At times it seemed like a tough decision in the 6th Aldermanic District, where the votes to force a recall of Ald. Michael McGee Jr. are being counted as I write this. But on election day the decision was easy.

Vianna Jordan — the retired U.S. Army communications specialist who stood up to a barrage of dirty tricks, intimidation tactics and legal challenges from the McGee camp after she filed recall signatures last fall – deserves the chance to run head-to-head to be the alderman for this district.

The polls closed a minute ago. At no time during the 6th Aldermanic District recall did any of the eight candidates running for a chance to be the next alderman knock on our door to ask me or m’accomplice for our votes. Yes, she is a registered voter at this address. And, no, we didn’t get a single “sorry we missed you” lit drop. So it was difficult to take any of the candidates seriously, and we considered sitting it out so the rest of the district could decide whether McGee should stand for a recall or not. (If McGee gets 50 percent of today’s vote – and this isn’t likely - I don’t have many punctuation options here to underscore how wrong I was on this point -he keeps our city council seat.)

McGee did mail us a glossy, postcard-sized flier last week, but it should be noted that sending out a mass mailer is expensive. First a candidate needs to buy the registered voters’ list – about $1,000; then produce the flier (printers are not cheap); and mail it to, at minimum, the 10,345 voters in this district who voted in the 2004 aldermanic race won by McGee. This covers the bulk of the $10,000 McGee reported spending in defense of his seat. No other candidate had that much on hand in this recall.

I also received a nice email after yesterday’s post from a supporter of Una Van Duvall, a Department of City Development administrative assistant who has a lot of support from her neighbors in Brewer’s Hill. Support from one’s neighbors is a good thing, and Una seemed to gain momentum as the election approached. Vianna Jordan’s supporters said Una was “riding on Vianna’s coattails.” Una supporters said Vianna had offered no ideas of her own, instead focusing on criticizing McGee. Someone had to criticize Mcgee to justify the recall. Vianna’s supporters also noted that DCD’s record is abysmal, not that Una had anything to do with that in her job as an administrative aide.

McGee has thrown down a challenge of his own. “We’re at war with the city of Milwaukee,” McGee said at a city hall press conference. Can anyone who knows the 6th Aldermanic district really argue? A system of crack houses line the alleyways just west of Holton Street from North Ave. on up to Keefe. Dealers sling heroin within three blocks of the District 5 police station. The police? They set officer Dan Masarik loose in our neighborhoods with a taser, unleashing a flood of citizen complaints — in one Masarik screamed at Puerto Rican residents: “This is OUR neighborhood now.” That was before Masarik joined the mauling of Frank Jude, Jr.

McGee claims to represent the disenfranchised of this district. But he also represents me. I voted for him against Marlene Johnson in 2004 because it was time for a change. Now the question is whether the district likes McGee’s … let’s call it “style” … which can only be described as reactionary absurdity. He’s like a crazy character written into a blaxploitation film. Truth is, things do get hoop-dee crazy out here. McGee’s challenge to the black community to fend off outside forces has legs … and arms too.

As we drove to the polls, I wondered about the Journal Sentinel endorsement, and why, after all of Vianna’s hard work, it went to Una. In reality, a candidate probably doesn’t want the JS endorsement in this race (those outside forces again, which McGee calls “forces of darkness.”) But I wondered why Vianna, who did the hard work to make this recall vote possible, who withstood all challenges to the signatures she collected from within the district – much more work than any candidate in this race has done – seemed to receive so little respect. True, her supporters are political outsiders such as Leon Todd, who obtained a restraining order against McGee during the race. Attorney Alan Eisenberg is another. Is their support a factor? Is it because, before she led the recall, Vianna was inexperienced? Because her background is in the military, not in politics?

On many levels, McGee has a point: The 6th District does not necessarily want an alderman schooled in the Byzantine processes of city hall. We’d like someone who has their feet in the district – all of it – not just development rich Brewer’s Hill. This election is certainly a test of these notions and the above questions. Three years ago, the answer for the 6th was Michael McGee, Jr., and his chances of fighting off this recall are fairly good.

But for us on election day, the answer is Vianna Jordan. She’s done the work in this race, and has given the district every reason to believe she would do the same at city hall.