Death in South Dallas
Mary, Mary
Jay Narey
Mike Perry
Rad Field
                             

01/13/03  or Mayor PreTend Poss?

Friday morning, I got a call that Mary Poss was announcing her mayoral candidacy on the Mark Davis show.  As much as I hate having to listen to either blowhard, I turned it on.  It was worse than you can imagine.

Instead of having a rally of some of those she claims are encouraging her to run, Poss announced her candidacy in a little love fest with a talk show host who doesn't even live in Dallas County, much less this city.  He gets his information on Dallas from what he reads in the Dallas Managed News and conversations with his friends in the skyboxes at the Hicks/Perot Arena.

Poss lied.  Poss bragged.  Poss exaggerated.  Much like what she did at a meeting last week.  Mary Poss is as much responsible for the mess we are in financially as anyone, other than That Former Mayor. She chaired the Finance and Audit Committee and was instrumental in forcing out the best City Auditor we ever had because he gave negative reports on some of her pet projects.

Listening to Mark Davis is very tiresome.  He was Mr. Family Man when he first got to town -- always talking about Cathy and his sacrifices for her and for the MS Cause.  What happened to Nephew Chris?  Then D Magazine did a story on his other life with his then on-the-side girlfriend, now Mrs. #3.  It's just very hard to hear Davis question anyone's integrity when his own fidelity is so temporary.  Had he kept his family life private, then it would not be an issue, but Davis made his family life a part of his public persona.

Davis made some statements about Laura Miller that were just blatantly off base.  He brought up two issues from the last campaign, but failed to say (may not even remember) that he asked her two questions, and she answered them honestly rather than evading a response.

When a talk show host becomes a shill for one political candidate in a non-partisan race, that's time to start talking to the management.  

In his follow-up, Davis said he hates non-partisan elections, that "we have a right to know".   Mark Davis is not a Dallas "we".  How Dallas citizens vote to run our city is not his business.  He chose to live and pay property taxes and sales taxes elsewhere.  Davis doesn't even work in Dallas and has nary a clue about how the city votes.  He pretends to be a Republican, but there are only a few Dallas districts that Republicans could possibly win.  

Some of the biggest big spenders at City Hall have been Democrats -- Ron Kirk, Leo Chaney, Don Hicks, Al Lipscomb, James Fantroy, Steve Salazar.  Some of the best taxpayer watchdogs have been Republicans -- Jerry Bartos, Charlotte Mayes, Donna Blumer and Mitch Rasansky.  Then there's John Loza who claimed to be a Republican, but voted with That Former Mayor almost 100% (now he's a Democrat).  Mary Poss claims to be Republican, but she backed Ross Perot (her husband's boss) and votes for every big ticket, anti-neighborhood issue that comes before the council.  Laura Miller is a Democrat, but opposes big ticket items and works for the taxpayer.  

City Hall issues do not follow partisan lines.

If we change OUR council elections to partisan, Dallas will be in real trouble.  Potholes and parks do not translate to partisan issues.  Partisan labels are as wrong for Dallas as voting on racial lines.  I would like to find one Republican Miller supporter who did not know she was a Democrat.  Her husband is an elected official, a Democrat State Legislator.

The first few callers were clearly Poss plants.  When real Dallas voters got on the air, it was not such happy talk.  One man properly identified her as "carrying water for Hicks and Perot".  Davis said 'everyone loves the arena now' -- because the teams are winning.  Everyone in the suburbs might love the arena, but he is not speaking for Dallas voters when he makes that false claim.  He may not be aware we just survived a $95 Million budget shortfall that is directly the result of diverting so much to that project.  The arena sales tax has definitely hurt OUR convention business.

Mary Poss signed the Firefighter/Police Petition for that 17% raise and she posed for the council picture in opposition to the raise.  Since 70% of the city voted against that raise, Poss might want to re-think going that route.  Police and firefighters might want to re-think getting behind her.

Mary Poss says she is pro-business, but she is no friend to local and small business people.  She repeatedly votes against Dallas businesses by supporting tax abatements to their competition, and always goes with commercial interests when there is neighborhood opposition to a zoning case.  Her idea of preservation is tearing down an historic building and replacing it with a plaque (St. Ann's, etc.).

When the Mayor campaigned against the Pay Referendum, DallasArena.com campaigned for the cops and firefighters.  It was a non-partisan issue.  DallasArena.com maintained our taxes would be raised regardless of what happened with the referendum.  If the Referendum had passed, we would have at least known where a specific amount of our taxes are going.  Sort of like a TIF (tax increment financing) district for the little guy.  That's the kind of power Mary Poss likes to give to her rich buddies, but opposes for the little guy.

I am personally going to take a smaller role in the Mayor's re-election campaign since I have my own campaign.  We cannot make this city better doing the things the old way, the Poss way.  Laura Miller has raised some issues that have angered different groups.  I have agreed with some of her positions and opposed others., but the questions needed to be asked -- like employee compensation procedures and standards.  Poss would sweep everything under the rug like That Former Mayor mishandled crisis after crisis.

What do you think MPT Poss would have done about the Convention and Visitors' Bureau mess?  Nothing!  She has been incredibly silent on the issue when even John Loza is calling for Chris Luna to resign.  Granted, there's bad blood between Loza and Luna.  Poss actually blocked investigations into the arrangement between Chief Bolton and Old Lipscomb regarding that bribe from Caligula Rizos.

I am running to defend and protect and promote the residents and businesses of District 6 from Northwest/Bachman down to Oak Cliff (Sylvan/Bataan and Arcadia Park) because we have been abused and ignored by City Hall.  Laura Miller fought to save the wading pool in District 6 (Arcadia Park), and I was with her, but Mary Poss voted to divert the donation intended for the wading pools to another project.  Mary Poss moved a sex club (La Barre) out of her district into my District 6  because we had no voice at City Hall to protect us.

Dallas has been on a wrong road for 15 years.  We have tried to spend ourselves out of a dire economy with big ticket items, but ignored infrastructure problems.  We are still paying on those big ticket items, and none of them have delivered the development and revenue increase promised.  

Poss has been on that wrong road.  Remember when she and That Former Mayor promised the folks flooded out by that water main break they would get assistance from the city.  She should have known the city could not be sued, and people who lost their condos and personal possessions due to City Hall neglecting our infrastructure had no place to go.  She's either an idiot, or Poss lied to those victims of that water main disaster.

What is more important to you?  Social issues or waste of tax dollars?  If you disagree with Miller on social issues, look at who voted with her.  

Let's stay on the new road with Miller.   We may hit a pot hole or road barrier, but it is the right road.  We have a real chance to clean up City Hall.  We have a Mayor who thinks a Code of Ethics is as important as anything we do.  MPT Poss opposed the new Code of Ethics and has her own problems in Austin with that complaint filed by Allen Gwinn.

If you are going to vote for one or the other, you need to get up and go help her campaign.  If you think one has the better message, you need to help her campaign.  

You need to get involved.