut nursing home accountability rules by making it harder for Wisconsin seniors and their families to pursue civil and criminal cases against nursing homes that are abusive and neglectful.

Most troublingly, Vukmir’s actions appear to have benefited Vukmir’s longtime employers — who manage nursing homes and also happen to be major Vukmir campaign donors, having “given Vukmir nearly $18,000 since 2004, including the maximum $10,800” for her U.S. Senate campaign.

On Friday, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Martha Laning hosted a media call responding to Vukmir’s work to gut consumer protections and sharing her personal experience with nursing home neglect:

“This isn’t about Vukmir’s employer or their business. It’s about Leah Vukmir selling out our state to benefit her donors — something that Vukmir has done time and time again — and leaving Wisconsinites, some of our most vulnerable, behind.”

So far, Vukmir has continued to defend the law she passed to gut consumer protections and nursing home accountability in exchange for campaign contributions.

Listen to the DPW call here.

Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s report on Vukmir selling out our state’s seniors to benefit her donors here.

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