Government and Politics

In 2007 We Voted for a Toll Road in a Flood Zone. Remember What Else We Did That Year?

Last night's Trinity River toll road debate in Oak Cliff was a barnburner. A crowd of 450-plus broke into repeated emotional applause for City Councilman Scott Griggs, who delivered a series of speeches attacking the road that were a cross between Winston Churchill and Tom Cruse - powerful to the po ... More >>

Surprise, Surprise. Mike Rawlings Is Running for Re-election

Put aside any thoughts you had about the 2015 Dallas mayoral election being competitive. Mike Rawlings is running again. Just before his annual "State of the City" speech Tuesday, Rawlings formally revealed to The Dallas Morning News the poorly kept secret that he'll be on the ballot in May. He wi ... More >>

Dallas City Hall and Trinity East Have Teamed Up to Keep Their Fracking Fight in the Dark

Back in February of 2013, Schutze shook loose a secret memo showing that City Manager Mary Suhm had struck a secret deal with Trinity East Energy to allow gas drilling on city parkland while, at the same time, promising the City Council that there would be no gas drilling on city parkland. The memo ... More >>

Philip Kingston Is Pissed About the Mayor's Trinity Toll Road Breakfast

One thing is clear after Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings' 15-minute speech Wednesday at a Trinity Groves breakfast: It can't possibly be about what he said it was about. There is no way that after all the time, all the "balloon juice," that's been expelled over the issue, that he can possibly be befuddle ... More >>

Mark Cuban Just Finished a Net Neutrality-Bashing, Ayn Rand-Featuring Twitter Rant

If we've learned anything this week, it's that net neutrality is the real enemy. Ted Cruz let us know that it's Obamacare for the Internet. Rick Perry sent out a press release saying "President Obama's call to saddle 21st century technology with outdated, unnecessary regulations from the era of the ... More >>

Trinity Trust's Plan for River Amenities Is a Vivid, Impossible Fever Dream

Say what you will about boring stuff like feasibility -- as surrealist art the latest renderings of potential park-like amenities between the Trinity River levees are pretty damn amazing. Tragically, the solar-powered water taxis we've all grown to love from earlier sales pitches for the Trinity pr ... More >>

Plans for Texas' First Private Toll Road Roll On -- and Right Over People in its Path

For the people who live in the countryside east of Lake Ray Hubbard and Lake Lavon, the appeal is in the quiet rural roads, dense trees, wild animals in the woods and bright stars shining in the night sky. To a Dallas company called the Texas Turnpike Corp., all that open space is a sign that not e ... More >>

Mayor Rawlings Hires PR Firm

Mike Rawlings has hired Laurey Peat Associates, a Dallas-based public relations firm to handle media relations for the mayor's office. The firm replaces Sam Merten, the mayor's previous manager of public affairs and communications, who left the office on September 19 to make a run for the District ... More >>

The Financial Cost of Repairing North Texas VA Hospital's Reputation

The VA Hospital system has taken a beating in the last several months. Between the Arizona scandal unearthed this spring about veterans dying while waiting for care and continued reports of absurdly long wait times -- this summer, the average veteran in Texas waited 60 days for an appointment, compa ... More >>

Wallace Hall Was Right About UT All Along

Maybe the University of Texas at Austin and its many passionate defenders had reason to beware of Wallace Hall when Governor Rick Perry appointed him to the UT System board of regents in 2011. Perry was pushing some plan he got from a rich oilman to eliminate research as a criterion for granting pro ... More >>

Hey, Dallas City Council, Instead of Lecturing DISD, Why Don't You Fund Your Libraries?

