Tonette Walker: Protest at Wauwatosa Home

The First Lady of Wisconsin, Tonette Walker, talked about yesterday's protest at the Walkers' home in Wauwatosa. She appeared on Charlie Sykes' radio program this morning.

Mrs. Walker discusses the impact the rabid Leftists are having on her family.

Listen to the interview and download it here.

Transcript

CHARLIE SYKES: This is the family home. This is the home where your children live. What was your reaction to the fact that the unionistas decided to stage a rally there?

TONETTE WALKER: Yeah. Obviously, for us, there was some concern for the safety of our children. My in-laws live with us now, and, you know, our neighbors, just disrupting our whole neighborhood. I mean, the fact that they can come in and say that we're the ones that have disrupted our neighborhood or divided it is just kind of crazy to me, because, you know, on our street in our neighborhood we have always been divided - Democrats and Republicans, Independents, whatever. But we've never really at any point, when we didn't care for things about Doyle, we didn't step out and have a protest in front of someone's house.

SYKES: What kind of, I mean, the point that I'm not sure the people have fully gotten is that you and the Governor do not live full-time in Wauwatosa. Of course, you live in the Madison area, but your two sons, your children and your in-laws live in that house, right?

TONETTE WALKER: They do. And, you know, it was our intent, when Scott was elected governor, to move our children to Madison. And then when everything broke out in Madison, we made a choice to leave them where they were at, where they grew up, where the teachers knew them. You know, the teachers have great to the boys. The school's district has been wonderful. It's someplace that they grew up that everybody knew them just as being Matt and Alex and us as just their parents. And we felt that that was the best decision for the kids at that point. So, we aren't there all the time.

So people assume that because the boys and my in-laws are there, that Scott and I are there. But, you know, it's one thing to come out here and protest in Madison at the Executive Residence. We've made that choice. Scott and I knew that those consequences could happen because we're living here in Madison, and this is the people's house and they have the right. But to actually really be on our street in front of our house and disrupt our neighbors... I mean, we have two little girls that live next door, young girls. And then we have an 80-year-old woman on the corner. I can't imagine what they're going through, those young girls. And we feel for our neighbors. We care about them. That's where we lived and that's where we made our life there. So, it's been a little disruption. I can say that.

SYKES: Well, I mean, I don't know how else you would describe it, other than the fact that they feel entitled to put pressure on the Governor by going after your kids.

TONETTE WALKER: Well, I hope that that is not their intent. I hope that they're just thinking that they wanted to make a statement. I mean, so far really the boys have been treated great in our neighborhood, in our school. Their teachers, their administrators have really looked out for them through this whole thing and we are so grateful for that.

But it worries me is people are coming from all over, and then now they know where we live. They know where our children live. Of course, I worry. As a mom, of course I worry about that. It's on my mind all the time that, is today going to be a good day for them? Is someone going to step out and say something to them? Is someone in the grocery store going to say something to them?

I would hope that they would leave, everyone would leave the boys and I alone, but we know that that's not going to happen, obviously, with what they've decided to do to start the recall in front of our house.

SYKES: Have any other family members, any other spouses of other politicians from across the aisle reached out to you and said, 'Ok, you know what, we disagree about the issues but this is going too far, this crosses the line'? Have you gotten any support at all from any of the Democratic local political officials, who you may disagree with politically but who might actually understand the point you're making about leaving the kids out of it?

TONETTE WALKER: Oh, no.

SYKES: None.

TONETTE WALKER: No one. I mean, I think of myself, and if things were reversed, I probably would be saying to myself how awful this is. And actually, whether you're Republican or Democrat, being a politician, being in the limelight, having children, we all are really as spouses or parents, we're just trying to raise our kids in an environment like this. I would hope that the other politicians' wives or spouses, whoever, hope that they know that they can be in the same shoes that I am six months from now, or a year from now. Because it seems to me like anytime you don't like what someone does, you kind of have this opportunity to recall them. So any politician, any family can be in the same situation whether you're Republican or Democrat. Down the road, it can happen to you.

SYKES: I'm not sure that a lot people realize that it's hard being in public life, but, you know, they asked for it. I mean, they kind of understand. But it's really tough being the spouse or a family member of a politician, isn't it? Because they can go out there, Scott Walker can go out there and he can give speeches, he can sign bills. You know, he's been there before. He's got thick skin, but you have to watch all this, and you don't have the ability to fight back in the same way, do you?

