Just not right!

03/10/09 City Hall Control Freaks Allow No Dissent

DallasArena.com readers know John Loza has been on my Pelosi list since he flipped positions on Dallas taxpayers subsidizing two billionaires who wanted a new sports arena for their private businesses. I'll go into that more, but what 10 council members led by Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia did to former Councilman John Loza is just not right!

They not only did Loza wrong, but they did Dallas taxpayers and all stakeholders in the DFW Airport wrong when they replaced him on the DFW Board with Brenda Reyes.

I first met John Loza when we were in the throes of restructuring our city government from the council system of 8 single member districts, 2 council members and the mayor elected at large (by the whole city). The liberals and out-of-towners thought Dallas should be run like the horrid cities they left behind to move here -- much to our loss. They wanted Dallas to be as inefficient and corrupt as Detroit and Chicago. They wanted ward politics. They got ward politics and all its inherent corruption, and Dallas has been going down hill ever since.

At the Oak Lawn town hall meeting of the commission pretending to seek public input on how the city should be governed, a young man that none of us knew stood up and suggested an X-factor formula for dividing council districts. Four super districts with 3 single member districts in each super district, with the mayor elected at large. His proposal was unique and sensible, and his logic in explaining its merits got everyone's attention. After the meeting, I introduced myself. That young man was John Loza. I took him under my community activist wing, and we became good friends.

I supported Loza when he ran unsuccessfully against incumbent councilman Chris Luna. I supported him when he ran against and beat Brenda Reyes. Not only was he my friend and the better candidate, but he was against taxpayers building a sports arena for Perot, Jr. and Tom Hicks. In those days, John was a fiscal conservative and a Republican. Once elected, John flipped and became a big supporter of giving millions to billionaires while basic city services deteriorated. Later, John even blocked Councilwomen Donna Blumer and Laura Miller from investigating Terrell Bolton's involvement in DPD officers prohibited from enforcing city public lewdness laws in the topless clubs on Northwest Highway at Bachman Lake. He was someone other than the young man I originally met and considered a friend.

After that brief history lesson, you might expect me to enjoy seeing some of the very people he considered allies now stab Loza in the back in a very public way. Nope!

What was done to John Loza out of spite was bad government. It was political payback at a level that comes very close to abuse of office by elected officials. When I first heard about John going off the DFW Board, I assumed it was a term limit thing or even someone had a particular person they wanted on the Board. Like most people who pay their taxes and work for a living, I don't keep up with who is or isn't on the DFW Board. When Angela Hunt got aviation expert Jan Colmer replaced with Democrat lawyer Forrest Smith, I lost all interest.

One council faction removing John Loza for political payback is no worse than a different council faction removing Jan Colmer from the DFW Board. Neither move was for the good of the airport or Dallas taxpayers. Colmer was the most knowledgeable person on the DFW Board. Everything I've heard in the last few weeks from various DFW personnel and board members says John Loza was a real asset on the DFW Board. Replacing either man with uninformed political hacks is just not right!

It is hard to find regular people to serve on city boards and commissions. Unless retired, unemployed or independently wealthy, many Dallas taxpayers cannot afford to serve on most boards. We need people with real jobs serving on city boards and commissions -- not political consultants. Our recent City Hall scandals with council members and plan commissioners confessing or being caught taking bribes is evidence that things on Marilla St. are just not right!

I'm for good government. When someone is doing a good job, you don't replace them because you disagreed with them on an unrelated issue.

John Loza came out as a strong opponent to the Trinity Project last year, and recent information and studies prove his position was valid and right. Apparently Mayor Pro Tem Garcia does not believe in independent thinkers, even with evidence that the Trinity levees are not sound and likely have sand in their base and mixture. Sam Merten says:

Garcia says she told Loza before the 2007 referendum that the three Latino council members (herself, Steve Salazar and Pauline Medrano) supported the toll road, and they expected appointees to follow the leadership of the council. She then urged Loza to stand with them.

"He told me he would, but he didn't," Garcia says. "I take very seriously the commitment of the appointees to the council, especially when the three Latino council members supported him. There were no surprises. I was very open with him. He betrayed ... he didn't follow his word. OK? Let's put it that way."

Now, I love Elba Garcia, but I cannot imagine her keeping a straight face when she said "... he didn't follow his word. OK?" Please, she is married to Domingo Garcia.

John Loza taking a position against the Trinity River Toll Road in the 2008 referendum has nothing to do with his service on the DFW Board. Forrest Smith taking a position against the Trinity River Toll Road in the 2008 referendum does not qualify him to serve on the DFW Board, much less replace an aviation expert like Jan Colmer. Brenda Reyes working for the Mayor as a paid consultant on various political campaigns does not make her qualified to serve on any city board or commission, much less something as important as the DFW Board. She actually probably is not qualified to serve on any city Board or Commission or any board to which the council appoints members.

When all the stuff came out about Brenda Reyes in her 1997 campaign against John Loza, I was flat out shocked. She appeared out of nowhere, and no one thought to look into her background? She was backed by Our Downtown Betters (the ODB) and had a powerful political consultant running her campaign. Chris Luna claimed he recruited and mentored Reyes to be his successor on the council. Adelfa Callejo backed Reyes. The Medrano family backed Loza. I don't remember whether Domingo Garcia got involved in either campaign. From various reports and events since that election, John Loza and the Garcia political machine were allies.

Even though he's still relatively new to the Dallas political scene, Sam Merten is a quick study and works for a paper with a great archive created by some great reporters who preceded him. He reminds us what came out about Reyes in her race against Loza:

When the Dallas City Council last week replaced former council member John Loza on the DFW Airport board with Brenda Reyes, we were reminded of the memorable 1997 battle between the two for the District 2 council seat. Reyes struggled with controversy early in her campaign, and she later spent time in the slammer after a nasty eye-scratching episode with her hubby.

Use the links in red to go back and read those two stories. I'm telling you -- you will be shocked. What got to me during the Loza/Reyes campaign was her complete lack of regard for the truth. She listed her District 2 address as an apartment that wasn't even finished being built, much less habitable. She was not qualified to serve on the council as the District 2 member because she didn't live in District 2. I guess Mayor Pro Tem Garcia has forgiven her for that great big lie.

What do rules and regulations matter at City Hall in 2009? Obviously, not so much. Sam Merten reports:

Aside from Reyes's foibles, what really piqued our interest is why Loza, a seemingly effective board member, was ousted by someone with such obvious links to Mayor Tom Leppert. Reyes donated to the mayor's campaign, meets with him regularly and has collected nearly $200,000 in advertising and consulting payments from Leppert's mayoral campaign, Friends of Mayor Tom Leppert and Vote No! Save the Trinity, according to campaign finance reports and Leppert's calendar.

With $200,000 dependent on her relationship with the Mayor (who also serves on the DFW Board), how in the world can she not have a conflict of interest? This is just wrong!

It wasn't like Brenda Reyes was anyone's first choice to replace John Loza on the DFW Board. They couldn't find another Hispanic who was willing to take the position. So? Why not leave the more qualified and not conflict of interest-impaired John Loza on the Board? This was about punishing John Loza -- not about good government. It was just not right!

It doesn't matter whether John Loza and I were but are not now friends. When you stand silent as a wrong is done, you are condoning it and become part of the wrong. An unchallenged wrong becomes a precedent for future politicians to abuse their office.

The council always has the right to replace members of board and commissions, but the way John Loza was treated is wrong.