Last week Dallas school board member Dan Micciche had an op-ed essay in The Dallas Morning News urging people to push their City Council members and the mayor about the chronic under-funding of public libraries in the city. The numbers he cited for the city's support of libraries were abysmal -- the ... More >>

Somebody Wake Up Dallas City Council and Tell Them to Get to Work

Ran into a retired city department head on a parking lot in the afternoon heat yesterday, thought I was gonna die. This guy had an entire career's worth of anger and frustration to unload, and there I was in the sun with my head uncovered. I think I lost a couple IQ points just listening. Lucky I ha ... More >>

Rocket Dockets for Kids in Immigration Courts Raise Doubts About Fairness

Last week, we told you about 13-year-old Gaby, who was given an order of deportation from immigration Judge Michael Baird. Gaby is from Honduras, and will be sent back this fall after having been in the United States for less than a year. Her court appearances will have taken place in the course of ... More >>

Dallas Councilwoman Vonciel Hill Believes That What Happens at City Hall Stays at City Hall

I now take you back inside the strange world of Dallas city councilwoman Vonciel Hill, who spoke yesterday on one of the most important tenets of her belief system -- that public information should never be shared with the public. Explaining why she did not want -- repeat, did NOT want -- the city ... More >>

John Wiley Price, Shuffling in Cuffs and Leg-Irons, Enters His Plea

Reporters do not gasp, generally speaking, but there were muttered exclamations that might as well have been gasps when Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, age 64, was led into a large and formal federal courtroom this afternoon. His hands were manacled behind his back, his awkward gait in ... More >>

Wherever Mary Suhm's Body Is, Her Spirit Still Haunts City Hall

Why Immigration Judges Say Cornyn and Cueller's Solution to the Surge Won't Work

Republican Senator John Cornyn and Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar this week were heralded, by the Morning News among others, for their proposal to hire scores of new immigration judges to begin ruling on child migrant cases within a week or so of their arrival, as a show of force to the Centra ... More >>

Why Dallas Councilman Lee Kleinman Keeps Losing His Cool at the Mention of "Genocide"

Dallas cops act like terrorists in black communities, at least according to the gadfly speaking to City Council on a recent Wednesday. "Realistically, councilmen and councilwomen, this has reached genocidal proportions," the man added. Councilman Lee Kleinman decided to let that one go. The gadfly ... More >>

The Texas Medical Association Wants to Pair Vets with Private Docs in Wake of VA Scandal

Dr. Austin King runs a private practice out of Abilene, and he's been seeing veteran patients for years. Recently, one veteran came into the office with a neck cyst. After ordering a biopsy for the man, who is in his 80s, King, who's president of the Texas Medical Association, ordered pain medicatio ... More >>

Open Carry Has a Good Shot of Passing in Texas, If Those AK-Toting Demonstrators Don't Screw it Up

At the GOP convention in Fort Worth last weekend, as rifle-toting protesters stood outside decrying their guns' exclusion from the convention hall, three thirtysomething men, two brothers and a cousin, approached Texas State Rifle Association lobbyist Alice Tripp. Their pitch -- that Texans should h ... More >>

Texas Republicans Debate Immigration, as "The Future of the Party Hangs in the Balance"

"Unless we adjust, we as a party are at tremendous peril of vanishing forever." This was Jason Villalba, the state rep from Dallas, over the phone today, imagining the doomsday scenario that could break his Republican party, if far-right members don't shuffle toward the center aisle on immigration. ... More >>

NRA Calls Texas Open Carry Protests "Downright Weird" and "Just Not Neighborly"

Open Carry Texas and its most active local offshoot, Open Carry Tarrant County, have succeeded marvelously in their quest to mercilessly troll gun-control advocates. Whether they've made any progress toward their stated aim of legalizing openly carried handguns in Texas, however, is another matter. ... More >>

With Dallas City Council's Opening Prayers, It's Jesus 96, Allah 0

At the beginning of every Dallas City Council meeting, long before most spectators (and many council members) are fully awake, a religious leader of some stripe stands at the podium and offers a brief prayer. A few months ago, we wondered whether the U.S. Supreme Court might declare such displays un ... More >>

Ex-Dallas Councilman Dave Neumann Finally Has to Surrender His Parking Pass

The Observer hasn't written about Dave Neumann since he lost his Oak Cliff City Council seat to Scott Griggs. That was three years ago. Since then, Neumann has kept a low profile, running a consulting firm (somehow, it manages to have virtually zero online presence outside his own LinkedIn account) ... More >>

Dallas PD Wants to Use the Feds' Cache of Private Financial Info to Take Down Drug Dealers