TONETTE WALKER: Well, I think, you're right. I don't, I'm not out there every single day being interviewed or asking questions. But I think at some point as a spouse you get a thick skin. I just hope that my children don't have to have a thick skin because they're young. They're just starting out in life. They should be able to really kind of make their own choices as they go forward on to college. Matt will be going to college. So for them, I hope that they don't need to have thick skin.

And for me, the thing that I see, I'm traveling. The neat thing that I get to do is I get to travel all over the state. And I get to do the kind of soft kind of things, openings of things and meeting with Boys and Girls Clubs, and really, basically, what I see over and over again is that Wisconsin has decent people. And so really when you get to talk to them and meet them, and explain to you, or kind of not intimidate them into thinking a certain way, I think that things play out a little bit better for me than it does for Scott.

SYKES: So, it's not getting to you. They're not getting in your head.

TONETTE WALKER: No, no, they're not. I mean, really, I kind of look at it as it's politics. This is obviously the way things are here in Wisconsin, and they've always been that way. I was kind of talking to Scott this morning a little bit about the fact that 18 years ago or 17 years ago when Scott was in the State Legislature, I remember him coming home and being so frustrated because the other side, they couldn't work with the other side. But we never thought for a minute that we would protest in front of someone's house, or kind of rally, or recall anyone. We just knew that you waited until the election, and you put a candidate up to them, and, God willing, you won.

SYKES: There was a sense of respect for the process, even if you didn't have respect for the other person. There was respect for the process and respect for the limits of politics, and in general that would be the family home, the wife, the spouse, and certainly, the children. We're in an era now where there don't seem to be any limits whatsoever.

TONETTE WALKER: Well, I think that really as we move forward, I think the people of Wisconsin are tired of this. I really do. That's what I hear the most of is like, let's move forward, let's move on. You know, we'll have another election. You can have your voice, you can have your say. But to constantly have our state be in this turmoil, I don't think that that's what the average citizen of Wisconsin wants.

SYKES: Is it hard knowing that if and when you move back to your house, that your neighbors actually decided they were going to take this stand and be part of the protest? I ask you that because it would bother me. It's one of those things where you hope that your house and your neighborhood is something of a refuge. It's kind of a sanctuary to get away from it. And when you realize that basically it's become hostile territory, does that bother you?

TONETTE WALKER: Well, first of all, I mean, I always knew all of my neighbors didn't agree with Scott. I mean, in any election, even when he was County Executive, when he was in the State Assembly, you know that all your neighbors don't agree with you. It's not something you usually discuss. But when yard signs come up, Wauwatosa's a big place for yard signs, so the signs come up and you know, oh well, my neighbor two doors down, he doesn't support what Scott's doing. But when you got around on the block parties and the barbecues and just hanging around the bonfires, you just talked about being parents. You just talked about raising your kids, what a great neighborhood. Yeah, you might have talked a little bit about politics, presidential politics.

But those people that were having signatures taken on their lawns never supported Scott no matter what. They weren't ever going to support Scott. It isn't like my neighbor next door that voted for him or two doors down that voted for him now all of a sudden said, 'Oh, I don't like you, Scott. I'm going to put a sign up. I'm going to let people sign petitions on my lawn.'

So, you know, we still have our good neighbors that support us and come over and, you know, write us notes, and stop by and make sure the boys are OK. So, I'm not going to feel bad about going back to Wauwatosa. I love Wauwatosa. If a few people feel like that they need to step out and do what they have to do, then they have to live with their own consciences.

It's great to hear Tonette Walker's perspective.

I hope the Recall Walker fanatics listen to her, really listen. Perhaps they'll step back and think about what they're doing, the way they're doing it, and the impact their actions have.

Politics can be brutal, but for God's sake, there must be some limits.

Leave the children alone.

Those Leftists and union protesters yesterday at the Walker home had to know that the Governor wasn't in Wauwatosa. They had to know. They had to know that the Walkers' two sons live there.

As Tonette Walker says, the protesters have to live with their own consciences.

The problem is it appears that many of them have seriously inadequate consciences, lacking in decency.