A Republican U.S. Senate candidate has received a number of stimulus grants to fund his business, despite having previously publicly disagreed with a stimulus program.

The Associated Press reported Friday that Mark Neumann, a former congressman and solar power business owner, received about $500,000 in stimulus grants and about $250,000 in income tax credits under former President George W. Bush’s tax credit program.

However, Chip Englander, campaign manager for the Mark Neumann Campaign, said the money Neumann received was not part of the stimulus.

He said the program started off under Bush as tax cuts, which Neumann supports, and President Barack Obama moved up the tax incentives and provided them to businesses on time.

“That whole thing is a big mischaracterization,” Englander said. “To call these tax credits stimulus is wrong.”

One of the companies Neumann owns, SunVest Solar, signed a letter to Congress on Nov. 30, 2011, along with other solar power companies asking for an extension of the Section 1603 Treasury Program.

The program, enacted in 2009 and extended in 2010, allowed solar energy developers to take a federal grant instead of an energy tax incentive.

The letter called the program a “resounding success,” since it resulted in creating thousands of American jobs.

The news could influence Neumann’s bid for Senate since it may hurt his perceived image in the public eye, said Barry Burden, a University of Wisconsin political science professor, in an email to The Badger Herald.

While Burden said a candidate’s general stance on the stimulus will probably not affect his campaign much in the next general election, he said the discovery could complicate Neumann’s message.

“He wanted to be the Tea Party candidate, opposed to all of the big government activities of the Obama administration,” Burden said. “It turns out that his companies benefited from the stimulus and for ‘green’ energy products nonetheless.”

Burden said the news may have consequences on Neumann’s campaign because it makes him appear inconsistent and not a pure fiscal conservative as Neumann would like to appear to Republican voters.

However, UW political science professor John Coleman said in an email to the Badger Herald that contradictions like these rarely influence voters’ perception of a candidate.

He said similar contradictions have come up with a wide variety of candidates and campaigns. For example, he said Republicans argued it was contradictory for Obama to oppose school choice, which provides vouchers for parents to send their children to private schools if they wish, then send his own children to a private school in Washington, D.C.

He said there is little evidence any of these kinds of charges influence voters.

“In a primary campaign, an issue like this will similarly be used by opponents to try to gain an advantage,” Coleman said. “However, unless we are looking at a massive contradiction, there’s not much likelihood of a major impact on the race.”

Neumann is running for the Republican Senate nomination against Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, and former governor Tommy Thompson. The only Democrat in the race so far is Rep. Tammy Baldwin.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.