Dallas Police Chief David Brown didn't think his proposal to secure access to a federal database of private banking and financial information would be controversial. It sailed through the City Council's Public Safety Committee unopposed last week. Then again, that committee didn't have City Councilm ... More >>

Too Many Wrinkled Guys in Mayor's School Takeover Campaign

Monday I said Mike Rawlings was about to announce a pause -- a tapping of the brakes -- in his public school takeover campaign. I was a little off. Instead it turns out he has been meeting with three really old guys. I guess that could have the same effect. What? That's not a slur. I've got nothing ... More >>

Texas Won't Have to Identify Its Execution-Drug Supplier After All

The last time the Texas Department of Criminal Justice secured a cache of pentobarbital, the drug it uses to execute prisoners, the Houston-area compounding pharmacy that supplied it had second thoughts. "[I]t was my belief that this information would be kept on the 'down low,' and that it was unli ... More >>

My Kingdom for a Sewer. But What About My Councilman?

The other night after talking all day to people about the no-sewer zone around the new University of North Texas at Dallas campus in Southern Dallas, I got to wondering. If the rest of us in other parts of the city had to give up a single part of the normal public infrastructure that keeps us all go ... More >>

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Philip Kingston Divided over Whether You Should Eat Meat on Thursday

In further proof that Mike Rawlings' tendency to craft major policy initiatives in secret is ruffling feathers at City Hall, some (or at least one) City Council member is pushing back against the mayor's newly hatched plan to curb Dallas' meat consumption. The blowback comes on the heels of Rawling ... More >>

Duncanville Is Suing Its Own Mayor

There's something rotten in Duncanville city government. Twenty-four of the past 30 months spent without a permanent city manager, a City Council bitterly divided, and now this: The city of Duncanville is suing Mayor Deborah Hodge. Yes, that is a thing that can happen. The lawsuit was filed on Wedn ... More >>

Maybe Dallas City Council Should Use a Public Defender for Its Lawyer

Yes, I, too, love the Shakespeare T-shirt about first kill all the lawyers, and I bet I've got five good lawyer jokes to your one, but then again, I do dearly love it when good lawyers get elected to the City Council. In Dallas, as a result of having had a city manager system for the better part o ... More >>

A Dog is Running for Mayor of Irving

Mike Howard is not a fan of Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne. A quick glance at the one-time Irving City Councilman's blog (written under the nom de plum Mark Holbrook) is proof of that. But it's one thing to lob critiques of local government from the safe confines of the Internet. It's something else e ... More >>

A.C. Gonzalez Got $400,000 Because Dallas Is Dumb, Not Because He's a Guy

Before the ink on A.C. Gonzalez' $400,000 contract was even dry, some were suggesting that the $95,000 gap between his salary and predecessor Mary Suhm's might have something to do with their different gender. Here's former City Councilwoman Veletta Lill commenting to KERA that "it looks like they ... More >>

Mixing Politics and Pensions

There are good reasons to check up on the police and fire fund. The Nasher isn't one of them.

The Nasher, Politics and Pension Fund Management: Can This Be Good?

Got a story in the newspaper newspaper this week I'd like you to see if you have a minute. It's about the Nasher Sculpture Center and Museum Tower, the condo building accused by the Nasher of reflecting too much light on it. I spoke with officers of the city's police and fire associations (unions) l ... More >>

A.C. Gonzalez' $400,000 Salary Makes Him the Highest-Paid City Manager in the Country

The Dallas City Council sealed the deal today with newly minted City Manager A.C. Gonzalez, approving his employment contract. The main thing you need to know about the deal is that it's a big one: $400,000 per year in base salary, plus benefits not enumerated in City Attorney Warren Ernst's brief ... More >>

A.C. Gonzalez Pitches a Change-up

New city manager promises transparency. Here's where he can start.

A.C. Gonzalez Was Not the Best Choice for City Manager

Picking the insider guarantees us more of the same.

