Bio
Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch
Rebecca’s family tradition of strong women is laid out in the story of her Great Great Great Grandmother, who was surprised when the newly-purchased family farm along the shore of Lake Butte des Morts was also the site of a time-honored Menominee trail. When Chief Oshkosh himself once led his band straight to her door, Ester Mary Cole Reed was there to entertain with a jar of cookies. (Later she learned her guests liked doughnuts even better.)
As a teenager, Rebecca learned the value of work by filing invoices in her dad’s home office for pennies a paper and teaching tap lessons at her mother’s dance studio. But it was her father’s work for Butler’s own Western States Envelope Company that sparked her interest in marketing.
At her college internship at WISN-TV in Milwaukee, Rebecca met Joel Kleefisch, a young reporter whose quick rise to a top 30 TV market interested her. He interested her, too. Their first date was to Lambeau Field where the pair was too frugal to part with the money for tickets, so they got to know each other over the time-honored tradition of watching the Packers rout the Vikings from a tavern.
In 1999 Lt. Governor Kleefisch joined the ranks of WISN-TV. Before long, she was again behind the morning anchor desk, fronting two hours of daily coverage for the Southeastern Wisconsin station, chatting with her co-anchors about politics during commercial breaks. When Joel and Rebecca first daughter Ella arrived in 2003, Rebecca left her job as a news anchor to stay at home, but still committed to keeping the family finances on track.
The Kleefisches sold their house and moved into one with a more affordable mortgage. They began clipping coupons and cutting back. Rebecca arranged freelance work when Joel was home to watch Ella and Violet.. Her work in TV and college coursework in marketing put Kleefisch in a unique niche to do contract work in marketing, public relations and media. She did all three, squeezing in volunteer work in Ella’s classroom and teaching Violet’s Sunday School class. In 2009, with kids out of diapers, Kleefisch was frustrated watching her beloved Wisconsin being wrecked by liberal tax-and-spenders. Combining her TV background and political junkie tendencies, Rebecca started a video blog, embedded once a week on “Sykes Writes”, a widely read conservative Wisconsin blog. Shortly after, she snagged a regular seat as a conservative pundit on “Sunday Insight”- a political talk show.
Banking on her experience in marketing and messaging and her love of politics, people started suggesting it might be time for a mom with some kitchen table common sense to lead. So Kleefisch filed papers to run for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. Rebecca proved herself and her conservatism in debates, and by out-fundraising her opponents at each reporting date. Volunteers lifted her through the exhausting race.
But Rebecca’s exhaustion was due to more than relentless campaigning. Late in her campaign, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. On September 2, the 35-year-old Kleefisch had laproscopic surgery at Froedtert Health in Milwaukee to remove a tumor the size of a grapefruit. On September 14, she won the GOP primary by 22%. Rebecca’s doctors found the tumor at a stage where the likelihood of a cure is high and the possibility of recurrence is fairly low. She campaigned harder, coasting to a huge victory in the November 2010 general election with Wisconsin’s Governor, Scott Walker.
While she dutifully fulfills her duties as Wisconsin’s Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca took her doctor’s advice to undergo precautionary chemotherapy. In her first first months in office, she steadily and energetically re-defined the job of Lieutenant Governor and Rebecca completed her chemotherapy.
Before she took office, Rebecca promised to “Open Wisconsin For Business” – and since elected, she has worked tirelessly to create a pro-business environment across Wisconsin. Her faith, energy and plain-speaking confidence are evident wherever she goes.