08/16/02  The Kirk's finally cash in their blood money.

In 1998, Belo a/o The Dallas Managed News withheld the news that Matrice Kirk held $500,000 worth of stock options in a company owned by Tom Hicks.  We had the arena sales tax referendum in January, 1998 and the Trinity Bond-doogle in May, but we didn't find out about the Kirk-Hicks stock options until August when the DMN finally ran the story.  Kirk reacted with his usual righteous indignation!

That's what successful crooks and con artists always do.  Bluster and threaten!  Sitting on that important story was justified by the DMN reporter who finally "broke" the story as their not wanting to influence the outcome of either election.  Do you think a few more Dallas voters would have come to their senses had they known that Ron Kirk had helped John Ware negotiate one of the most lopsided business contracts in the history of crooked municipal deals?  Their work product is the now infamous "Arena Master Agreement".

Ron Kirk ripped off this city, and Ron Kirk ripped this city apart.  

It was quite a shock to a lot of people to have run their story on the Texas Senate race by some reporter named "Karen Tumulty".  Has anyone ever heard of her?  A name like "Tumulty" would be fairly memorable.  " Tumulty" is descriptive of Dallas since Ron Kirk was elected Mayor.

From the Aug. 19, 2002 issue of TIME magazine

Sharon Boyd responds to Magazine Reading your puff piece on Ron Kirk, my 1st & 2nd second questions were who is Karen Tumulty and does she live anywhere near Dallas?  No one has ever heard of her, and she certainly is not knowledgeable about Dallas or the disaster Ron Kirk has been for this city. When Kirk took over as Mayor, we had millions in a surplus, emergency fund.  Kirk left us with a budget shortfall of $85 million and counting. Ron Kirk negotiated the arena sales tax that benefited Tom Hicks but destroyed our convention business.  The arena sales tax election was in Jan, 1998, but we did not find out until August, 1998 that when he negotiated the master agreement and campaigned for the sales tax, Ron Kirk's wife held 1/2 Million worth of stock in a Hicks-owned company. The Kirks sold their Hicks stock in 2001 for $325,000 (as reported on their tax return just filed 8/15/02).  Ron Kirk sold out the citizens of Dallas for $298,000.  Kirk had nothing to do with our light rail.  Those routes were determined while Kirk was just a lobbyist for the city of Dallas.  As Mayor, he got a 10-year plan changed to accommodate Tom Hicks and his arena to the detriment of our West End Entertainment District. On www.DallasArena.com, Ron Kirk's nickname is Con Jerk. Hopefully, Ron Kirk will not be elected to the Senate.  It would be terrible for him to do to the country what he has done to Dallas.

Can He Rope Texas? A rare breed — a Lone Star Democrat — is giving the White House the jitters on Bush's home turf BY KAREN TUMULTY/DALLAS Monday, Aug. 19, 2002 . . . Ron Kirk had them applauding from the moment he told them, "I sure wish Enron ran their business the way y'all run yours." By the time he had finished up with his line about giving the capital a dose of "what it's like to be on the front lines of problem solving," some were ready to pledge their votes.  . . . What no Republican calculations took into account was Kirk's charm. A tall, bald man with a big voice and a booming laugh, he jokes, he chats, he hugs and pats his way through a room.  . . . He has mobilized heavy political backing from Dallas' conservative business elite and raised more money than Cornyn in Bush's old Dallas zip code.  . . . Kirk's strength comes not just from his sunny personality but also from a solid record as a pro-business mayor who took over a city paralyzed by racial bickering and left downtown Dallas with a gleaming sports arena, a successful light-rail system, a new police headquarters under construction and $543 million in funding for development along the Trinity River — without losing powerful minority support.  . . .The Democrats are banking on multicultural appeal, with Kirk for Senator and millionaire Hispanic businessman Tony Sanchez running for Governor. But Kirk bristles at that kind of identity politics and says he prefers to run on issues like corporate accountability and fiscal discipline. He knows he can't win unless minority voters turn out strongly, but he also needs white votes. . . .

