Gary George (Wisconsin politician)

Gary George (born March 8, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who served as a Democratic legislator until he was recalled from office.

Born March 8, 1954 in Milwaukee, George graduated from Marquette University High School, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison and received his law degree from University of Michigan in 1979. He is African-American.

George ran in 1980 in the Democratic primary election for the Wisconsin State Senate's Sixth District against incumbent Monroe Swan, who was considered the easy favorite, until his removal from office because of his felony conviction for illegally using federally funded Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) money for his campaign for the nomination for lieutenant governor. In the general election George easily defeated Republican James Barrington, thus winning his first Senate seat. He was reelected in 1984 and held the Senate office until 2003. He ran uncontested in the 1992 general election. He ran unopposed in almost all of his senatorial elections.

George served in many leadership positions during his terms in office, including: Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Co-Chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, and Co-Chair of the Joint Finance Committee (a position he held for four years). George ran for governor in 2002. However, he never made it into the Democratic primaries, since the Election Board Commissioners were required to remove him from the ballot, because at least 221 signatures and addresses had been falsified, nullifying the validity of George's nomination.

George also ran for governor of Wisconsin in the 1998 Democratic primary against Ed Garvey, getting in relatively late and getting about 20 per cent of the vote in the September primary. Garvey was defeated by incumbent Republican governor Tommy Thompson in November.

In 2003, George broke party lines and helped pass a Republican budget bill. The bill was introduced by Republicans at 2:55 a.m. on June 19, 2003. Although many legislators were unable to thoroughly analyze the bill, it passed thanks to George's deciding vote. The bill was controversial to many because of the fast pace in which it was introduced and voted upon, and its having "cut funding for municipalities". All Democratic amendments to the bill were rejected. George angered his fellow Democrats and this negatively affected his political career.

A recall was launched against George in 1986. Earlier that year George had supported Republican President Ronald Reagan which reportedly so angered Democrats that they launched the recall election. He challenged the recall nomination signatures of his opponent. After winning his case against his opponent, the recall effort ended.

Seventeen years later, another recall petition was initiated against Senator George after he voted against a bill sponsored by the Democratic Governor of Wisconsin, Jim Doyle. The bill supported gambling expansion at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee. The Potawatomi Bingo Casino created jobs for the black community in Milwaukee and activists argued that George did not represent his voters when he opposed gambling expansion.

Over 15,000 signatures were gathered on the 2003 petition to recall George (8,071 signatures were needed to initiate an election). Jerrel Jones, owner of WNOV-AM and publisher of the Milwaukee Courier, paid individuals circulating the petition a dollar for each name collected. George contested the petition signatures all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which ruled against him. George rented an apartment inside his district but opponents claimed his primary residence was in the Town of Grafton outside his district limits.

The recall effort was successful and George was removed from office in 2003. Democratic Representative Spencer Coggs opposed George in the special primary election held on October 21, 2003. Coggs won the special primary election and was the only candidate on the special general election ballot of November 18, 2003.

George was convicted in 2004 of a felony, in a plea deal concerning a kickback scheme involving a Milwaukee social service agency, and sentenced to four years in federal prison for conspiring to defraud the government. Soon after his 2007 release from prison, he was implicated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in a plot to overthrow the government of Laos, but was not charged, unlike some of his alleged fellow conspirators, including one of his former aides and General Vang Pao. He was disbarred, but in 2011 the state Supreme Court reinstated him.

In June 2014, George filed nomination papers to run against Congresswoman Gwen Moore in the Democratic primary, claiming that he was running "in response to citizen demands for stronger leadership from Milwaukee's political community." He lost in the August 2014 primary, with 21,234 votes to Moore's 52,380 (79%).