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 faced a series of ethical and criminal controversies throughout his political career before finally being recalled from office in 2003. He subsequently pleaded 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.
Early life and education Gary George was born and raised, and lived most of his life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 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.
Political career 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.
Despite claims by George and others and in violation of residency requirements of the Wisconsin State Senate, he moved his family to Ozaukee County in 1986, buying a home on Port Washington Rd on the border of Mequon and Grafton (10820 N. Port Washington Rd.). George would own this home until 1992. In 1989, he started using his address at the Catholic Knights building to conceal the fact that he had moved his family to Ozaukee County three years earlier. George had purchased a second home in Grafton even farther north, in an even more exclusive area within the village of Grafton, in 1990, where he continued to live for decades after the 2003 recall (despite the increased scrutiny he still resided there during his 2014 election and afterwards). George had lived at home on 42nd and Capital Drive from 1980 to 1985 before moving to Grafton in 1986. (Wisconsin Elections Board. (1993). In the matter of the residency investigation of State Senator Gary R. George. State of Wisconsin. n re Disciplinary Proceedings Against George, 182 Wis. 2d 105, 514 N.W.2d 411 (Wis. 1994)). Ozaukee County Register of Deeds. (1994). Property transfer and ownership index: Village of Grafton (Deed Records Reference No. 1994-GG). Ozaukee County Government, Port Washington, WI. Horne, M. (2014, June 27). (House Confidential: Gary George's Grafton mansion. Urban Milwaukee. https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2014/06/27/house-confidential-gary-georges-grafton-mansion/). Murphy, B. (2003). Investigative series on state senatorial residency violations and the Gary George recall election. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Schultze, S., & Borowski, G. J. (2003). Behind the district lines: The hidden properties and residency tracking of Senator Gary George. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Ozaukee County Register of Deeds. (1991). Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. (1981)
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. 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.
First recall (1986) 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.
1990 ethics charges 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.
Divorce and abuse charges 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.
1993–1997 fraud investigation 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. The company separately came under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service for an alleged check kiting scheme. George had founded the company in 1983 and claimed that he turned over control to his brother, Mark, in 1984, to avoid conflicts of interest with his legislative duties. Several former employees of the company, however, attested that Gary George had retained total control of the company. One employee stated: "We took our orders from Gary. Gary made all of the decisions about First Currency. All of those decisions were final." Shortly after the reports of the criminal investigation, George was named in two lawsuits against the company by banks who had lent money to the business. Later that year, George sued Milwaukee Checkcashers, the company which had agreed to acquire ownership of First Currency Exchange around the time of the default. George alleged that the financial trouble had been caused by Milwaukee Checkcashers' delay in paying off a loan in violation of the terms of the sale. The formal completion of the sale, however, was held up over technical disputes. The state ethics board also began its own investigation and, in September 1995, recommended criminal charges for failing to disclose his interest in and income from the business.
Despite the criminal and ethical problems, George again faced no opposition in his run for re-election in 1996. The 1996 election resulted in the Democrats regaining a one-seat majority in the Senate, but George became livid after the Democratic leadership refused to reappoint him as chairman of the Joint Finance Committee. Before the start of the 1997 session, George took the extraordinary step of negotiating with the Republican minority caucus in an attempt to obtain his desired leadership position. George ultimately could not reach an agreement with the Republicans, as he would not agree to join the Republican Party. But George never fully reconciled with Democratic leader Charles Chvala, and their feud would nurture a schism in the caucus that would hamstring the Democratic agenda in the Legislature for the next four years. In 1998, George quoted United States Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, saying that Chvala had engaged in a "high-tech lynching" against him. The Dane County district attorney investigating George was appointed a Wisconsin circuit court judge by Governor Tommy Thompson in 1997 before he resolved the case, the Republican that Thompson appointed to fill the district attorney's office continued to neglect the case. George ultimately never faced federal charges from the First Currency affair, but he did eventually face a tax judgement against him from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue in 2011.
First gubernatorial campaign (1998)
In June 1998, George announced his campaign for Governor of Wisconsin, running in the Democratic primary. His opponent in the race was political newcomer, Madison lawyer Ed Garvey, who was best known for his role as an attorney for the NFL players' union. Garvey had rallied Democrats, unions, and related interest groups against the Republican incumbent Tommy Thompson, who was seeking a fourth term as governor, but George accused him of being another member of the "Madison boys club" that he alleged held undue power over the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Throughout the primary, George faced accusations that his campaign was intended to derail the Democratic ticket as a favor to Thompson. George ultimately only received 20% of the primary vote, and Garvey was badly beaten in the general election, receiving only 39% of the vote.