Black leaders in Dallas and across the country are crying foul as a string of federal corruption investigations have targeted black politicians.
   "Our leadership is being attacked all over the country," said Dallas Nation of Islam minister Jeffrey Muhammad. "We need to realize this and come together with a local and national agenda for the betterment of our own community."
   Most of the people named so far in the FBI's investigation into corruption at Dallas City Hall and the city's tax-credit housing program are black.
... The predominance of blacks named in the investigation has stunned veteran black politicians.
   "That's just crazy," said Ron Kirk, who in 1995 was elected the city's first black mayor.
   "I'm just not a conspiracy believer, but I'm also not unfamiliar with how unfair these types of investigations can be," he said. "Certainly they [the FBI] are not blind to the way these investigations are going. This cannot be stretched out over a long period of time."
... David Bositis, a senior researcher for the Washington-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, said the targeting of black officials may be based more on politics and demographics than race. ... "There may be more at play than race," he said.
... Mr. Kirk said the investigation could make it difficult to revitalize the southern sector, which has become one of the city's top priorities.
   He said private businesses will not want to invest in an area perceived to be a haven for crooks and chiselers.
   "It would be very difficult to improve the schools and the overall economic climate with this cloud hanging overhead," he said.

   Two Dallas police officers have been placed on leave and summoned to appear before a federal grand jury in Arkansas in connection with a narcotics investigation. ... the case may allege that one or both of the officers passed information to a suspected drug dealer that one of them was dating.
   Deputy Chief Patricia Paulhill, commander of the Dallas police's southeast patrol station, said she could not discuss the federal investigation but confirmed that Officers Kesha Thomas and Roshonda Parker were placed on paid administrative leave Thursday "for checking a suspect and not arresting him."
... Officer Thomas had been dating Fred A. Green Jr., 30, who has drug convictions and was under indictment on state charges of possession of more than 200 grams of a controlled substance when he fled Camden, Ark., last year.
... Two police sources say Officer Thomas told federal authorities that she did not know about the allegations that Mr. Green had ties to the drug trade when she started dating him, and discovered them only when she found out he had an arrest warrant.
...  when Dallas authorities arrested him, Mr. Green was found with four firearms, a half-kilogram of cocaine, 145 grams of methamphetamine and more than 200 rounds of ammunition.
   Sources say that based on a wiretap on Mr. Green's phone, federal authorities learned that Officer Thomas had checked his name in a confidential law enforcement database and tipped him off about the active warrant.
... In the southeast substation, Officers Parker and Thomas were known as good friends.
  Officer Thomas, a Dallas native, joined the force in September 1996. Records show that she received minor discipline in October 2004 for taking improper action. Details were not available.
  Officer Parker, an Arkansas native, was hired in September 1999.  She graduated last in her class of 43 recruits in April 2000.
... In September 2003, Officer Parker showed up at the Cedar Hill home of her former boyfriend, also a Dallas police officer, where she found him with another woman. Police reports say Officer Stanley Reece hit her at least twice. About 15 minutes later, she hit his car with a tire iron, causing about $3,000 in damage. She received a 15-day suspension for the incident in December 2003. ...

  Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick has authorized a series of Dallas-based public hearings on the city's alleged misuse of the state's public nuisance law, state Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, said Tuesday.
...  "This became necessary because the city of Dallas figured out a way to abuse this law against you," Mr. Keel told a ballroom of more than 100 carwash owners at the Las Colinas Marriott in Irving. "Y'all have got problems here. I thought they were bad in Austin, and they are bad in Austin. They're just not corrupt."
... The public nuisance law, passed in 2003, was designed to crack down on businesses or individuals who tolerate crime on their properties.
   But Mr. Keel and other critics say the way Dallas interpreted it has penalized people who are making "a good-faith effort" to prevent crime that is often out of their control.
...  Mr. Davenport's story of trying to operate a business in a neighborhood overrun by drug dealers and prostitutes reached Mr. Keel, who jumped on the bandwagon to help.
... Mr. Keel said he introduced a bill during the Legislature's regular session to address the alleged misuse of the law in Dallas, even though it had been working "without controversy in all other parts of the state of Texas."
... "Why did you not get some of those crack houses shut down before you filed a lawsuit against us?" said Mr. Davenport's father, Freddy Davenport. ...

   New names have emerged in the federal investigation into corruption at Dallas City Hall, including state Sen. Royce West, state Rep. Terri Hodge and DISD trustee Ron Price.
...  Mr. West said he had not been told that his name appeared in the federal subpoena but said it's routine for him to be in touch with people involved in low-income housing.
   Mr. Price said he believes he was named because he had been approached with ? and rejected ? a questionable land deal by another person named in the subpoena.
... The subpoena demands large amounts of overarching information on Mr. Hill, Mr. Fantroy, council member Leo Chaney and plan commissioners Melvin Traylor and Carol Brandon, who were appointed by Mr. Chaney and Mr. Fantroy, respectively.
   It seeks specific, pointed documents on council member Maxine Thornton-Reese, Mr. Price, DART board member Lynn Flint Shaw and Toska Medlock-Lee, Mr. Lee's wife.
   And it requests correspondence from Mr. West and Ms. Hodge, D-Dallas, on tax-credit housing projects.
... The subpoena's attention on Mr. Chaney ? whose name was not raised early in the federal investigation ? does not indicate that he's a focus of the investigation, said James Myart Jr., a nationally recognized civil rights lawyer representing the council member. Mr. Myart said his client has done nothing wrong.
...   Mr. West said Wednesday that it is routine for him to communicate with local residents, governments and school districts when he gets notice of new housing developments. ... he can't recall any specific tax-credit projects or land-use and zoning cases he's been involved with at City Hall in recent years.
... The excerpts of the subpoena request information on conflicts of interest and voting abstentions by the council members and plan commissioners and reports on campaign finance and discretionary spending.
... The subpoena also seeks applications, resumes and nomination forms relating to the named city plan commissioners and to Ms. Medlock-Lee, Ms. Shaw and Mr. Price.
...  Ms. Lee is a public relations and event specialist for her company, The Myriad Group, and works in DISD's instructional services department.
  Mr. Hill's campaign paid Ms. Lee $500 for consulting in March. That same month, Ms. Lee and her husband each donated $1,000 to Mr. Hill's campaign. Mr. Chaney's campaign paid Ms. Lee $400 for public relations work in 1999 and 2000.
... The subpoena orders documents and minutes involving tax increment financing for Vickery Meadows and the Lancaster Kiest Corridor. The Vickery Meadow TIF was established in April. Mr. Hill later tried to place Mr. Lee on the Vickery Meadow TIF board, but Mr. Lee was disqualified because he already served on a city commission.
...  Mr. Lee and Mr. Hill's involvement in the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, as well as any links to Ronald Slovacek ? a Denton County developer and owner of Millennium Land Development, LLC ? and Andrea Spencer, a former colleague of Mr. Lee's with a concrete company.
...  The subpoena seeks information on the Black State Employees Association of Texas, which had its offices searched by the FBI in June. It also requests documents and specific details from the Dallas Housing Finance Corp., a city agency that issues tax-exempt bonds to build affordable housing for low- to moderate-income households. The corporation has joined with Southwest Housing on several projects.