Citizen D
What Tree Ordinance?
                             

09/08/03  Is it Ron Kirk?

	Who and what is this guy?  We know he is a flim-flam artist, a con man, a grifter, etc., etc., but how does he get away with it? Has anyone in the county ever exceeded his ability to fool most of us most of the time? You may not like him.  You may not respect him.  You  may be certain his personal code of ethics could fit on a tack.
Still, you certainly have to marvel at Con Jerk's brazen ability to sell himself and whatever his ODB keepers want to impose on us this week.

We will get to Con Jerk's pending role as Grandpa Jones' new pitchman, but let's talk about Kirk and Benavides and Bolton a bit.

Ron Kirk had the best of all sidekicks in John Ware.  Equally smart, equally greedy and equally ruthless, former City MisManager John Ware and former Mayor Ron Kirk opened up our measly municipal coffers to Robber Barons Ross Perot, Jr. and Tom Hicks, who cleaned our cupboards bare but shared some of the proceeds with Con Jerk and Ware in fairly equal portions.

Just a few months after the arena sales tax referendum, John Ware announced he was leaving his high dollar city job to take a higher dollar job with a company being set up for him by Tom Hicks.  John Ware and Ron Kirk absolutely gave away everything to the Robber Barons:  all revenue from naming rights, ticket sales, parking revenue.  Millions and millions.  In exchange for our $125 million and counting investment through sales taxes on car rentals and hotel/motel rentals (not to mention all the tax abatements), we get $3 million in rent annually.  At the end of 30 years, they get to buy the arena and related property from the city for $1 million or they can leave us with an old building, which we will probably have replaced by then anyway. 

The most egregious part of the deal John Ware cut for his future boss was the non-compete component that prohibits the city from entering into any other arena deals or offering tax incentives for them without permission from the Robber Barons.

Not too long after we learned about John Ware's deal with Hicks, the Dallas Managed News disclosed (information DMN reporters had during arena campaign but withheld) that Hicks had given Mrs. Con Jerk $500,000 worth of stock options for serving on one of his corporate boards for a few weeks.  The options were worth considerably more when sold.  Robber Baron Hicks admitted he only put her on the board because she was African-American.

Ware and Kirk's bribes sure make Old Al look pathetic with his $7,700 bribe from Caligula Rizos (Interim Chief Hampton's buddy).  Of course, with all the assistance Al and Lovie  got from their WHITE ODB keepers over the years, they may have done as well.  Ware and Kirk just manage their ill-gotten gains better than the Lipscombs.

In case you missed the story about Lovie Lipscomb's (actually Al Lipscomb's) ethics complaint against Mayor Miller, it's basically a complaint alleging Miller and/or her aide Crayton Webb asked a Kirk-holdover to get a podium for the flag room for a press conference where a state employee group was endorsing Laura Miller over Mary Poss.  The woman making the claim has some holes in her story and Al Lipscomb has a hole in his head, but the Ethics Commission is doing an investigation.  These are the same jokers who dismissed Allen Gwinn's complaint against Yolanda Lara, who repeatedly used city computers and the city's e-mail addresses to campaign against Miller and Sharon Boyd. 

This is the level of corruption at City Hall and it all ties back to Ron Kirk.  When he lost John Ware, Kirk wanted a weak guy to do as he was told so Kirk would actually be in control.  As an Assistant City Attorney (later city's lobbyist in Austin), Kirk knew Ted Benavides very well and knew exactly what he would be getting from him.

In typical Con Jerk's fashion, he now claims he would have fired Bolton in 2001.  You know why he didn't make the City MisManager fire Bolton then.  Kirk had a Senate race on the horizon.  If Kirk had any chance of winning a state wide race, he needed every Black vote.  If Kirk was part of Bolton's firing, there would be some who might hold it against him.  Right!

Instead of doing what was right for Dallas, Kirk did what was best for him. 

Dallas police chief search to be unlike last one; Benavides, who didn't even interview Bolton, says he'll be thorough 09:24 PM CDT on Saturday, September 6, 2003 By DAVE MICHAELS and COLLEEN McCAIN NELSON

On a hot day in August 1999, Dallas City Manager Ted Benavides paid a quick visit to the Farmers Market to inform a group of Dallas police commanders that Terrell Bolton would be their next chief. . . . Everyone in attendance, including retiring Chief Ben Click, was surprised. Despite an early promise of a national search, it wasn't conducted. The city manager never issued a call for resumes ? even within the city ? and offered no others an opportunity to interview for the position. . . .  Mr. Benavides had not even interviewed Mr. Bolton. . . .Mr. Benavides said that in recent years, the city has become more aggressive in vetting job candidates. . . . checking their credit histories, background checks, checking on diplomas," . . . ."We have to be more strict."    When Mr. Benavides hired his last chief, he consulted Mayor Ron Kirk, who encouraged the manager to follow his instincts. Mr. Kirk, however, said he quickly grew weary of Mr. Bolton's mistakes. . . . Mr. Click had told Mr. Kirk that he would retire,  . . .   "I told him from the day he took the job, he needed to start thinking about the type of person he wanted for police chief," Mr. Kirk said this week.  . . . Mr. Benavides' assistant city manager . . .  "A city this large and dynamic needs to look at all the possible candidates inside as well as outside," said Charles Daniels, who remains in charge of the city's public safety departments. . . . strong feeling that Dallas was ready to promote one of its own, Mr. Benavides said. . . .  considered Mr. Bolton, a gregarious man with contacts in many communities, to be the one most likely to carry out Mr. Click's philosophy of outreach. . . . Kirk said his questions about Mr. Bolton were "whether he had the mental toughness and the management skills to go along with his personality." . . .  skipping a national search, Mr. Kirk blessed the idea.  . . .  Soon after taking office, Mr. Bolton made several moves that either cost the city money or upset its relationship with other government agencies. . . . to demote nine veteran commanders cost the city about $5.5 million in legal settlements. He angered the department's federal colleagues when he removed his intelligence unit from its office in the FBI's Dallas headquarters, saying he wanted more oversight over the unit's affairs.    Last week, Mr. Benavides revealed that he and Mr. Kirk had to repair the city's relationship with the FBI.  . . . "By the time I had resigned, I had seen enough," Mr. Kirk said. "I would have supported Ted coming in and saying, 'It is time to make a change.' " . . . "We were too busy cleaning up all his messes, I guess," the former mayor said. . . . "The mayor told me several times that he wasn't exactly very pleased," Mr. Benavides said. " . . . But he always ended with, 'That's your job.' "

