POLICE COMMISSIONERS, JONES, LOSE APPEAL

By Michael Horne

a milwaukeeworld Scoop!

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh District ruled today that former Police Chief Arthur Jones and the five members of the City of Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission did discriminate against white police officers in the case of 41 promotions in the Milwaukee Police Department.
The court found that the city "did not act constitutionally" in the matter of the promotions. The case, Alexander v. City of Milwaukee, was brought by 17 white male members of the department who said they had been passed over for promotion in favor of what they called less qualified minority candidates. There was "an inherent discrimination against whites" during Jones' tenure, the court ruled in case 06-1505.
While the appeals panel ruled in favor of Justice Thos. J. Curran's finding of guilt, it diverged from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in the matter of punitive damages, which had been set at $102,000 per officer, and compensatory damages, which ranged from $9,500 to $50,000. The $102,000 figure was arrived at by multiplying $17,000 per officer times Jones and the five commissioners. The appeals court reversed the decision on damages, and remanded it to the lower court.
For more details, please wait for the Journal Sentinel to get around to writing about the case.

NORMAN FAILS TO FILE with ETHICS BOARD; OFF BALLOT FOR JUDGE

a milwaukeeworld.com exclusive!

last updated January 25th 2007

By Michael Horne

Six candidates filed signatures with the City of Milwaukee Elections Board announcing their intention to run for City of Milwaukee Municipal Court Judge, Branch 3, to replace the retiring James Gramling.
Five of those also filed the required Statement of Economic Interests with the State of Wisconsin Ethics Board by the same January 5th deadline.
The candidate who failed to file the statement is Jeffrey B. Norman, J.D., a detective with the Milwaukee Police Department Criminal Investigation Bureau who had announced his candidacy some time ago. According to a state ethics official, reached by telephone this afternoon, failure to file the form means Norman will not appear on the primary ballot on Tuesday, 20th February 2007.
Those who apparently will appear on the ballot, based on their timely filing of nomination papers and the statement of economic interests include Bill Baldon,. Phillip M. Chavez, Jennifer Havas, Robert B. Rondini and Jay A. Unora. The two top vote getters from the primary will meet in the general election on Tuesday, 3rd April 2007.
Norman had been a very active campaigner. His first fundraiser was held in May, 2006 at DeLind Fine Art. He has another scheduled for next week at Tangerine, in Milwaukee. He was unavailable for immediate comment.

[Update: 17 January 2007 5:00 p.m. -- Can you believe it? There still hasn't been a word about this anywhere else, although the Journal Sentinel has been all over this blog. There are considerable political implications to this story, particularly as to the eventual racial composition of the City of Milwaukee Municipal Court judiciary. It will take at least one more cycle, it appears, for African-Americans to constitute all three judges. Some of us had expected this milestone would have been reached in this election. Here's racial politics right in your face, and nobody wants to talk about it! -- Ed. ]

[Update: 18 January 2007 4:10 p.m. -- Well, the Journal Sentinel wrote about the story, blending it into another one. According to the Journal Sentinel's take the issue at hand was whether Municipal Judge candidates need to file a Statement of Economic Interests with the state -- or with the city. That Norman failed to file with the state (mistake) was incidental.
According to Neal Albrecht, the Deputy Election Commissioner, candidate and Assistant City Attorney Jay Unora raised the issue of where the report should be filed. The City Attorney declined to issue an opinion, since his employee (Unora) would have a vested interest in it.
So, ol' Grant Langley appointed retired City Attorney Thomas E. Hayes to issue the opinion that the statement should indeed be filed with the state and not with the city. This decision was requested last week and was received today. -- Horne]
[Update 22 January 2007 2:47 p.m. -- The City Election Commission met today with two items on the agenda -- the recall of Ald. Michael McGee (the commission's earlier decision to hold a recall was rescinded) and an attempted appeal by Jeff Norman. The board told Norman he should take his complaint to the State Elections Board. -- Ed.]
[Update 25 January 2007 -- Jeff Norman held his fundraiser at Tangerine Tuesday as scheduled. He said he plans to wage a write-in campaign for the nomination, especially considering the amount of time he has put in to his efforts to run for the position. Among supporters at the event: Attorney Michael H. Hupy. -- Ed.]