12/20/05   Decherd knows who he doesn't want to be mayor, but he hasn't picked her successor.

This town is just wacked out!  No other way to describe where we are.

We had a Black councilwoman make an anti-Semitic statement to another council member about him and two other council members who are also Jewish.  Rather than demand the offending councilwoman resign or publicly apologize and/or both, the town's biggest hypocrites are making excuses for her.  Excuses that are almost a racist as the comments she made in the first place.

Rather than hold the offending councilwoman accountable, the town's biggest hypocrites criticize the victim for publicizing her racist statements.  Had Brain-Dead Thornton-Reese not been overhead repeating her anti-Semitic statements to someone else, there would have been no story.  It wasn't Mitch Rasansky who alerted the press to T-Reese's insults to him.  It was T-Reese herself.

Council: 'Jews' remark isolated; Dallas: Thornton-Reese outburst seen as part of frustration with Miller Friday, December 16, 2005 by EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News

Dallas City Council member Maxine Thornton-Reese's comments Wednesday about fellow member Mitchell Rasansky's faith were out of line, their colleagues say ? and not emblematic of any institutional discord between blacks and Jews. ... Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill said Thursday. Dr. Thornton-Reese "just got out of control. I know this isn't the way she feels. She wasn't able to rein her emotions in." ... "Her frustration is with the mayor, and Mr. Rasansky has been the mayor's bulldog," said Rufus Shaw Jr., a southern-sector political analyst. "They just happen to be Jewish. And as a result, it was a simple but unfortunate leap to make." ... Mr. Rasansky told The News that Dr. Thornton-Reese pulled him into a back room behind the council chambers, closed the door and grabbed hold of his arm, shouting comments like, "You Jews need to stop." ... Mr. Hill, who was out of town and couldn't attend Wednesday's council meeting, said he worried from afar that Dr. Thornton-Reese might lose her cool. He spoke to her before the meeting, he said, and she was already agitated.    Several council members said Dr. Thornton-Reese had been in the hospital last week, ... "I had a clear sense this was a day that was going to be very emotionally challenging for her," said Mr. Hill, who "almost got tears" in his eyes when he heard about Wednesday's aftermath. ... The regional office of the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday called Dr. Thornton-Reese's comments "shocking, inappropriate, unfortunate and hurtful" and said it would "be appropriate if she apologized." ... But council member James Fantroy said Thursday that he blames Mr. Rasansky for going public with his and Dr. Thornton-Reese's back-room discussion. The City Council is like a family, he said, in which conversations behind closed doors "should be left behind closed doors."    "If it's said at the [council table], that's a different story," said Mr. Fantroy, who is black. "But even if the N-word was said behind closed doors, it shouldn't come out. Maybe something got heated. There are a whole lot of things said behind doors that [people] don't mean to say." ... Mr. Shaw agreed that Dr. Thornton-Reese's choice of words was unfortunate. But he said her frustration has nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with the perception of Ms. Miller and Mr. Rasansky as political allies. They're the two council members who are most often seen as "adversaries of the African-American community," he said, and they just happen to be Jewish.    "The truth is, we have differences with Laura Miller, not with the Jewish community. But when you start playing divisive politics, it's the inevitable evolution," he said. "Since the Laura Miller regime, there has been a growing distance between African-Americans and Jews on the City Council." ... Dr. Thornton-Reese also was involved in a controversial council debate in January in which she suggested that a comparison between Adolf Hitler and a proposal to strengthen mayoral powers was valid.    But Ms. Miller said she wishes the council member was happier at council meetings. Lately, the mayor said, Dr. Thornton-Reese has been "anxious and loud" and gotten into heated spats with her colleagues.    "She has become kind of a weekly wild card at City Hall," Ms. Miller said. "This week was probably the most frenetic I've ever seen her."

