Stone hires convicted felon to help his County Executive campaign

I can’t wait to see how the usual suspects on the right justify this…

For years, LaMonte Harris was the right-hand man to Milwaukee Ald. Michael McGee Jr., rallying support and proclaiming the innocence of the now-incarcerated politician.

Harris, who has also spent time behind bars, says he lent a helping hand to a mix of other troubled Milwaukee candidates, including former School Board member Charlene Hardin, onetime Ald. Paul Henningsen and disgraced ex-Sen. Gary George.

Quite the résumé.

But here’s the stunner:

The ex-felon has now turned up working for the campaign of state Rep. Jeff Stone in the race for county executive.

Vi Hammelman, campaign manager for Stone, said Harris has organized several coffees so the Greendale Republican could sit and talk with hundreds of African-Americans living in the city. Hammelman said Stone’s campaign paid the community activist $1,500 just last week.

Perhaps more stunning than the fact that LaMonte Harris is working for Jeff Stone’s County Executive campaign is the fact that the Stone campaign didn’t even bother to do a background check on Harris, despite Harris telling Vi Hammelman she should Google him.

What I found to be most amusing about LaMonte Harris working for Jeff Stone’s campaign is how Harris came to work for Stone’s campaign. After Harris approached Stone’s campaign about doing some work for them, the Stone campaign sought input on Harris, including the input of County Supervisor Lee “slumlord” Holloway, who recommended the Stone campaign bring Harris into the fold.

It’s plainly obvious I’d never cast a vote for Jeff Stone, but if I were a conservative, the fact that he not only hired a convicted felon, but that he actually sought the input of Lee Holloway before hiring said felon would give me pause to reconsider voting for Jeff Stone. There’s been a lot of criticism of Chris Abele for some stupid stuff he did almost ten years ago, but at least Abele didn’t seek the counsel of Lee Holloway before hiring a convicted felon who once worked for Michael McGee Jr. to work on his campaign – that dubious honor belongs to Jeff Stone.