OPINION

Defeated Democrat Farouk Shami made good on his promise to spend millions on his bid for governor. Nearly $12 million in expenditures netted Shami a paltry 12.8 percent of the vote.

Matt Stiles at the Texas Tribune crunched the numbers, calculating the cost per vote for primary candidates. Not surprisingly, Shami tops the list, spending an eye-popping $135 for each vote. As Matt wryly notes: For that price, Shami could have given each supporter one of his pricey hair straightening irons. Considering that I saw little evidence of Shami's millions out on the street, that might have been a better strategy.

Near the other end of the spending spectrum is George Clayton, who is the academic coordinator at North Dallas High School. He spent only five cents per vote to upset longtime State Board of Education member Tincy Miller in the Republican primary. Few folks, including Miller, saw that coming.

Interestingly, there are more winners on the list of 10 candidates who spent the least per vote than on the list of top 10 spenders. Perhaps I should rescind my earlier comment about giving away straightening irons.

Re: "How much longer? Recovering 8.4 million lost jobs is years away, experts say," Thursday news story.
The solution to U.S. unemployment is easy. Enforce the requirement for employers to hire U.S. citizens or legal workers. Put import restrictions on foreign goods that used to be made in the U.S. Boom, 8.4 million new jobs.
It may put a burden on Mexico, Japan and China, but our government's job is to protect U.S. workers. Let their governments handle their problems.
We cannot police the world nor employ the world, not in a deep recession. Is there anyone bold enough to do the obvious?

Re: "Kirk not a bit amused by talk of secession -- Comparing it to 'Jim Crow,' trade official asks how state would replace U.S. funds," Thursday news story.
Not that I'm advocating seceding from the U.S., but Ron Kirk of all people should know where the state of Texas would get the money for current programs if Texas seceded from the union.
Instead of sending billions of dollars to Washington, all that money would stay in the Republic of Texas and would undoubtedly be used much more efficiently than sending it to Washington and then getting some of it back.

Re: "A road map for the governor's race -- As the next leg begins, here are three elements to consider, says William McKenzie," Wednesday Viewpoints.
With all due respect to McKenzie, Texas does not "need better roads," either to "keep ahead economically" or prepare ourselves for the future in any other way.
Texas needs a better transportation system. The inclusion of roadways in such a system may be self-evident; but, to be ultimately successful, that system cannot be auto-centric.
Trains must be a part of the mix, both for freight and passengers. A logical, conservative series of investments in off-the-shelf technology and existing infrastructure could help us redevelop a network of rail-based alternatives, offering solutions with the ability to handle at least 10 percent of the intercity traveler's needs within the next decade.
"Better roads" alone will lead us to a future of ever-increasing and unrelenting energy, environmental and logistical problems. Such an approach would force us to trade tomorrow's quality of life for a bit of temporary "convenience" today.
I do not wish that on my children.

Re: "Looking for the political middle," by Annabelle Brown, Thursday Letters.
Brown's letter about the lack of a two-party system in Collin County is indicative of the thinking of too many people these days.
If she doesn't like the dearth of members of the Democratic Party, she should become active and work to build a Democratic base. If you don't like Fox News, don't watch. If you don't like organized religions, don't go to church. If you don't like school rules, homeschool or enroll your children in a private school. If you don't like eating in a restaurant that allows small children, go to one that doesn't allow them or eat later in the evening. If you don't like the attitude of store sales personnel, shop elsewhere.
Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion and has every right to work in supporting it, but they should offer something other than complaints.

Re: "Fire destroys hangouts but not Greenville spirit -- Blaze that tore through four bars, restaurants won't ruin neighborhood's annual St. Patrick's party, organizers say," Wednesday news story.
Isn't Lower Greenville the area where all of the neighbors were complaining about the parking problems and drunks urinating on their lawns?
Now would be an appropriate time for the city to make sure that any restored establishment would provide sufficient parking so that the homeowners would no longer be imposed upon.

Re: "Get ready for big cuts, departments told -- Police and fire services aren't exempt; property tax hike batted around," Tuesday news story.
Perhaps a more enlightened approach than budget cuts would be to examine the best practices well-managed Seattle has implemented in its parking revenues, which has allowed Seattle to provide full library services to its heavy-reading residents.
Seattle almost doubled its street parking revenue when it replaced its coin-only meters with modern equipment that eliminates free use of a just-vacated parking space.
Its modules accept debit and credit cards as well as coins, and they issue adhesive slips of paper to mount on the inside of parked cars showing the paid parking expiration time.
Business users tend to buy the maximum time available, as their credit cards are used to purchase documented parking and their meeting times are frequently unpredictable.
Dallas city management needs to implement best practices benchmarking instead of continually cutting critical quality-of-life essentials if it wants to attract top corporation relocations and those young families in the "creative class."

