The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that a drive to recall alderman Michael McGee/Jackson has begun. The group organizing the recall is named “Friends to Recall Ald. Michael McGee Jr./Jackson”, and is led by ViAnna Jordan. The papers were file on October 3, and the group has 60 days from that date to gather 1,620 signatures to force the recall. ViAnna Jordan is listed as the candidate to oppose McGee/Jackson in the recall. Among the reasons listed for the recall:
- Fraudulent use of alias names to avoid responsibility for accident damages
- Incidents such as arrests for disorderly conduct
- Perjury allegations in a trial involving the mother of his child
- Slurs against gays
- He “has become an embarrassment to our community.”
Note: The Journal/Sentinel says that “he has been known as McGee his whole life”. That is not correct. He’s got a drivers license and a social security number in the name of Jackson. Therefore, he has also been known as Jackson.
Do you think this group has a legitimate chance of succeeding? I heard they are being harassed by some people in the neighborhood.
I hope so!!!
Editorial: 6th District deserves better
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Nov. 30, 2006
Generally speaking, we’re not big on recalls. But sometimes, recalls provide the only way for voters to start over when they realize they made a mistake at the polling place.
A recall of Milwaukee Ald. Michael McGee is one of those times.
Recall organizer ViAnna Jordan delivered a recall-election petition, containing more than 2,300 signatures, to the city Election Commission office on Wednesday. She presented it in a foil-wrapped piece of cardboard, tied with a red ribbon.
Jordan, who intends to run against McGee, called it a Christmas gift to the city. For McGee, it’s probably more like coal in his stocking, but he brought this on himself.
McGee appears to be hard-working and has given a voice to people in his district who might otherwise not be heard. But that’s been overshadowed by his personal conduct.
The bill of particulars is so long, it’s hard to sum up. But the list surely includes the revelation that the alderman held driver’s licenses under two names, with the concern that it was done by McGee to avoid paying a debt stemming from a traffic accident. Connected to a series of restraining-order hearings, the list also includes an arrest for disorderly conduct and apparently lying on the stand, saying initially he had not had an extramarital relationship with a woman who later gave birth to his child. Authorities declined to prosecute in both cases.
Those kinds of incidents are too much for residents to tolerate from their elected representatives.
The 6th District deserves to be represented more ably.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=537102
ViAnna Jordan Recall Document
From: [email protected]
Subject: I support McGee recall
Date: November 30, 2006 7:01:29 AM CST
To: Leon Todd
For your information, and, I support this action.
It is sad and even tragic that even with a respectable per diem, full franking privileges, a full-time well paid assistant and where practically all clerical tasks are done by staff, that Mr. Michael McGee Jr. has made more than a mockery and a joke of the position of alderman.
The volume of work done by people other than the alderman is supposed to free elected officials from the hefty burden of such mundane tasks so that they are without any impedance able to give full time to representing their constituents, which means ALL of the 6th district and not just those who may have voted in favor of the elected.
The job: — dealing: with over 40,000 people; over half living below the poverty line; making sure that large city-wide construction and building projects maintain fair percentages of his constituents; empowering district leadership about the available near billion dollars in federal, state and multi-government grants and benefits; oversight re capital improvements and other city services for his district; making assurances that his district receives fair, equitable political representation; oversight on both city-wide and district schools, the levels of bussed Black kids, and the plunging grade scores throughout schools located in the Inner City; using franking privileges to keep the district consistently informed; making sure that there is limited use of tax dollars for TIF’s and the ability for tax payers to pay, and that TIF’s are evenly distributed throughout the city; using per diem use to visit comparable urban areas to observe and analyze similar government entities and how they work; advancing communications with private, and non-private financial agencies about local government goals and timetables; setting a strong example for the district’s youth, especially Black males; visiting school and other community organizations, and quite importantly, maintaining up to date knowledge of the legislative reference bureau and its location in the basement of City Hall..
Lots of work for only about $62 K per year, yet most Black elected folk have their heads in the sands of the “Promise Land” and as yet do not understand or do much of anything about the tasks cited above. This leaves the running of the city to smart, savvy, greedy developers and builders with open access to the mayor, who cares zip about Black people, about soaking tax payers to death and blaming it all on Inner City maintenance and crimes,and where the only new structures or businesses developed are day care centers.
The list goes on and should be of concern to the other do-nothing Black alderman who think their positions simply place them among the lofty channels of upscale mucky-mucks and that when they act think they are doing constituents a favor. Throw the bums out I say!
ViAnna Jordan comes from the well known Jordan family that has lived longer in Milwaukee than the McGee’s. They were born here. Her uncle, Bill is a retired city truck driver, and musician, who still plays bass a bit at his club near the Riverwest area. Her father, Sonny, deceased, was a very good friend of mine, and of New York writer, Milwaukee’s Richard Carter. .The rest of the family has long been involved in neighborhood improvement and work and has had strong affiliations with Harambee and its school when it produced super products, and which was mentored by Jesse Wray, another strong activist from the early 70’s who also ran for alderman about then.
