More on the McGee/Jackson Story

Regarding Milwaukee's most notorious alderman, yesterday I opined:

Besides being weird, there is something not right here. He says he has no birth certificate listing his name as Michael Jackson. He says his driver's license and social security card refer to him as McGee.

So why the need for a name change?

There must be more to this story.

Stay tuned.

Well, today the Journal Sentinel reports:

But new questions arose after the Journal Sentinel reported Thursday that McGee had petitioned to legally change his name - to Michael I. McGee from Michael I. Jackson.

The name-change request stated that McGee, 36, had always been Michael Imanu Jackson, but now wants his last name legally switched to McGee, the name the petition says he has used his entire life.

In a statement issued late Thursday, McGee said he needs the name change to get a U.S. passport. The statement said Jackson is the name on his birth certificate because that is the birth name of his own father, the former alderman also known as Mike McGee.

In a search of public records and commercial databases, the newspaper has found several records of a Michael I. Jackson who shares the birth date and some common addresses with the alderman, but show a different Social Security number.

Among the records are those of a 1996 traffic accident involving a Michael I. Jackson. After civil lawsuits over the crash, that individual was ordered to pay more than $6,000 in judgments, most of which was never paid.

"Any issue regarding that name had to be a mistake," McGee said in a phone interview. "I don't have a record of consistently using that name."

I am sure there is yet even more to this story...