02/11/02   Desperate DMN

Dallas Morning News' Dunning campaign ads such as the "Mayor's Race:  Dunning can pull factions together" piece become more and more desperate as the election showdown approaches.  

DMN claims that the campaign has gotten "off-focus" with its emphasis on sound bites and campaign ethics issues, instead of ... what?  In debate after debate, Laura Miller has addressed specific issues, including ETHICS, with definitive plans of action.   Conversely, Mr. Dunning has offered nothing except his resume of committee appointments and his promise to "see what other cities are doing about this"
or "form a committee to study that." 

DMN seems to have missed the elemental significance of this race: the election is now about political integrity.  The campaign ads, the legal and ethical problems DMN reporters cover so regularly, the character of the people staffing the two campaigns, and the degree to which each candidate demonstrates willingness to represent the true public interest are, indeed, representative of this election.  The DMN has very simply bet on the wrong horse in this race; so now DMN is trying to change the race to a pony show (i.e., It's not the fastest horse that should be the winner, it's the, let's see... pony with the most impressive pedigree, pony from the fanciest farm, pony most easily led around by his handlers...). 

With the Dunning camp's vote brokers preoccupied with the prospects of imminent criminal indictment, financial backers backing off to refocus on how to stack the various power-brokering downtown groups to undermine Mayor Miller's efforts to clean up City Hall, and the once-important DMN editorial endorsement having now become as transparent as the fabled Emperor's new clothes, DMN is definitely got it's work cut out turning this horse race into a pony show.

Finally, as for coalitions and coalition building: Did it ever occur to you that one of the reasons for Laura Miller's popularity is her willingness to stand up to the herd mentality of the current city council, the ineptitude of the city bureaucracy, and demand accountability from these folks.  Did it ever occur to DMN that Dallas voters may be sick of politics as usual at City Hall?  Switching animal metaphors, would DMN prefer an inbred, docile, and manicured poodle that would delight in forming coalitions with fleas, ticks, and other parasites as long as he was secure on a fat lap (preferably in the Park Cities Home or Crescent Court office), or would you prefer the poodle's cousin the fox, who would deal with the parasites by going for a nice swim with twig in her mouth, totally submerged eventually so that all the desperate parasites crowd onto the twig to be released to swim on their own?  

Laura Miller is a fox, and there are quite a few parasites -- bureaucrats, local pols, and "business leaders" -- dreading the possibility that they will have to swim on their own after years of cruising on the taxpayers' dime.

I'm betting that the voters of Dallas will reject the DMN Dog & Pony Show.  I'm betting they'll go with real racehorses and foxes this time.

Dr. William Gordon
Dallas, Texas