Michael McGee Jr. won a huge victory in court this week - without even having to show up!

     Wednesday, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Moroney imposed sentence on Gerald Huff.  Huff was the McGee ally convicted earlier this year of election fraud.  According to trial testimony, Huff paid people (including undercover police officers) $5 in exchange for voting for McGee. 

     In Milwaukee, election fraud is both easy and cheap.  We now know that it's also without too many consequences!

     Gerald Huff was looking at several years in prison for his conduct.  However, demonstrating that he must not consider vote buying and election fraud to be too big of a deal, Judge Moroney decided against sending Huff to prison.  Ignoring the request of the Milwaukee District Attorney, Judge Maroney imposed and stayed a prison sentence in favor of probation with the first six months to be served in the House of Correction with work release privileges.  

     The House of Correction!  Work release privileges! What an embarrassing sentence.

     So why is McGee the big winner in this week's debacle?  Well, Moroney is the judge who will be hearing the McGee trials later this month.  One can't help but think that by slapping Huff on the wrist, Moroney has set the bar for this type of conduct pretty low.  As such, even should McGee be convicted in State court, don't expect too much of a sentence.

     As I've said repeatedly however, McGee's State trials are really simply an opening act.  The real question of whether public corruption is something to be taken seriously around here won't be resolved until after the completion of McGee's Federal trial scheduled to begin in June.

     I believe that for years, former District Attorney E. Michael McCann was less than aggressive when it came to prosecuting matters of public corruption.  In McCann's defense, sentences like the one imposed this week demonstrate that at least some judges in Milwaukee County consider conduct like Huff's to be no big deal.  Maybe McCann simply figured all along that trying to enforce laws against election fraud in Milwaukee County would have been a waste of time and resources!

     If true, that in and of itself should be a big deal!

     By the way, don't write me and ask what can be done about sentences like this? Judge Moroney ran unopposed for re-election to a new six year term in 2006 and won't appear on the ballot again until 2012 (when he'll probably run unopposed again).   For the record though, he is rotating from criminal to civil court at the end of the summer - after the McGee trial.