Kleefisch explains ticket for fleeing arrest in 1995
Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch acknowledged several years ago that she was once ticketed for underage drinking.
Only now, however, are all the details coming out.
And it turns out that the Oxford, Ohio, Police Department report on that 1995 incident seems to have some relevance in the current Republican gubernatorial campaign.
That’s because Kleefisch, who is positioning herself as the choice of law enforcement, was cited for not only underage drinking but also resisting arrest.
The report says Kleefisch “bolted” from a police squad car after she had been held for public intoxication. The officer said Kleefisch also lied to the cop about her name, age and Social Security number.
Here are the details from the police report obtained by the Journal Sentinel:
Rebecca Reed — Kleefisch’s maiden name — was picked up after she was spotted stumbling and staggering down the street at 1:15 a.m. on Nov. 1, 1995.
Reed, then a sophomore at Miami of Ohio, told the officer she did not have identifications but that she was 21.
The cop then put her in his squad car and drove her to the police department.
“Once at the station, I opened the back door of the car, and she bolted from this officer and ran,” wrote Patrolman D. Roach. “I caught her and placed her in handcuffs.”
At the station, the police officer determined that Reed gave false information about her name and Social Security number.
She was cited for public intoxication, resisting arrest and underage drinking. Reed was 20 years, three months old at the time.
The report adds that she had “attacked” the state’s liquor laws for her “personal satisfaction.”
What does Kleefisch say about the old but embarrassing incident?
Kleefisch, now 46, said she hasn’t shied from the topic since she was first asked about it in 2013, when the Journal Sentinel included one paragraph on her underage drinking ticket in a nearly 1,600-word profile.
“Unfortunately many of us make stupid mistakes when we are young, and I was no exception,” Kleefisch said in an email. “Of course, I regret my actions.”
Back in 2013, she said she sat down her two daughters — now adults themselves — and told them about the incident before it was made public. She said she wanted her children to be prepared for the story and to learn from
her mistakes.
“It is humbling and embarrassing that I chose to drink underage, and I have counseled my girls to avoid bad choices,” Kleefisch said.
Then the political candidate went on the attack.
She said she feels sorry that her opponents feel the only way they could win in August was if they dug up an incident from her time as a college sophomore.
Kleefisch, who served two terms as former Gov. Scott Walker’s No. 2, is one of two frontrunners for the GOP nomination for governor. She is running neck-and-neck with Tim Michels, coowner of the Brownsville-based Michels Corporation.
Also running in the Republican primary are consultant Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Tim Ramthun of Campbellsport.
“It’s unfortunate they would rather talk about a ticket from the 90s than struggling Wisconsin families in 2022,” Kleefisch wrote in her email. “The fact of the matter is I believe in law and order, and have taught my daughters to respect law enforcement as every Wisconsinite should.”
Shortly before Kleefisch left Miami University, she said her family returned to Wisconsin from Ohio. She said her parents insisted that she move home to the Badger State and focus on her studies. In the meantime, she switched her major from marketing to communications.
Kleefisch spent a semester at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she interned at WISN-AM (Channel 12), where she later became a reporter and morning anchor.
She then transferred and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Today, she is running as a get-toughon-crime conservative who has the backing of the Milwaukee Police Association and Wisconsin Fraternal Order of Police.
As part of her “Back the Badge” campaign, Kleefisch has promised more police in Milwaukee and sending the State Patrol into high crime areas. She has also said she would fire Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.
Asked if she expected her ticket for resisting arrest would hurt her standing with police groups, Kleefisch spokesman Alec Zimmerman dismissed the suggestion.
Zimmerman said she is the pick of law enforcement because she is willing to do what it takes to “keep repeat, violent criminals behind bars and provide law enforcement the resources they need to keep our communities safe.”
Or, to hear Kleefisch these days, she is now standing by the men and women in blue.
Not running from them.
“Our law enforcement officers are under siege right now, and nobody seems to want to stand up for them,” Kleefisch told the media in February. “Well, I will.”