March
2007
The Misuse of Recall Laws and Alderman Michael McGee’s Likely Win
City of Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee Jr., who represents a central city district whose constituents are almost exclusively African-American, is facing a recall and the forces behind it appear to be primarily white and primarily suburban.
There are plenty of reasons for McGee to not win re-election during the normal election cycle. But we should all question whether they warrant a recall.
Recalls in Wisconsin have been misused since at least 1996 when State Senator George Petak was recalled because he voted for a 0.1% sales tax to create a stadium taxing district. Usually states embrace their sports teams but in Wisconsin, even counties abutting Milwaukee County carry a strong anti-Milwaukee bias. Part of that reason is because of talk radio whose non-stop harangue against the county which they either broadcast from or proclaim to stand up for, votes primarily democratic.
Despite the abuse that surrounded the Petak recall (Petak was a Republican), Republicans who held both state houses and the governors mansion in Wisconsin failed to enact laws to curb those abuses. Other states such as Georgia require petitioners to go before a court and prove malfeasance before a recall petition can be moved forward.
Democratic legislators have also failed to stand up against the misuse of these laws despite that nearly all of the people who have been the target of recalls since that time have been democratic friendly public officials.
The democrats opened up a Pandoras box when, in 1996, they successfully recalled Petak. Since then, recalls have been used almost exclusively to recall democrats and democratic-friendly elected officials. Those organizing the recalls have been the same people who have in many cases run for the position and had an axe to grind rather than from a normal election cycle pool of citizens who are interested in better government.
This is the same case with McGee.
McGee has done some horribly reckless and irresponsible things and said some reprehensible things, but the question that should be answered is whether or not McGee has violated the public trust.
The answer is no.
The irony here is that, under normal circumstances, McGee Jr. would probably not win re-election. Because this recall has organizers who are primarily white and primarily suburban, McGee’s primarily African-American district will likely see this as outside interference. McGee may be a character and a scoundrel of sorts, but he’s their scoundrel. By pushing this recall which is likely to fail, organizers have all but cemented the likely re-election of McGee when he runs again in the spring of 2008.
There have been cases in Wisconsin history that have justified removal from public office but usually those cases are handled through the courts.
If McGee crushes the recall at the polls, there should be little doubt that he will consider it a vindication for his antics. He will believe that everything he has done and said, has been either blessed or forgiven by his constituents.
It is for many of the reasons spelled out here, that I am reversing my past position on the McGee recall.
There are plenty of people who have an axe to grind with McGee, and he has given his own recallers some justification for their actions by signing his own recall petition, but like most of the other recalls in Wisconsin, this recall is unjustified.
UPDATE: Another blogger pointed out that in a past post I advocated for the recall of McGee. Let me point out that this whole case is so complex because McGee continues to do so many twisted things that add to his reputation as being a nut. So yes, I wrote in another post that I supported the recall because McGee advocated for the lynching of Leon Todd which, yes, is malfeasance in office which is a good reason to force a person to face a recall election.
Jim McGuigan
Jim McGuigan
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I’m confused–don’t you advocate the recall here?
http://watchdogmilwaukee.com/blog/jim/2006/recall-alderman-michael-mcgee-jr/
Yes, you’re right.
I’m conflicted on this one. I’ll admit it. I think recalls are misused.
Did McGee cross the line when he advocated the lynching of Leon Todd? Yes he did. He’s done so many bad things that it’s tough to remember them all.
That being said, you’re right. Now you may as well blog about it because that may be the only time I ever toss a bone your way. By the way, your pride in being able to use the racist Peter Pan clip twice in a week was pretty smarmy.
As a resident of the 6th District, I am offended by your comments about how Alderman McGee is “our scoundrel.” The man does not represent me or my children, and I take offense to the implication that our district doesn’t deserve better. You white liberals all seem to be saying the same thing (see Shep Express article this week, for example) and it’s ignorant and patronizing.
All the candidates running against McGee are black. That should tell you that this is not about black people rallying around McGee. The sooner we have a change in this district, the better we’ll all be.
You’ve finding offense where there should be none. Read the post and you’ll find that I never made an implication that the district didn’t deserve better.
And the issue isn’t about the candidates running against McGee being black. My issue is who is really behind the recall. Remember where the recall rally was? It was at Serb Hall — the same place that CRG and their minions hold all of their rallies. It was on the south side — far from McGee’s area. And who were some of the organizers? They were from CRG — the white, suburban, republican shill group.
Will the district be better off with McGee? Absolutely. McGee represented himself as a totally different person when he was elected. But that’s what normal elections are for. What reason, specifically, do you think should force a recall?
Although I may not agree with the reasoning behind the McGee recall, he nonetheless has an opportunity to win the election democratically. It seems rather unfortunate that progressives in the Milwaukee area have such a negative impression of recall elections due to the efforts of groups such as Citizens for Responsible Government. If McGee’s opposition collected enough signatures to force the recall, we should have the election. It will be nobody else’s fault, but McGee’s, if he should lose this election.
Jesse,
He did win the election democratically — three years ago. In theory I don’t have a problem with recalls if the petitioners must first go before a judge and prove malfeasance in public office or a clear violation of public trust. Georgia requires it and they’re not exactly known for progressive traditions so there’s little reason Wisconsin conservatives should oppose it unless they’re doing it for political purposes.
Unfortunately we already know the answer to that question.
I understand that there are white suburbanites behind the recall. I don’t like the group that’s involved either. But I think we all need to get past that, because that’s a red herring. There’s an election scheduled - why not focus on the issues!?
The fact remains that there’s going to be an election on April 3. Those like me who think our alderman has done a poor job of representing us (not to mention his questionably legal cronyism when it comes to business and economic development in the district), now have an opportunity to vote for a better candidate.
It muddies the waters to keep throwing out the “but I dislike recalls” complaint. Get over it, and stop playing into McGee’s race-baiting politics. Of course he wants to spin it as a polarized “white suburbanites vs. black residents” race. But it’s not!
There’s a good chance for us to finally elect someone decent, and if we’re going to get a good leader in office, you and others would do better to focus on the issues rather than obsessing over the idiots who launched the recall.
The two opponents I know of who have websites both look better than McGee.
http://www.viannajordan.com
http://www.unaforthesixth.com
I want to know where Una and Vianna stand on issues. What are they passionate about? I have no clue. They are like mice that come out at night to take a nibble and they go back in the hole before day to hide from people trying to catch a glimps of those little rats.
I know where McGee stands, but I don’t know squat about Una nor Vianna, so I am voting for what and who I know.
didn’t democrats pay people $7 an hour to go around racine getting recall petitions signed against Petak?
yuppppppppppppp
and Petak was an honorable decent elected official who voted for the brewers tax because he thought it was okay and desired.