Gary George

Gary R. George (born March 8, 1954) is an African American lawyer and former politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

A Democrat, he represented Milwaukee in the Wisconsin Senate for nearly 23 years.

He graduated from Marquette University High School, received his bachelor's in business administration from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and earned his J.D. from University of Michigan Law School in 1979.

George made his first run for public office shortly after graduating from law school.

He launched a primary challenge in 1980 against Democratic incumbent state senator Monroe Swan—Wisconsin's first African American state senator—in the 6th State Senate district.

Swan was already a controversial figure in the state, and his chances of re-election were badly damaged when he was indicted by federal prosecutors in July 1980.

George defeated Swan in the September 1980 primary election, receiving 60% of the vote.

He went on to easily win the general election over Republican Joseph Barrington, in the overwhelmingly Democratic district.

After winning another contested primary against Monroe Swan in 1984, he was elected to five more terms in the Wisconsin Senate facing no opposition until the 2003 recall which ended his career.

In the Senate, George served in several important positions.

He was Senate co-chair of the powerful budget-writing Joint Finance Committee from 1984 through 1993 and later served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

He faced his first recall effort during his second term, in 1986, when a group of his constituents became outraged at comments he made in support of Republican president Ronald Reagan and Reagan administration programs.

He made the comments during a brief run for the Democratic nomination for United States senate that year.

In September, the recall campaign submitted petitions containing nearly 10,000 signatures to the state elections board seeking George's recall.

George and his team then engaged in a successful campaign to challenge the validity of the petitions.

One signature-collector, Anthony Morales, was found to not be a resident of the district, and therefore all of the 2,103 signatures he collected were thrown out.

Another 1,157 signatures were found to be from voters who did not live in George's district.

After those disqualifications, the recall was left with just 6,675 signatures, short of the 6,959 needed to trigger a recall.

Following a two year investigation, George was found to be one of a dozen lawmakers who accepted small amounts of money from lobbyists in violation of state ethics laws.

George was accused of receiving $120 total from two lobbyists, and improperly accepting a free hotel room and meals from another lobbyist.

He was fined $1,907 and ordered to serve 200 hours of community service.

It was later found that he counted some of his legislative duties as his community service and billed the state $64 per day for some of the activities.

After several years of feuding with Democratic leadership in the mid-1990s, they reconciled after the 1998 election, allowing him to serve as President President pro tempore of the Senate, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and co-chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee in the 1999 and 2001 sessions.

Despite being a Democratic senator in a heavily Democratic district, George was seen as frequently aligning with the budget priorities of the Republican governor Tommy Thompson, so much so that there was public speculation that George was seeking favors from the Thompson administration.

George's wife, Mary, filed for divorce in October 1990, and the matter immediately became quite messy and public.

A court commissioner quickly made the determination that the couple had already been living beyond their financial means.

With the divorce still unresolved the following Spring, George filed a lawsuit against his estranged wife and her alleged lover, accusing them of ambushing him after he came to install a basketball hoop at the home he had previously shared with his wife and children—George had moved out during the divorce.

Mary George countered with accusations that George had instigated the fight and had struck and kicked her during the melee.

The Ozaukee County district attorney investigated and decided to bring charges against Gary George for misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct.

Gary George sought to negotiate a deal with his ex-wife, agreeing on final terms for their divorce in exchange for her agreement to drop the criminal complaint against him.

The district attorney, however, was not a party to the agreement and refused to end the criminal case, and the judge overseeing the case later determined that the district attorney was not bound by the agreement.

Trial motions stretched through much of 1992, before finally resulting in a jury acquittal in October.

Despite his legal problems, George did not face an opponent in either the primary or the general election in 1992.

Despite having no opponent, George raised campaign funds and paid thousands of dollars to a company headed by a close friend.

George came under criminal investigation again in 1993 after a check-cashing company that he had founded defaulted.

State banking examiners subsequently discovered a $100,000 shortfall in the accounts of the company, known as First Currency Exchange, and referred the matter to the Milwaukee County District Attorney.

He faced a series of ethical and criminal controversies throughout his political career before finally being recalled from office in 2003.

He subsequently plead guilty to federal conspiracy charges in which he admitted receiving kickbacks from individuals and organizations after he had directed state or federal funds to them; he served three years in federal prison.

He was also implicated in the Vang Pao Laotian coup plot, but was never charged.

Gary George was born and raised, and lived most of his life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.