In Racism's a 2-Way Street, I say:  If we knew T-Reese has some medical condition, we could assume she was just off her meds.  Since Councilman Fantroy and the FBI's Favorite Target Don Hill had both recused themselves from the Verified Response debate and vote for "conflict of interest" reasons, it's more likely T-Reese lost it because they weren't there to reign her in.  Guess I know Brain-Dead pretty well because ace reporter Emily Ramshaw quotes Don Hill as saying:  She wasn't able to rein her emotions in.   And, it turns out she has recently been hospitalized.  The fact that this woman cannot control herself without Don Hill acting as her Swengalli makes it clear she does not need to be in any decision-making position.

Hits and Misses 09:16 AM CST on Saturday, December 17, 2005

Perhaps some of her best friends are Jewish    Acceptable discourse between Dallas City Council members: "Happy Hanukkah, Mitch. How's the menorah coming?" Unacceptable discourse: "You Jews are controlling City Hall." We would have thought Maxine Thornton-Reese would know the difference, but apparently not. She told a Dallas Morning News reporter that the news media took her comments Wednesday to Mitchell Rasansky out of context and tried to make her look bad. You know, as if she needs our help.

Is that the lamest commentary you have ever seen in The Dallas Managed News ?  Had Laura Miller grabbed Don Hill's arm and told him -- "You Blacks are controlling City Hall," there would have been Hell to pay.  Don Hill would have called a press conference and surrounded himself with all those so-called Black Ministers.  He would have expressed outrage.  Others would be ready to organize street marches.  The Dallas Managed News  would have called for Mayor Miller to resign and started promoting several opponents to prevent her from winning again in 2007.  Oh, wait, they are already doing that. 

Isn't it incredible?  Brain-Dead makes an anti-Semitic remark that included Mayor Miller in her insults, and it's all Laura Miller's fault and she should step aside and let some appropriate puppet of Our Downtown Betters (the ODB) take control.

There's another big problem for the ODB in general and The Dallas Managed News  in particular.  They don't have anyone they can control who can beat Miller.

Bill Blaydes and Flip Flop Oakely who are cited in Goffer Jeffers' story see themselves as viable candidates.  Sandra Dee Gary Griffith also wants to run for mayor.  Must be something in the water at City Hall that makes some people delusional. 

Former councilman Max Wells thinks enough people remember him to give him an edge.  He was the ultimate "go along to get along" on the council, and the last kind of person we need as mayor.

There are others who are not ready to go public with their plans, if they do at all.  The ODB have already recruited a guy that no one knows, much less remembers.  No credentials.  No possibility.

Ties to developer don't hurt Miller; Exclusive: Mayor's dogged support key to Potashnik's success Saturday, December 17, 2005 by GROMER JEFFERS JR. and REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News