We need a woman down there, so if I’m alive when the ballots are ready, I will cast a strong vote for this strong sister, ViAnna Jordan. YO!
Recommendations for other folk who should also jump in other districts and help straighten out the current city mess and who also do not take any bullshit from idiots are Robert Miranda, Eric Vonn, Ed McDonald, Justine Hutchins and Dan Prysbala. You can go to the bank with these folk who love this city and have integrity. That includes Leon Todd, who is old as dirt, and went to school with my granddaddy, and who will jump in front of a bus bearing down on you, yet his eye is always on the Sparrow; he knows government and all the tricks that some play. He is needed Post Haste!
Straight ahead,
George F. Sanders
Recalling Thyself: McGee skips school safety budget vote
As 6th District residents file recall petition
Watchdog Milwaukee
John-david Morgan
Demanding .quality representation for our tax dollars,. 49-year-old armed services veteran Vianna Jordan delivered 2,300 signatures to recall Ald. Michael McGee Jr./Jackson yesterday, announcing as she did 10 reasons citizens of the 6th District need a new alderman. McGee Jr., in keeping with his usual reaction when disturbed by others, gave her two more.
First, according to Jordan, McGee himself had signed the petition to recall him. Then, after Jordan filed the paperwork at the city election commission, McGee missed a crucial Common Council vote on Mayor Tom Barrett.s lone budget veto. Aldermen overrode the veto without McGee (11-3) and his vote would not have blocked the Council, but McGee has no excuse for skipping out on his constituents on one of the most important budget votes.
By overriding Barrett, aldermen restored firefighter positions to ladder trucks that the mayor had cut to fund a pilot program to put cops in schools. The Council, which had already approved 40 new cops. positions for the Milwaukee Police Department, decided that MPD could find the funds to start the school safety pilot project.
One would think that an alderman who represents a district in which a student was beaten to death outside of his school, in broad daylight at 1st and Center Streets in front of other students, would feel compelled to represent his constituents school safety concerns, one way or another. Does skipping the vote make more or less sense to McGee, Jr. . who cuts himself in the mold of his father, the former alderman and leader of what he dubbed the New Black Panther Party . that the beating occurred at afrocentric Malcolm X Academy, which is now being closed by MPS? There’s no need to bother with his answer.
McGee, Jr., is worse than tiresome, his antics only trivializing every issue he involves himself with. Local media aids and abets in a lurid, OJ-style symbiosis that makes mockery of it all, at once bursting and inflating McGee’s small town persona. We.ve been guilty of it too here at Watchdog Milwaukee. Nobody takes Jr. as seriously as his dad, but, sadly, in 2006 Milwaukee it’s still easier to write about a McGee than to write the truth: When the sun goes down, much of the 6th District dissolves into a phantasmagoria of crack-infested alleys, heroin deals near the District 5 police station, angry faces and street maulings, prostitution and drugs, more drugs, gunplay, murder, rage and despair.
Somebody.s got to be alderman when the sun comes up, and residents of the 6th District can do much better than McGee.
He offered no statement yesterday after Jordan filed the recall petition, but expect Jr. at the elections commission in the coming weeks, challenging signatures and somehow challenging his very own, defying witnesses who saw him sign it. The 2,300 signatures Jordan filed are over 600 more than what she needs to force the election, and she does plan to run for the 6th District seat. She won.t likely be the only candidate and she.ll have to build more than an anti-McGee message, as strong as that message is.
Vianna Jordan.s 10 Reasons to Recall Ald. Michael McGee, Jr.
