Emails Reveal that Scott Walker’s Office was Staffed with Vile Racists

Watch Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in front of an audience when he knows the cameras are rolling, and you probably will not hear him make racist remarks. He is a politician after all, and overt racism is impolitic in the 21st century. However, subpoenaed e-mails released this week, reveal that his staff office in Milwaukee was full of racists. If birds of a feather flock together, the e-mails suggest that Scott Walker is most comfortable when he is surrounded by racists.

When Walker was Milwaukee County executive, his deputy chief of staff Kelly Rindfleisch referred to the following e-mail as “hilarious” and “so true”:

This morning I went to sign my Dogs up for welfare. At first the lady said, ‘Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare. So I expla ned [sic] to her that my Dogs are mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can’t speak English and have no frigging clue who the r [sic] Daddys are. They expect me to feed them, provide them with housing and medical care, and feel guilty because they are dogs.

Ah yes, a public official in Milwaukee delighting in racist humor that shows nothing but contempt for many of his constituents. How charming.

Not to be outdone by his deputy, Walker’s chief of staff, Thomas Nardelli, forwarded a bigoted e-mail that disparages minorities of all types as well as the disabled. The e-mail begins with the “nightmare” that a man wakes up to discover he is black and circumcised. the horror continues as the man awakening discovers that he is also gay, disabled and married to a Mexican. Upon another shocking discovery, the email ends with this “punch line”:

Say it isn’t so!!! I can handle being a black, disabled, one armed, drug-addicted, Jewish homosexual on a pacemaker who is HIV positive, bald, orphaned, unemployed, lives in a slum, and has a Mexican boyfriend, but please, Oh dear God, please don’t tell me I’m a Democrat.

The e-mails being circulated by Walker’s chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, give us a glimpse into the mindset of Walker’s top advisers. He surrounds himself with mean-spirited, simple minded racists, who despise the people they are supposed to represent. Scott Walker’s county office was infected with a culture of racism. That culture is now in charge of the state of Wisconsin, until voters or criminal prosecutors take action to change the culture. Prosecutors may or may not have enough information to have Walker removed from office. However, voters certainly do have enough information to vote him out, and in November they should do just that.

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Keith Brekhus

Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick's successful re-election bid in Arizona's 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.

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