... Facing a contentious city council debate, Southwest Housing president Brian Potashnik turned to his biggest political ally for support.    Although the scene was San Antonio, that ally was Dallas Mayor Laura Miller. ... Ms. Miller says she has done nothing improper and supported Mr. Potashnik only because of the great work he's done for the city. Black leaders have complained that the FBI's City Hall investigation smacks of racism because only blacks with ties to Mr. Potashnik have been named in search warrants and subpoenas. ... "You look out for that big donor," said Council member Bill Blaydes, "and that's what she did."    The Potashniks contributed $66,000 to Ms. Miller's political campaign and causes over the last four years, ... Ms. Miller, meanwhile, backed virtually every project the Potashniks wanted to build in Dallas, even when neighborhood groups and other public officials fought the plans. ... Ms. Miller also strongly opposed every project associated with a former employee-turned-rival of the Potashniks and encouraged her colleagues to do likewise. ... "All I know is that I never took more than the maximum allowed in my campaigns," she said.    The mayor told The News that she had not been questioned or subpoenaed by the FBI.    The public officials named in the ongoing investigation include four Dallas City Council members, three city plan commissioners, a state senator and a state representative. Several of the officials and their associates have received jobs, contracts or other financial benefits from Southwest Housing while giving their public support for its developments. ... The two had met years earlier, when Ms. Miller was a City Council member, representing parts of Oak Cliff. Mr. Potashnik, whose company had been a small outfit fixing slum properties in Dallas, had started to expand and wanted to build a new low-income apartment complex for families and senior citizens in her district. ... "She called me and said there was this great guy I should meet," said David Marquis, one of the community leaders. ...  "Laura was his biggest champion at City Hall," said Mr. Marquis, who did some consulting work for Mr. Potashnik after the Boy Scout property deal, ... the Potashniks among her upper echelon of her donors ? alongside some of the area's wealthiest people, such as oilman Albert Huddleston and Eagles rocker Don Henley. ... Tim Sorrells, the commission's deputy general counsel, said recipients are penalized only if they knowingly accepted an illegal contribution. ... "Legally, as long as I don't get more than $10,000 from that couple, then I am within the law," she added. ... After the mayor questioned the city secretary's office about what it had told The News, the office issued a statement noting that city code does not specifically address how contributions from a joint checking account are treated, but that donors can give only under the name by which they are "identified for legal purposes." ... The first development that Mr. Fisher brought to the City Council in his new role was called Rose Court at Thorntree, located near one of Southwest Housing's apartment complexes on Old Hickory Trail. Rose Court had won endorsements from nearby neighborhood organizations and a recommendation from the city's housing staff before a Sept. 10, 2003, council meeting. ... During the council meeting, Mr. Fantroy recused himself from the debate. Ms. Miller said she asked colleague Don Hill why, and he told her that Mr. Fantroy's family security business stood to gain a contract with Mr. Fisher's company if the project passed. ... The city attorney's office had already told Mr. Fantroy that his family business could work with Mr. Fisher, as long as he didn't vote on matters involving the developer.    Ms. Miller called for a closed session that day to discuss the Fisher-Fantroy contract and persuaded her colleagues to table the vote, so that the city attorney could research further the state's conflict-of-interest laws. ... Mr. Blaydes said he did not believe Ms. Miller was motivated by outrage over the security contract. "She was working to promote the welfare of the Potashnik operation at that point in time."    Council member Ed Oakley added that Mr. Potashnik and Ms. Miller "got way out front in trying to oppose Bill Fisher's projects." ... The mayor's support of Mr. Potashnik and opposition to Mr. Fisher continued throughout 2004. ..."

(See The Faux-Hearing)  The council meeting was on September 22, 2004.  If the council didn't act on a city staff recommendation for a year, that's a problem.  More likely, Goffer Jeffers got his dates wrong.  That's why you can't trust anything printed in The Dallas Managed News.  They make it up as they go.  Here I am in my pajamas in my den, and I can do a better job remembering than Jeffers can do with his high dollar salary and research tools in the DMN archives that I refuse to pay a fee to use.

With no apologies, I admit Laura Miller is a friend.  Regular DallasArena.com readers know I have not always been happy with her priorities as mayor.  So, no one can say I always take her side.  Mayor Miller certainly would not say that. 

In his tale of intrigue, Goffer Jeffers does not mix apples and oranges.  He mixes apples and cucumbers.

Laura Miller took OPEN and LEGAL campaign contributions and officer holder account contributions from Potashnik and other RICH donors and dutifully reported them and accounted for them on her political financial reports.  As Jeffers reluctantly points out, "The public officials named in the ongoing investigation include four Dallas City Council members, three city plan commissioners, a state senator and a state representative. Several of the officials and their associates have received jobs, contracts or other financial benefits from Southwest Housing while giving their public support for its developments."  There's a big difference.

If you think it's coincidental to have a Miller attack piece in The Dallas Managed News if not daily at least weekly, you probably think Arlington will get their investment back from building a playpen for Grandpa Jerry Jones.  These attack pieces all relate to the Mayor exposing the $6.3 million tax abatement for Ray Hunt.  It was intended to be done behind closed doors.  We were not supposed to know that Weeping William Blaydes and Flip Flop Ed Oakley who voted to raise your property taxes were leading the charge to give away $6.3 million in property taxes to a Billionaire Son of a Bigamist.

