I come from a mixed-race background: My mother was Mexican; my father was white. I am also a member of the disabled community, having to live my life in a wheelchair. And the love of my life, my wife, is African-American.
We recently started talking about having children, but the past few years have given us pause as to whether Wisconsin is the right place for us. And it's worse than that. From what we've seen, we are beginning to question whether Wisconsin hates us.
It was only a few months ago that Taylor Palmisano, Gov. Scott Walker's then-deputy campaign finance director, whom he praised in his book, "Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge," was found to have tweeted racist statements. She referred to Hispanic people as "illegals" and described people like me as "half breeds." And this came to light only a few months after Steven Krieser, then the No. 3 official at the state Department of Transportation, on Facebook likened undocumented immigrants to Satan.
In the recently released John Doe emails from Kelly Rindfleisch, Walker's deputy chief of staff when he was Milwaukee County executive, there are more examples of staff members holding virulently racist opinions. In one email, welfare recipients are described as "mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and have no frigging clue who the r (sic) Daddys (sic) are." Rindfleisch describes it as "so true."
In another example, Walker's then-chief of staff at the county, Tom Nardelli, forwarded to staff an email that "joked" it would be a nightmare to wake up as a black, gay, Jewish and handicapped person. In neither instance did anyone point out how wrong, hurtful and appalling these emails were.
I find it disturbing that Walker consistently seems to surround himself with people who hold racist, homophobic and classist beliefs. In such a short amount of time and with only the smallest peek behind the curtain, we have discovered more than a handful of morally repugnant individuals whom Walker not only associated with but pulled into his inner circle. And because of all of this, I have to ask: Is the governor racist? Is he disdainful of the poor and needy? Is he homophobic? Does he hate immigrants?
That Palmisano and Krieser were fired after their social media comments came to light only serves to demonstrate Walker's discomfort with being publicly associated with people who hold repugnant opinions. When those same opinions were expressed privately, there appears to have been no repercussion. And ultimately, the firings do nothing to explain how a discriminatory culture has been allowed to flourish under Walker's administrations over the years.
As a Wisconsinite deeply disturbed by these events, I deserve answers. Walker cannot try to claim that this is "old news" or settled history. It's not.
And here is the troubling question I keep coming to: In what other setting would staff members feel comfortable spewing such filth than in those in which they fear no retribution because they know they are speaking among like minds?
There is a reason most people don't use such phrases as "half breeds" in public or their workplaces. Or compare the poor and needy to dogs. Or label illegal immigrants "wretched criminals." Or talk about black Wisconsinites, brown Wisconsinites, poor Wisconsinites, disabled Wisconsinites and LGBT Wisconsinites and all the others maligned by Walker aides as if they were less than human.
To speak so freely in such an insulting and hurtful manner points to a group united in thought about these racist and discriminatory beliefs — a group that Walker was the leader of.
While we may never know for sure whether Walker agrees with these repulsive opinions, it is more than unsettling that the slightest scratch beneath the surface of his organization revealed incidents of hatred and contempt. And having lived through such hatred and contempt, I understand all too well the pain it causes.
The words of Walker associates would've made my mother feel like a second-class citizen. The words of his associates make me and those like me feel ostracized by society. The words of his associates make me afraid for my future children to be raised in Wisconsin.
As of today, all I've seen Walker do is deflect and refuse to answer questions. And because he refuses to stand up and be direct with the people of Wisconsin, to be honest with the people he represents, we are left without answers. And without answers, there can be no truth and no honesty. And if I can't trust Walker, how can I vote for him?
The problem is easily summed up in Walker's own words from a January interview: "Governors should be defined not just by what they do and say, but who they surround themselves with..."
So, Gov. Walker, given whom you've surrounded yourself with over the years, how should we define you?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel originally published my editorial online here.
