Mayor Gary Becker Arrested, Released on Bond

UPDATE, January 20, 2009: Mayor Gary Becker Resigns
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UPDATE, January 15, 2009: The Criminal Complaint, and the copy of Gary Becker's 1/12/2009 - 1/13/2009 online chat with Hope_Ulikeme14.
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Racine Mayor Gary Becker, DEMOCRAT, is out of jail, but he's not a free man.


Mayor Gary Becker (Booking photo)


From the Racine Journal Times:

Mayor Gary Becker has been arrested on multiple felony charges related to attempted sexual assault of a child and having child pornography, according to a state agency.

Becker was taken into custody at Brookfield Square Mall in Brookfield on Tuesday afternoon. He was arrested on charges of child enticement, possession of child pornography, exposing a child to harmful materials, attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child, use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and misconduct in public office, according to the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation.

...Upon his arrest Becker was transported to the Kenosha County Jail, where he remained until early Wednesday evening. He was released about 5:30 p.m., a little more than an hour after sister-in-law Jean Becker posted his bond, which had been set at $165,000 cash.

His attorney, Patrick Cafferty, said the family borrowed money to post the bond. Cafferty picked Becker up at the jail.

Becker's family came up with a lot of cash awfully fast.

I can't imagine what Becker's reunion with family members was like.

...With charges coming out of the Racine County District Attorney’s Office, at least some of the alleged illegal activity must have happened here. The Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office could have filed charges, because Becker was arrested there, but Racine County has kept the case. Nieskes said his office is keeping Waukesha County informed about the case.

...Bill Cosh, a spokesman for DCI, said Wednesday he was unable to provide any further details on their investigation. It has not been released where the child pornography was found, but City Attorney Rob Weber said no search warrants had been executed at City Hall.

Cosh would not say whether Becker’s arrest was part of an online sting through DCI’s Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

Sex scandals and politicians go together like love and marriage, a horse and carriage, whatever and whatever.

There have been a slew of high-profile scandals.

Sen. Larry Craig's foot tapping in a bathroom stall at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport introduced the practice and protocol of anonymous bathroom sex to many Americans. The incident, a misdemeanor charge, seemed to dominate the news interminably.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer's political career crashed and burned because he had a penchant for high-priced call-girls, spending tens of thousands of dollars on whores. No charges were brought against Spitzer, the crusader.

The mother of all political sex scandals has to be Bill Clinton having sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky, and his months and months of lies. He lied under oath, and he lied to Hillary, and he lied to his political allies and enemies, and he lied to the American people. If not for the blue dress, Clinton would never have come clean. He'd probably still be lying today about being a victim of a vast Right-wing conspiracy.

Wisconsin has had mayoral sex scandals. Milwaukee waded through the John Norquist - Marilyn Figueroa mess.

None of that compares to the multiple felony charges facing Gary Becker. Nothing is as bad as a sexual crime against a child. If Becker is found guilty of any of the charges, his political career is over. There's no way he can salvage his life as a public official. Being a sex offender isn't good to have on one's resumé. He'll drag that distinction around with him forever.
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News release from J.B. Van Hollen.