Dan Cody - “Left on the Lake” » Final Thoughts On Alderman McGee

Final Thoughts On Alderman McGee

It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year since former Alderman Mike McGee was arrested on charges of bribery.

He was found guilty last night and will certainly go to prison for a maximum of 30 years, but probably more like 3-5. Then he’s got an entire state trial to deal with which hasn’t even begun yet and could add a serious amount of time to that sentence.

While I don’t have any specific comments on the trial or McGee himself, I think it’s important to close this ugly and disturbing chapter in Milwaukee’s history.

One has to wonder who the Wisconsin right-wing will use in his place though when they want to bash the African American community here in Milwaukee. McGee had been a convenient figurehead for them to use in recent history whenever they wanted to parrot the “Milwaukee thug” meme.

At any rate, guilty by a jury of his peers who found it hard to ignore the overwhelming evidence against McGee. Good riddance.

Politics | Dan Cody | June 25, 2008 7:43 am

8 Comments

By Sean, June 25, 2008 @ 11:33 am

Hold on a second, are you telling me that the Wisconsin right-wing SHOULDN’T have bashed Mike McGee, his father, and all of his supporters for the embarrasment they’ve caused this city for almost 30 years? The reason he and his ilk are bashed, is because the majority of the “work” they do makes his district and other African American districts, worse. I, among other “right-wingers”, have bashed McGee (and not the African-American community), because of his disgusting behavior, and his lack of leadership in a district that needs it the most.

It is amazing and somewhat disconcerting that just because conservatives challenge, and sometimes out-and-out “bash” an African-American with a “D” next to their name that it can be extended to the community as a whole. Trust me, it wasn’t Mike McGee’s (Junior or Senior) race that caused the right wing to get all up in a lather, it was the fact that he was a crimminal and a severe liability to his district, his office, and the city of Milwaukee, period.
By Bruno Wolff, June 25, 2008 @ 8:49 pm

Maybe I misunderstood the JS article I read a couple of days ago, but I got the distinct impression it wasn’t really a jury of his peers. Was there any black person on that jury?
It may be that he was guilty, but not having any blacks on the jury surely isn’t a good way to put the matter to rest.
By Daniel Cody, June 25, 2008 @ 10:38 pm

Bruno, you’re correct. There were two people on the jury, made up of 8 men and 8 women, who identified themselves as American Indians however.

There were no objections about the makeup of the jury from the defense, or the prosecution for that matter.

I don’t think you can say though that simply because there weren’t any people of color on the jury that those serving on it weren’t his peers. Peers doesn’t mean only those of a similar race, sexual orientation, or political belief for example.
By Go Celtics, June 26, 2008 @ 7:29 am

Wait, are you actually admitting a liberal African American is capable of doing something wrong?

Certainly society is to blame in some way…
By Bruno Wolff, June 26, 2008 @ 8:12 am

Because of the high segration in Milwaukee of races, it is not very likely that any of the jurors were from the inner city. That isn’t to say he didn’t deserve what he got, but part of justice is making it plainly obvious that it is justice and not someone being railroaded. And not having someone from the area where he lived and worked on the jury is bad for appearances sake.
(Though in this case, my main area of doubt is in was this selective enforcement or not. I hope not, as I don’t like to think that all Alderman are shaking people down. There have been past cases, where at least one white Alderman was convicted of doing shakedowns, so I suspect that significantly bad apples are being dealt with. On the other hand I was recently told in general terms that politicians in the area are using building inspectors to reward friends and punish enemies. No mention of money being involved, but I can’t think of too many other ways businesses would get on or off a politician’s friends list.
By Daniel Cody, June 26, 2008 @ 1:05 pm

Right, but that would like having a requirement that if someone from the suburbs were on trial, that the jury hearing their case would also have to be from the suburbs. Or, if a person on trial were a multi-millionaire, should only super wealthy people be able to judge him/her, because they can only understand his unique position?
By Bruno Wolff, June 26, 2008 @ 2:07 pm

I would like to think that it would be somewhere between none and only.
By Smitty, June 26, 2008 @ 2:53 pm

Michael McGee was on trial in Federal Court, not the County Court. Accordingly the jury was drawn from the Eastern District of Wisconsin, a substantial part of the state. And yes, McGee was pilloried by the conservative talk show hosts, this trial indicates that they were correct in doing so. McGee wasn’t a politician, he was a common criminal and a disgrace to the city of Milwaukee.

O.K. so politicians often are common criminals.