Look at the council members Jeffers cites.   When Ed Oakley was first elected to the City Council, it was from District 6, and his margin of victory came from the Northwest Dallas precincts.  During the crucial redistricting of 2001, he got drawn out of his own district and lumped into District 3 (then Miller's council district).  At that point, most of District 6 no longer had anyone championing our issues at City Hall.  When the council decided to give each council member $3 million in bond money to spend on projects in their individual districts, Ed Oakley spent $2.5 million of District 6's designated bond money in his new District 3.  There are many neighborhoods in District 6 without sidewalks or gutters.  Anyone could have easily found obvious places to spend bond money to improve District 6, but Ed Oakley used our money to curry favor with the voters of District 3.

It was just a few weeks ago when Lake Highlands residents turned out in mass to oppose a Wal-Mart near their homes.  During the discussion, their councilman Blaydes kept addressing the project as "our" and "we" as if he were party to the development.  He even corrected himself for doing so, and said he had no interest in the project.  His constituents did not buy his disclaimer, and he went ballistic.  Later, he made an emotional apology that only made things worse.

Both Oakley and Blaydes have mayoral aspirations and should not be quoted as unbiased observers of events at the horse show.  Ed Oakley has an open vendetta against Laura Miller because she endorsed Mark Housewright over him.

All of the background noise aside, Laura Miller took large campaign contributions from Potashnik and many other rich people.  Any mayoral candidate can accept $5,000 per individual per campaign.  Council members are restricted to $1,000 contributions per individual per campaign.  The Mayor has to run in 14 districts, and council members only have to run in 1 district.  By that standard, a mayoral candidate probably should be able to accept $10,000 per individual per campaign.  Runoffs count as a second campaign.  Once elected, the Mayor and any council members are not restricted to the amount of contributions they can accept to their office holder accounts.  That's why many wait late to announce whether they are running for re-election.  Once they announce, they go back to limited contributions, although they can use their office holder accounts for re-election campaign costs.  It's a bizarre system, but it's the system.  Only other rule that must be followed -- contributions must be accurately reported on political financial reports.

Accepting jobs, contracts and/or personal financial benefits from people with cases before the council or a board or commission NEVER falls in the category of an acceptable campaign contribution.  That just may be why no one reports them.

I've just taken you a long way around the mountain of confusion that Bob Decherd (publisher of The Dallas Managed News  and all things Belo) is trying to build to take out Laura Miller in 2007.  You may not be happy with everything she does, but do you really want to give the city back to the likes of Ray Hunt? 

The Dallas Managed News  is not the only rag in town controlled by that Billionaire Son of a Bigamist Ray Hunt through his various connections.  Hunt and Decherd are best of friends.  Hunt also all but writes the copy for much of D Magazine through his relationship with the ultimate suck-up, Wick Allison. 

What isn't misrepresented in The Dallas Managed News  will get printed in D Magazine.  Tim Rogers is already promising to take shots at Miller.  On D Magazine's blog, he says "(Note to the Miller camp: brace yourself for our January "Best & Worst" cover.)"

Laura Miller may not have done everything I wanted, but she has exposed the underbelly of the way things are done at City Hall.  That's what I wanted most from her.  Look at who's squealing the loudest when the light of exposure hits them, and you know who the bad guys are.

Interestingly enough, other than Ron Natinksy, Mitch Rasansky and to an extent the Mayor, I have not heard one word of condemnation from Ed Oakley or Bill Blaydes or Gary Griffith or anyone  about the anti-Semitic statements made by Brain-Dead Thornton-Reese.  Do you know why?  All three of them want to stay on good terms with so-called Black leaders for their 2007 mayoral race.  Besides their mayoral aspirations, their silence means they acquiesce and condone what was said. 

It will be fun to see which one Bob Decherd anoints to be his horse in his plans to unseat Laura Miller.

sb