Bill Betzen
Stan Aten
                             

11/02/7  Do they have a Bi-Polar Disorder?

The following Belo editorial/campaign ad for the VOTE NO! gang that appears in the DMN 11/1/7 edition does more than state their position on the Trinity Toll Road; it sheds light on who does what at The Dallas Managed News:

Seeing Right Through It: Road foes' TV spot uses The News to mislead Editorial Page / The Dallas Morning News, Thursday, November 1, 2007

Our ears were burning when Trinity toll road opponents unveiled their first television commercial this week.   To our astonishment, the don't-build-a-tollway contingent devoted much of its 30-second spot to quoting The Dallas Morning News. Sure, it's exciting to have a starring role on TV, but we must admit that our heads are spinning. For months, Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt and her allies have made two basic arguments: 1. Don't build a highway between the river levees. 2. Don't believe The Dallas Morning News. Their sustained effort to discredit the newspaper has been a bare-knuckle political brawl, and their own Web site is filled with harsh criticism of our news and editorial coverage. Yet their one-and-only television ad relies entirely on excerpts from our newspaper to make their arguments. Forgive our confusion. So now the toll road opponents like us? They really like us? Well, that would be a stretch. But apparently, Ms. Hunt and company want voters to take note of the newspaper's position on this issue. Unfortunately, the TV spot leaves an impression that's flat-out wrong. The News' editorial page has urged Dallas residents to vote against the toll road proposition. TV viewers may come away believing the opposite. The commercial extracts phrases from news coverage of "Vote No" advertisements. News reporters ? who have no connection to the editorial page ? have covered the campaign aggressively and fairly, pointing out unsubstantiated claims from each side. Ms. Hunt and her TrinityVote group mention only the criticism of their opponents. Conveniently left on the cutting-room floor are their own missteps and questionable declarations. TrinityVote's TV spot attacks the other side's claims, as random snippets flash on the screen. Viewers see: "Suspect statistics as truth" ... "Figments" ... "Several leaps" ... Viewers don't see our reporters' assessment of a recent TrinityVote mailing. The "brochure contained several questionable or inaccurate statements," reporter Dave Levinthal analyzed. Technically, the TrinityVote ad accurately, if selectively, quotes The News. Those words have appeared in print. But practically speaking, the commercial is purposely misleading. It leaves the distinct impression that the newspaper is squarely on Ms. Hunt's side. News reporters, of course, aren't advocating for or against the Trinity toll road. The editorial board is. Voting 'no' ? or against ? Proposition 1 is the only way to guarantee that the entire Trinity River project continues to move forward. The three-pronged plan provides flood protection, creates recreational amenities and relieves traffic congestion. Siding with Ms. Hunt is a vote for indefinite delays and continued erosion in the public's confidence that this project ever will be completed. That's because TrinityVote offers no alternative. The group wants to scuttle a much-needed reliever route but is unwilling to discuss where it should be built instead. After spending months trying to pick apart The News' coverage, Ms. Hunt and her allies now want to broadcast the newspaper's position. So let us be clear: Vote against Proposition 1.

This has to be the silliest thing they have done yet.  If the DMN Editorial Board is astonished that TrinityVote YES would cite their newspaper articles, things are a lot worse at Belo than we thought.

 I can't find the quote now, but I saw on one of the blogs a comment from Colleen McCain Nelson that she first saw the TrinityVote YES! TV ad while watching Good Morning America (or one of the others -- can't tell them apart).  She was not pleased that the rabble of TrinityVote YES! would use quotes from DMN news reports.  That's why I'm assuming she wrote the above editorial/VOTE NO! campaign piece above.

The fact is TrinityVote YES is not just Ms. Hunt.  She's our general, and a darn fine one, but TrinityVote YES is an incredible consortium of divergent citizens from every spectrum of the political rainbow.  Taxpayer watchdogs to ardent tree huggers!

Ad airs from group against the Trinity Toll Road  By DAVID SCHECHTER / WFAA-TV 10/31/07

You know it's almost election time, when every time you change the channel, you come across yet another political ad.    Yesterday, there was a new Trinity Toll Road ad airing.    It was the first TV ad from the group that is against the toll road.|     It attacks the other side's claims that voting against the road will result in higher taxes in Dallas.   "The lobbyist and politicians are not telling the truth about their toll road Trinity Toll Road," we are told.    "According to The Dallas Morning News, they've used suspect statistics as truth to scare us of new taxes and lost funding," the ad continues.   That's unknown.   There are no firm figures on "new taxes" and "lost funding".   Building a toll road in another location, other than the Trinity, would require the city to buy and demolish properties.   That will certainly cost more, but there is no definitive answer on how much.   As for lost funding - TxDOT says the toll road is the centerpiece to redoing the Mixmaster.   Without it, they say, the federal government will not pay for an estimate $1.5 billion in downtown road improvements.    But, it's unknown how that will actually play out.    "Their claims make several leaps and aren't backed up by proof," the ad says.   That's true but again, the cost of building the road in an alternate location is uncertain.   Toll road supporters say it will cost $500 million but they have not been able to itemize that number.   The truth is it could cost more, or less and ultimately it would have to approved by Dallas voters.   "As for those illustrations of the toll road, we've all seen the Dallas Morning News called them 'figments,'" the ad says.   That's true.   The images of a lush and pleasing tollway were produced by the NTTA, which would own and operate the road.   But the NTTA says the images are only an approximation of what the toll road would look like and is subject to change. That's your reality check.

It was a smart move to spin off WFAA from The Dallas Managed News. 

I am sick of politicians and bureaucrats tying to ram this toll road down our throats to stick it in a river floodway.  How stupid! 

We citizens pay the salaries of the bureaucrats and politicians alike.  They don't care.  They see us as the serf class to toll away for them and Our Downtown Betters (the ODB), who they view as their true employers.  It's the same thing the bureaucrats and politicians in Arlington did to their citizens, so they could curry the favor of that Arkansas Freak.  They wiped out an entire neighborhood and hundreds of long time businesses.

The DMN editorial board claims to have been astonished that TrinityVote YES! would quote DMN articles in an advertisement.  What's astonishing is how far out the editorial board has gone during this campaign.  So far, that they question the integrity and/or competence of their own reporters.

What the current publisher and editorial board of The Dallas Managed News have done to that institution is astonishing.  Trying to win over an audience that never was its base, while trying to continue to spout the ODB party line on its pet projects, has destroyed what little credibility the DMN had left.  Their circulation is dropping like a rock in the Trinity River.  Their candidate endorsements have no significance. 

Those in control of the The Dallas Managed News have shown themselves to be truly mental. 

One of the most important bits of information that came out this week is what Jim Schutze reports:

And that's the facts, Jack!

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