Free Republic

Before there were public employee unions, there was Tonette. Unintimidated is the title of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s book, the title of his SuperPAC, and the thematic spine of his presidential campaign. It is of course a reference to his knock-down, drag-out fight with state worker unions, and his subsequent triumphs in politics and policy. The protracted showdown over collective bargaining rights revealed the small-town pastor’s son with the low-key manner to be unusually audacious and persistent, as well as undeterred by custom or convention. None of that would have surprised anyone familiar with the story of his marriage —...

Behind every great man, there’s an incredibly astonished woman. And if you’re a Republican politician, the odds are pretty good she’s not on board with everything in your agenda. Along those lines, social conservatives have a new reason to worry about Scott Walker: Tonette Walker. In an interview with the Washington Post, Wisconsin’s first lady publicly distanced herself from her husband over the issue of gay marriage. What is more, it’s clear that Scott Walker’s views are out of step with his entire family on the issue. Consider this excerpt regarding the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling: “That was a...

WAUWATOSA, Wis. — Tonette Tarantino’s year of sorrow came when she was only 30. First she lost the grandmother who helped raise her, like a second mother. Weeks later her brother, her only sibling, died of bone cancer. Then her husband died of kidney failure. Now, as Tonette Walker, the wife of Wisconsin governor and GOP presidential hopeful Scott Walker, looks back, she says those brutal 12 months in the mid-1980s prepared her for her life ahead — and most especially for the rough ride of politics. “My mom was tough. She didn’t give you a break,” Tonette Walker said...

Barbecue has a special place in Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's heart. The White House aspirant met his wife, Tonette, at a Wisconsin barbecue joint, Saz's, in Milwaukee, and took her back there four months later to propose. He reminisced about their courtship today while devouring a spare rib at a 'Roast and Ride' event in Boone, Iowa, 'I love ribs. Ribs and BBQ,' he told reporters after he finished his story. Walker had just finished helping employees of Lynch BBQ, the event catering company, prepare a rack of ribs when he professed his love for barbecue - and his spouse....

Protesters angry with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's effort to break Big Labor’s financial hold on the state in 2011 at one point blocked his exit from a manufacturing plant, then surrounded his police cruiser while “beating on the windows and rocking the vehicle.” The episode is one of several violent threats that the Republican governor and his family have faced, and which are detailed in his upcoming book “Unintimidated: A Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge." However, the most unnerving incidents for Walker appeared to be the death threats -- specifically one in which the sender wrote about following his...