Billboard in Caldwell Targets Mayoral Candidate John McGee and His Past Actions
By Greg Pruett • October 12, 2021Warning! Some of the content in this article may be disturbing to some viewers.
Caldwell Mayor Garrett Nancolas is retiring after being the mayor for several decades.
Several candidates are vying to become Caldwell’s next mayor. One of those candidates is former State Senator John McGee, who is currently a City Councilman for Caldwell.
A group is targeting McGee’s past and posted a billboard targeting the mayoral candidate and comparing him to Bill Clinton and Andrew Cuomo. (Story continues below.)
McGee resigned as a State Senator in 2012 over sexual assault accusations inside the capitol building. McGee eventually pleaded guilty to “Disturbing the Peace” and refused to provide his side of the story to detectives, according to an Idaho Press article from 2012. McGee was serving as the Senate Majority Caucus Chairman when he resigned.
According to the report, the victim in the case said she wanted to move on with her life and didn’t want to testify about the incidents.
According to an Idaho Press article from 2012, the judge denied McGee’s attorney’s request only to have McGee serve five days in jail. The judge also revoked a “withheld judgement” for McGee’s DUI. The judge told McGee in his statement:
What’s troubling is I’m concerned about you personally and what’s going to happen to your family. I don’t know that there’s something wrong with you that you can’t control yourself.
McGee had also previously been arrested and charged for a DUI and Grand Theft Auto.
The group that put up the billboard is called “Republicans Against Unethical Politicians.”
On the group’s website, here is how they describe their organization:
Republicans Against Unethical Politicians is a political action committee registered with the Idaho Secretary of State. We formed this PAC in an effort to educate voters about current elected officials or candidates for public office who have a history of sexual misconduct. Oftentimes, politicians prefer to sweep their misdeeds under the rug in hopes that voters will forget about their past transgressions. We are here to ensure that you fully understand the actions of our elected officials. We do NOT support any candidate or official who has abused their power for sexual gratification. We aim to hold accountable all politicians who commit these types of crimes, regardless of party affiliation. We strive to raise the standards for public office. We are excited for you to join our fight and demand more from our public officials.
To the politicians who earn our ire: we are fully aware of your heinous actions and we will do everything in our power to ensure that you are not elected.
Looking at you, John McGee.
On the top of the group’s website are excerpts from the Idaho State Police investigation. Some of the quotes are attributed to McGee, while some are quotes from the report as described by detectives.
Here are a few examples from the ISP report:
“Just pull your pants down and your shirt up and give me something to look at.”
“I do not want you getting drunk and telling all of your friends that I wanted to see your pussy.”
McGee allegedly masturbated in front of the staffer and, on other occasions, grabbed her butt, rubbed his crotch on her elbow while she was working, and told her he wanted to have sex with her.
The report also states that McGee told the woman “this never happened” as she was exiting his office after one of the incidents.
When McGee ran for Caldwell City Council several years ago, he said that he was sorry for his past actions in a public statement. Here is what McGee said in part,
I’ve learned from these mistakes and will be a better public servant.
The organization that posted the billboard said on their website that while McGee has apologized publicly for his past actions, he never apologized to the victim.
Idaho Dispatch has reached out to Republicans Against Unethic Politicians about the billboard. We have not received a response at this time but will update the article if we receive one.
Additionally, Idaho Dispatch has reached out to McGee for comment on the billboard but have not yet heard back from him on the issue.
What do you think of the billboard?
Let us know in the comments below.
Tags: Caldwell, Election, Garrett Nancolas, John McGee, Mayor, Political Action Committee, Republicans Against Unethical Politicians
7 thoughts on “Billboard in Caldwell Targets Mayoral Candidate John McGee and His Past Actions”
Comments are closed.
People obsessed with power, be it political or sexual, should not be any in positions of power, and especially when they are both. Find a new stay-at-home job dude.
Agree, Matt. It appears that McGee is attempting to rebuild his political career and I suspect that Caldwell Mayor is not his ultimate goal. The problem I have with people like McGee is that they lack character both professionally and publicly. Seems to go along with selfish ambition for power and this is not a Christian virtue; quite the opposite. The sexual harassment incidents are indicative of a lack of personal self control. He conveniently apologizes when it is advantageous but if he was truly sorry he would apologize to his victims and retire from public office. The only reason he won the Caldwell City Council runoff election in 2019 was because his opponent was a liberal democrat. It is disappointing that some local republican leaders, like Sheriff Donohue have endorsed him. He is a marketing man and is spending heavily on his campaign. But he needs to be stopped now.
Glad for the PAC
There was a fair amount of people of the City of Caldwell that tried to reel him in when he ran for City Counsel, it was probably calculated that he didn’t run against another seat and he pitted up against Chuck Staddick and the Dem- Beechler. Got kinda ugly between people who thought those who were just trying all they could to keep him out with the runoff were somehow some kind of “libtard gay lover” supporters cause Beechler is married to a woman. (Those were some of the words from people who worked at city hall about those who were fighting tooth and nail against McGee). Many of which voted for Staddick to begin with. Close race. Wonder how Caldwell would of been with Staddick still these past years…
Though I don’t believe McGee’s main contender now is any sort of peach either, kind of has a blase record as a representative. I almost feel as though they’re running against each other mutually for one’s gain. But one can only speculate.
McGhee is a bright and talented man. Yep he made his mistakes but has obviously straighten the issue out. My mom used to always say people in glass houses should not throw stones and boy do we have a lot of that going on. I am questioning the other candidates that are using these sleezy tactics, what kind of character is that? McGhee’s past issues are no secret the billboards are other tactics are showing the moral fiber of those behind it. Bring it up once and move on should be more than enough but obviously not. Maybe we should all look at how McGhee took ownership of his problem and got the help he needed.. Now he should be allowed to move on.
Are you on Nextdoor by chance? Take a gander at all the folks (who’ve just moved into town) whom are becoming informed of McGee’s past for the first time. It obviously needed to be brought up again..
To words Betty Stappler: hell no 🙁
(‘McGhee’ hasn’t taken ownership of anything…)
Candidates for public office should be held accountable for their past and present actions in the voter’s booth. As a voter, I see no other way to judge the future performance of a candidate. John McGee (not McGhee) past performance has proven he is not worthy of holding public office. He abused the power of the public then and will not answer questions from the public he serves now. He will only participate in “fixed” campaign events like the Caldwell Chamber Mayor Candidate video event scheduled for 10/20/2021. See the ID article titled “Controversy Over Planned Caldwell Mayoral Candidate Forum?” dated 10/14/2021. “He insists on having prior knowledge of questions, no “personal questions,” and restricts topics from the public. In short, John McGee hides from voters in every possible way. Glass houses you say? That is an overused superficial response gleaned from a Chaucer poem dated 1385. In my opinion, it is a “crutch” people misuse when they do not have anything to contribute to a conversation. Your attempt to silence my opinion does not cancel my opinion, nor cancel the desire of everyone to vote for a candidate with a credible and reliable resume of past performance.