01/04/05  Strong Odor of a Strong Mayor.

This strong mayor proposal has a "strong odor" and it is not a good one.

I have always said that Laura Miller just does not get it. 

Someone may think that I want to violate the voting rights act, but I cannot understand why any group would think it reasonable to ask the City to consider changing its form of government with petitions that did not include enough information to properly verify who signed them.  By that, I mean name AND voter registration number.  With short deadlines and reduced staffing, it seems only reasonable.  What would have happened if the City Secretary's Office had not met the deadline for verification?

To me, it was a waste of resources, money and time to have City staff pulled off their regular jobs to help verify what the petition initiators should have provided in the first place.  So many of the signatures I saw were not legible and most did not have a voter registration number associated with them. 

In this day and age of voter fraud and Dallas' less than perfect history in this area, it seems to me citizens deserve to know "up front" that the people signing any petition are legitimate voters.  The name AND registration number are the best way to assure this.  It should not be for the City Secretary to have to search out ANY additional information then verify it as well.  Asking us to go under a new form of government (in my view) DEMANDS that those asking show who they are and that they are registered voters.  Not that they imply who they might be and it is up to me to search the records to see if they are John Jay Jones or John J. Jones.

I hope the issue gets voted down and given a quick and deep burial.  Once the air is cleared, let's ask Rob Allyn to put in a program chip that will take Mayor Miller out of the stupid loop.

When the voters have said "No", then the answer is really No.  If you think that I am kidding, get people to ask Mayor Miller right now, what will she do if the voters say no.  Her responses (both verbal and facial) will be interesting.