Duncanville City Council Drama: Change In How Council Formats Its Agenda Leads to Ethics Complaint

Duncanville has a new interim city manager, and barely into her new job, Lynda Humble is already trying to shake up the way City Council formats its meeting agenda packet, a proposal that has proved to be surprisingly controversial. "A new agenda format has been created to establish a more forma ... More >>

Texas' Voter Registration System Is "In Disarray" and Needs to Be Overhauled, Report Argues

The debate about voting in Texas over the past several years has focused on the controversial voter ID law that passed in 2011 and finally took effect over the summer. It was a necessary step to prevent voter fraud, supporters said, while opponents countered that it erected illegal hurdles to voting ... More >>

Dallas Council Passes Tough New Fracking Rules Industry Calls a "Moratorium" on Dallas Drilling

Other cities sitting on the Barnett Shale are popular among the natural gas industry for quickly handing over their land to be fracked. But Dallas has turned out to be a surprisingly tough conquest. On Wednesday afternoon, the Dallas City Council finally passed its long-awaited fracking ordinance, a ... More >>

Duncanville City Councilman Mark Cooks Was Arrested for Assaulting His Wife

A Duncanville City Councilman was arrested by the city's police department after his wife accused him of stealing her cell phone and assaulting her, court records show. Mark Cooks was elected to the Duncanville City Council in 2012. More recently, in June, the Duncanville City Council in June selec ... More >>

There's No "Search" for a City Manager. Are You Kidding? It's A.C. Gonzalez.

In its own peculiar way, yesterday's editorial in the city's only daily newspaper was the perfect expression of the dilemma Dallas faces in choosing a new bureaucrat to run the city: Most of the people who even talk out loud about the topic are afraid to say out loud what the topic is about. It's ... More >>

Texas National Guard Will Now Give Benefits to Same Sex Couples Under "New Procedure" That May Not Exist

For the past few months, the Texas National Guard and the Department of Defense have been in a public brawl over gay rights. And last week, it appeared that the Defense Department, along with gay couples, emerged as the clear victor. Texas, Oklahoma and West Virginia are now complying with the DOD ... More >>

Fort Worth Law Professor's Proposal to Repeal the Second Amendment Panned by the Internet

On Friday, fed up with the ineffectual legislative and judicial responses to rampant gun violence and in the spirit of open and honest academic debate, Texas A&M University law Professor Meg Penrose offered the not-so-modest suggestion that the United States do away with the Second Amendment. "Unfo ... More >>

First Baptist's Robert Jeffress Wants Supreme Court to Let Him Praise Jesus at City Hall

At the outset of the most recent meeting of the Dallas City Council, Councilman Sheffie Kadane stepped to the dais and delivered the following prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the gorgeous day You've given us today. Guide us year-round to serve the Lord, let us glorify You in all that we ... More >>

Investigation into Uber Crackdown Reveals Extent to Which Yellow Cab Called the Shots

The highly anticipated investigation commissioned by Mayor Mike Rawlings has dropped. And, as expected, it boils down to this: Move along, folks. Nothing to see here. Most significantly, the report reveals that the charges against Uber drivers snared in undercover ops by Dallas vice officers have be ... More >>

Uber Is Upside Down When You Look at It Through the Eyes of John Barr

Everything looks different if you're John Barr. The mayor has released his investigation of city officials who worked to help Yellow Cab of Dallas combat an incursion into the Dallas marketplace of Uber, an app-based car-ride system that operates outside taxicab laws. Brantley has reported all of t ... More >>

The Uber Secret Session Vote Tomorrow Will Be Everything Wrong with Dallas City Hall

Mayor Mike Rawlings and the new city attorney Warren Ernst want to hold a secret closed-door City Council session tomorrow on a question that has everything to do with the public interest. Watch closely to see how your council member votes. It's a big window. Yesterday we talked about some of the s ... More >>

In the Search for Dallas' Next City Manager, There's One Question: Do We Want Another Inside Guy?

The acting city manager who would be king, A.C. Gonzalez, has always been the inside favorite. And if there is an issue in his way, it's that. Just ahead for City Hall is a decision to make somebody the permanent city manager. But just behind it is a series of scandals that should make anybody won ... More >>