Bice: Milwaukee aldermanic candidate once charged with public indecency
On paper, Matt Elder looks like a good candidate for a job on the Milwaukee Common Council.
Elder, 33, is young and enthusiastic. He has worked on several Wisconsin campaigns for prominent Democratic politicians. And he has the backing of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.
But there is one thing that is not immediately apparent.
In 2006, Elder — one of five candidates seeking to fill the seat vacated by Ald. Jim Bohl — was charged with public indecency and disturbing the peace for touching a woman inappropriately outside a bar, according to Colorado court records. He even had a bench warrant issued for him when he failed to show up for a court hearing.
Eventually, he took a deferred prosecution agreement under which the charges were dismissed after he kept out of trouble for six months and performed 16 hours of community service.
All of this is in the Colorado court files. But Elder, who would make more than $77,000 a year as a Milwaukee alderman, took a while to fess up to his mistake.
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At first, Elder opted for denial. He said he was not the person described in the case, even though the date of birth and middle name matched his. He also lived in Colorado in 2006.
Then there was anger. After receiving the court records, Elder called back to acknowledge that he was the person cited in the case but then let loose on the anonymous individual who tipped me off.
"I'm just really disappointed that someone would dig this deep into my past to find anything," Elder said. "That's why I'm running because of dirty politics like this. … It's really disappointing. That's all I've got to say."
Finally, came acceptance.
Elder said he was at a bar in Denver on his 22nd birthday when he said he thought he saw his cousin. He said he walked up to the woman and "tapped" her in her buttocks. A police officer saw what happened and wrote him up. The wannabe pol said the woman did not object to being "tapped" on the backside by him.
"I did a stupid mistake a long time ago," Elder said.
Unfortunately, the official account of the incident is no longer available. A spokesman for the Denver Police Department's records division said this week that the agency doesn't keep most records that are more than six years old.
Elder said he learned his lesson and is now the father of two children. He said he hopes the public decency case isn't used against him in the race.
"I don't think this is relevant at all," he said.
The five candidates aiming to represent District 5 on the city's northwest side face off on Tuesday. The top two finishers advance to the Nov. 6 general election.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.