1 Has become an embarrassment to our community
2 Perjured himself in court about an illicit affair with mother of his child
3 Arrested on charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and threatening to kill a woman
4 Aide arrested for possession of guns, drugs and open alcohol
5 Used slurs and epithets against LGBT community; unbecoming of a role model
6 Has shamefully earned the public reputation of a scofflaw
7 Lacks the rapport and leadership skills to be an effective leader
8 Refers constituents to disreputable cronies in a conspiratorial hoax/scam
9 Fraudulent use of alias names to avoid responsibility for accident damages
10 Used constituent organizations to rally in defense of a shameful act
http://watchdogmilwaukee.com/blog/john-david-morgan/2006/recalling-thyself-mcgee-skips-school-safety-budget-vote-as-6th-district-residents-file-recall-petition/
E-mail me for a Michael McGee Mug Shot
ViAnna Jordan Is “A Gathering Storm”, Files To Re-Call McGee/Jackson
By Alan Eisenberg, Associate Editor
On Wednesday, November 29, 2006, ViAnna Jordan, a retired United States Army Staff Sergeant, mother of three children, and community activist, filed a 2,300-signature recall petition to the city elections commission. She delivered the petitions in a beautifully wrapped Christmas gift box with a bow and called it her Christmas gift to the city. After that she spoke at a press conference and notified the citizens of Milwaukee that McGee signed one of her petitions personally in her presence. No McGee supporters showed up. Then she passed out the petition page with his signature on it. She said, “And so he signed it. In the meantime, he was stating that ‘If you all want me out of here, I might as well sign,'” Jordan agreed. She went on to say, “There will be a time for healing and atonement,” As of now,” McGee has declared, “we are at war.” Michael McGee is encouraging his followers and the 6th District to go to war with the police; to war with the DA; to war with their teachers; and to war with each other. As a result of this kind of irresponsible rhetoric on the part of McGee and others, many of our youth are misdirected, and our youth are confused by our inappropriate role models, and have gone to war with themselves as well as with the system, killing each other in the process. McGee’s answer to this problem is “Don’t snitch!” She went on to say, I, ViAnna Jordan, disagree with McGee/Jackson. Now is the time for responsible leadership; I say this is the time for healing; I say this is the time for atonement; I say we must stop the irresponsible behavior of a few. There is a hard core group who would follow irresponsible words of disreputable leaders like McGee, but we need Peace in this city. We need to have McGee out of office. Even McGee knows this, that is why he signed my petition! Accept it as his confession. And we need to elect responsible leaders, because we must focus on the garbage pickups, cleaning up trash in the street, fixing Street lights that are out, replacing street signs that are not up, providing for a safe and secure neighborhood, and we must support our local law enforcement. These are all leading indicators that must be fixed before manufacturing & services industries will relocate to the 6th aldermanic district; we must focus on Jobs for the 21st century. She concluded by saying “It’s time to put an end to the violence, it’s time to begin again with new leadership, I thank you all for coming. Today, let’s start anew, out with the old and in with the new. A new attitude, a new spirit, a new sixth district, a nesixth district alderman. Have a blessed morning.” She also listed 10 reasons why McGee should not represent the Sixth District, including perjury, his arrest record and lack of leadership skills. The Sixth District includes parts of Martin Luther King Drive and the Riverwest and Brewers Hill neighborhoods.
For the past several weeks, an invigorated team of re-call workers have taken to the streets to obtain signatures on petitions to seek removal of Michael McGee as alderman of Milwaukee’s Six Aldermanic District. The most recent development is that Citizens For Responsible Government, have gotten involved and also took to the streets to seek signatures. A recent method employed by CRG representatives was to have some members present in the vicinity of election poll areas on Tuesday, election day, because legitimate voters visit the area and they were canvassed for signatures. The voters showed overwhelming support by signing the recall petitions. Those few that declined reported that when he was re-called, they would vote against him in the next election and also vote for ViAnna Jordan. A few reported that they didn’t want to put their name and address down because they feared retaliation by opponents of the re-call, but also indicated that they would vote for ViAnna Jordan in the privacy of the voters’ booth. Jordan’s reaction to these events this last week was, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
ViAnna Jordan just retired from the United States Army 12 weeks ago as a Staff Sergeant. She has stood against tougher foes than Michael McGee, Junior; she is not afraid to face a battle, or for that matter, a war. Although she’s 49 years old, she doesn’t look it. When you realize where she has spent her time during the last 20 years, you suddenly become aware that she is one tough lady, unafraid of McGee and his cohorts. She has had NATO tours in Italy and Turkey, and other overseas tours in Korea and Kuwait, which was part of the war in Iraq. She has been an information manager and specialist; she knows computers and is a true 21st century woman. She knows about terrorism and won’t tolerate it. She spent all of her years serving her country under the most difficult circumstances with top secret clearance doing classified work; she earned hazardous pay while under enemy attack and earned many medals. Frankly, she is fearless. ViAnna Jordan can be reached at 374-2237.
fwd: re: What’s the timeline on petition certification, objections to signatures. etc.?
1. Submit petition
2. 10 days for candidate to challenge
3. 5 days to for petitioner to rehabilitate
4. 2 days for final candidate rebuttals
5. Clerk must certify (or not certify) within 31 days of date of petition submission.
6. Election must be scheduled within six weeks of certification.
The incumbent (Jackson/McGee) has 10 days to challenge any of the signatures. The recall group has 5 days to rebut his challenges, then the incumbent (Jackson/McGee) has 2 days to rebut the rebuttal. Then the clerk/election commission has 14 days to certify or not certify 1,620 valid signatures.
If there are sufficient valid signatures, any candidates who wish to get their name on the ballot have 2 weeks to obtain sufficient signatures (I think 200-400) to get their name on the ballot.
A recall election is then held 4 weeks after that. If any candidate gets 50% + 1 vote or more, the election is over at that point. If no candidate gets 50% + 1 vote, a election is held 4 weeks later with the top 2 vote getters from the previous recall election.
Leon Todd
414-444-9490
[email protected]