Kirk and the City MisManager had to mend fences with the FBI, but Bolton kept his job?  The break with the FBI was enough reason to fire Bolton and covering for Bolton was enough reason to fire Benavides at the time.

This is not the time to fire Ted Benavides.  This is the time to bring some order to the chaos at City Hall. 

With all these revelations, you would think Our Downtown Betters (the ODB) would back away from Con Jerk.  If they cared about this city, they would want no part of him.  They care about their own pockets.  

No single corporate entity has exploited Dallas taxpayers like Belo (the owner of The Dallas Managed News and WFAA, Ch. 8).  The founders of the corporation, along with the Carpenter Family and other big names, were responsible for taking people's homes in West Dallas to divert the Trinity River from its natural path.  Under their leadership, West Dallas did not get running water until the 1950's.  

Belo and The Dallas Managed News were big backers of a new arena for the Robber Barons, as well as the Trinity Boondoggle.

	Both the arena sales tax and the Trinity Boondoggle had Con Jerk as their chief Carnival Barker.
	Step right up, suckers.  We've got another big joke on you, and I'm going to get lots more future benefits which will make me laugh even harder.
	Come on in, suckers.  We will make you pay for a bridge over a muddy river that goes nowhere.  We will divert millions and billions from the things you need to enrich properties owned by people who have been spending your money for decades.
	Hurry, suckers.  We haven't fooled you enough in the past 5 years, as Master Con Artist, I have been hired to do it to you again.  We know you were holding out a dollar or two from your basic necessities to spend on luxuries and entertainment for my keepers, the ODB.

Belo's Editorial (is that an oxymoron?) Board is promoting Con Jerk to be the chief huckster for Grandpa Jones' new stadium.  Have they lost their minds?  Do they really think Dallas taxpayers, much less Dallas County taxpayers are going to buy Con Jerk's act again?  You bet your last tax dollar, they do.

Editorial Page: Stadium Negotiations: County should put Kirk on team 11:11 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 3, 2003

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk knows how to negotiate a sports facility agreement that can make the seemingly impossible become a reality.    County Commissioner John Wiley Price's recommendation that Mr. Kirk be on the county's stadium advisory team is a good idea. Mr. Kirk would be an asset in helping to negotiate with the Dallas Cowboys on plans for a $650 million stadium.    As mayor, Mr. Kirk showed his negotiating tenacity when dealing with the Mavericks and Stars about building an arena near downtown. The result is the $450 million American Airlines Center, which has not yet lived up to its promise as an economic engine but has enormous potential and is still one of the nation's best sports and entertainment venues. . . .He has the expertise to make the deal work and persuade voters to support the stadium when they go to the polls next year.

If we have a $450 million basketball/hockey arena "that has not yet lived up to its promise as an economic engine" and the city can't deliver basic services and our police and firefighters are paid less than their counterparts in Grand Prairie, it sure seems like the last thing we should do is build another sports castle for another crook that will not deliver on its promises either.  If we are going to do something so stupid, the right person to take us down that wrong trail would be Con Jerk.  

Do they think we have forgotten the lies, backroom deals and illegal vote harvesting that happened during the arena election?

Stadium role for Kirk?; He may be asked to help county on plans for new Cowboys home 07:07 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 3, 2003 By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News

When Dallas County commissioners consult an advisory committee to help them negotiate with the Dallas Cowboys on a new publicly funded stadium, one of their aides may be a man intimately familiar with the knotty intersection of sports and politics. . . .   Commissioner John Wiley Price said he would ask Mr. Kirk, who negotiated with the owners of the Dallas Mavericks and Stars to build American Airlines Center, to serve as one of his appointees. . . . Mr. Kirk has been talking informally with Mr. Price and County Judge Margaret Keliher since at least July,  . . . Mr. Kirk, along with former Dallas City Manager John Ware, negotiated the deal that led to the building of American Airlines Center. Voters approved the public financing for the arena in January 1998 by 1,642 votes.    Mr. Kirk has not committed to serving on the committee,  . . .  The Cowboys want to build a $650 million stadium, either in downtown Dallas or Irving's Las Colinas. The team has indicated it would like to use as much as $400 million in hotel and car-rental taxes to finance the stadium. . . . Mr. Price said he believed Mr. Kirk could help the county with technical and legal issues, and given his political celebrity, could help sell the project to voters. . . . Dave Capps, who helped lead the opposition against American Airlines Center, said he didn't know whether Mr. Kirk would make a difference. . . .   Mr. Capps, who is directing a new effort to oppose tax funding for a Cowboys stadium. "He has a lot of supporters, but he also carries a lot of baggage." . . .