Re: "Taxing Injustice -- IRS shouldn't get cut of exoneree payments," Feb. 24 Editorials.
This editorial called for congressional action to "create a fair system of compensation for those wrongfully sent to prison."
I have re-introduced, along with Democratic Rep. John Larson, the "Wrongful Convictions Tax Relief Act," which would prohibit the IRS from taxing compensation awarded to those who have been wrongfully convicted of a crime and subsequently exonerated.
These innocent people have suffered enough and should not have to suffer the financial injustice of paying the IRS taxes on their restitution awards. After all, such awards are meant to redress the terrible miscarriage of justice experienced by exonerees and not serve as a new source of tax dollars for the IRS.
No restitution will ever make a wrongfully convicted individual whole. Yet we can at least make sure that exonerees get to keep their awards free of tax by exempting from federal tax, for up to 15 years, their first $50,000 in earnings as the Wrongful Convictions Tax Relief Act proposes to do. Exonerees deserve no less.
As a nation of laws, it is critical to the integrity of our justice system that we fully acknowledge and redress these miscarriages of justice. And while Texas, through the Timothy Cole Act, and other states are doing the right thing, the Wrongful Convictions Tax Relief Act represents a bipartisan effort to ensure that the federal government does its part for those who have been wronged by our justice system.

When the news came out last year that the city was fudging adjusting crime statistics to more closely conform to federal reporting standards, it looked an awful lot like maybe the city was trying to make its statistics look better than they actually were so we wouldn't be listed around the country as one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country. When the news came out, again, that police weren't registering certain property crimes (like a guy busting through the front door but running away without stealing anything), it looked even more fishy.

Even so, Police Chief David Kunkle's explanation seemed at least plausible. We cut him some slack.

But now it emerges, thanks to excellent reporting from Tanya Eiserer and Scott Goldstein, that the city has deliberately made it difficult, if not impossible, to locate certain embarrassing statistics, like murders, rape and aggravated assault, on the crime-statistics Web site.

Well, gosh, we believe in transparency. They should be there because people need to know what's going on in their communities, Kunkle and other police officials say. "We were asked, and we complied with a request to remove from the public site the ability to select the offenses of Murder and Rape," counters Leslie Delatte, president of the company that maintains the Web site.

The Police Department denies issuing such instructions. City officials explain that there are, um, well, certain filters necessary for, um, certain kinds of murders, and well, uh.

Please, folks, just admit it. You've been trying to alter public perceptions by hiding the bad numbers.

A last word from me, at any rate.

I was amused by the insistence, especially from Debra Medina supporters, that polling on the Republican governor's primary was not to be trusted. Rasmussen Reports, the polling outfit that did the most on the race, came for special criticism, despite a history of generally getting it right.

Here's the final actual vote percentages:
-- Perry, 51.08%
-- Hutchison, 30.33%
-- Medina, 18.57%

Here's the final Rasmussen poll, taken Feb. 23:
-- Perry, 48%
-- Hutchison, 27%
-- Medina, 16%

That left Rasmussen with about 9 percent undecided, and those voters spread reasonably equally among the three candidates on Election Day.

Rasmussen was closest to the pin among the major polling outfits that took samples in February, when interest was at its highest and decisions were being made. Three others:
-- Public Policy Polling (Feb. 19-21): Perry 41, Hutchison 30, Medina 20
-- Daily Kos/Research 2000 (Feb. 8-10): Perry 42, Hutchison 30, Medina 17
-- DMN/Blum-Weprin (Feb. 2-10): Perry 45, Hutchison 29, Medina 17

For your entertainment, if you find such things entertaining, here are cherry-picked comments (all spelling and grammar in the original) to two blog posts about polling leading up to the vote:

This is my long-delayed, but not at all emotional, response to being without power for a couple of days back during the Great Blizzard of 2010. I have a couple of thoughts on things that could be done a little better:

1. GREENVILLE - We explain why this is such an important part of town and why we worry so about its decline, due to this week's fire and other recent signs of deterioration. We acknowledge in this editorial the ebb and flow of Lower Greenville, but the fundamental point of the edit is to warn the city against its deterioration. Colleen writing on behalf of the board.

2. SENTENCING - It was easy to lose sight amid all the election frenzy of the significance of the sentencing in the Dallas City Hall public corruption case. We remind readers why this was such an important case and a significant outcome. These sentences mean business and should be a lesson to others tempted to conspire to skirt the law. We are struck by an overall profound sense of sadness about the way the case ended up, and by Don Hill's stunning lack of recognition of his wrongdoing. We also remind readers of what a black eye this case was for both southern Dallas, an area historically underserved by many of its own representatives, and for the city as a whole, which is tarnished badly by this sort of publicity. Colleen writing on behalf of the board.

3. CHILE -- We reflect on the devastation of Chile but make apt comparisons to Haiti and explain why an earthquake substantially worse in South America did so much less damage than a less-worse earthquake in the Caribbean. There are lessons here about infrastructure and preparedness which cities like Dallas can learn from. Tod writing on behalf of the board.

4. STREETCARS -- We explain in greater detail why the recent funding for streetcars in downtown and Oak Cliff is a particular triumph for southern Dallas. Bill writing on behalf of the board.

5. DCTOLLWAY -- We aseess Maurine Dickey's Dallas County tollway authority idea and explain why we think she has the right goal but but not the right implementation idea. Rodger writing on behalf of the board.