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Wisconsin Dem Arrested for Bribery, Continues to Campaign

February 13, 2012

A Wisconsin Democratic county supervisor continued to campaign for re-election, despite being arrested for bribery in December.

Johnny Thomas, a Milwaukee County supervisor, has been charged with felony bribery and faces a maximum sentence of 9 and a half years behind bars and a $20,000 fine after getting nabbed in a sting operation on Dec. 12. But that did not stop him from fundraising for his re-election.

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

The day after authorities arrested Thomas for supposedly taking a $500 bribe at a Dunkin Donuts, he hosted a fundraiser for a group called "Women for Johnny Thomas," raising several thousand dollars for his bid to be the city's next comptroller. He was at it again Dec. 15, holding another fundraiser, this one at the Ivy Lounge & Grill near the Bradley Center.

Records show the first-term supervisor raised more than $7,500 in campaign cash in the week after his arrest.

"Was he in la-la land?" asked one Milwaukee Democrat who was repeatedly hit up for money by Thomas.

The next week, Thomas - who is fighting the two felony counts - busied himself by collecting dozens and dozens of signatures in the City Hall rotunda and elsewhere so he could appear on the April ballot for the $125,607-per-year city post.

 

Published under: Crime Blotter , Wisconsin