Wonder if K.Tumulty would feel so positive toward Con Jerk if she knew about his lack of ethics when dealing with Dallas voters in the sales tax referendum and the Trinity Bond-doogle?  Wonder if K.Tumulty has ever been to Dallas?  

Gromer Jeffers, Jr. is usually the stand in for Ron Kirk's Large White Shadow (Carol Reed) as Con Jerk's public relations person, but even Jeffers seems concerned about the information in Kirk's 2001 return.  Jeffers may be just disturbed at how disrespectful Kirk's campaign staffers were toward the press.   Jeffers probably thought Kirk was just rude to white investigative reporters like Laura Miller and Jim Schutze, not nice Black columnists who take press releases and turn them in as a column.

Kirk offers look at '01 tax return   Reporters not allowed to photocopy records; Cornyn camp critical 08/17/2002  By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News

Mimicking a strategy similar to that of the Republican nominee for governor in California, Senate candidate Ron Kirk on Friday allowed reporters to view his 27-page federal tax return, but not to walk away with copies. . . .     The former Dallas mayor earned $225,184 as a partner with the Gardere Wynne Sewell law firm, where he worked a handful of hours each week. He also earned $7,107 as mayor. . . .  Mrs. Kirk earned $160,800 as a partner in the executive recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles.   Both benefited from stock options: Mrs. Kirk cashed in $275,998 in stock options given to her because she serves on the board of Clear Channel Communications. Mr. Kirk netted $25,000 in stock options from Brinker International, where he serves as a board member.   But the couple lost $25,869 after selling their stock in Enron Corp. . . . Mr. Cornyn has released returns from the last eight years.   Reporters on Friday were allowed to view a copy of Mr. Kirk's 2001 return at his headquarters in Dallas, but they weren't permitted to photocopy the document. The Dallas Morning News was given a copy of the first two pages of the return. . . .  At Kirk campaign headquarters Friday, reporters were ushered one at a time into a waiting room area and seated at a worktable. A campaign aide then brought into the room a three-ring binder containing the tax returns, laying it out for inspection. The aide left the room and reporters were allowed to take the time they needed to peruse the documents. . . .

Kirk did not want anyone knowing about them cashing in their blood money.  We don't know if they cashed in all the stock options in Clear Channel Communications (the Hicks owned company of post-Arena election fame).  If all they got is $298,000 in 2001 for stock that was worth between  $500,000 and $750,000 in 1998, we should all be snickering.  Poetic justice -- except Mr. & Mrs. Con Jerk still get $300,000 as a payoff for him selling out Dallas taxpayers and businesses to help Tommy Hicks and Ross Perot, Jr. do a real estate deal.

What Old Al Lipscomb did to the Bachman-NW Highway community for $7,700, Kirk did to the whole city for $298,000.  That's not to say $298,000 is small potatoes, but Ron and Matrice don't eat a lot of beans and potatoes.  $298,000 will not go very far in the social circles in which they like to move.  Heck, his law firm of Gardere Wynne Sewell paid him $225,184 in 2001 for doing a lot less than he did for Tommy Hicks and Ross, Jr. in 1998.  

We Bad Dealers really made him work for his $298,000.  We had him up early in the morning and out late at night for debates.  Of course, he was driven to all of these events by a city paid chauffeur -- a police officer.   Now, Kirk is driving himself around in an SUV.  What happened to that Jaguar he bought in Plano while he was the Mayor of Dallas?  Did he or did he not buy it at a fleet rate?

We have an ethics situation here.  Allen, are you out there?  You need to get on this.

In some parts of Dallas, taking a bribe or being bribed are of no consequence.  If Fantroy would step aside and if his lawyers would let him, Old Al could run in District 8 right now and win.  Stealing elections is also no big deal in some parts of Dallas.  Brain Dead Thornton-Reese just got re-elected by hook and crook.  That's the worst part of the Kirk legacy -- open corruption and tolerance of crooked politicians.

That's not to say things have always been on the up and up in this town.  Hardly!  Robert Folsom helped his real estate empire by making the city take in the Renner area.  We spent so much money constructing sewer lines and infrastructure up there, the older neighborhoods of Dallas were neglected.  That was the beginning of the blight we see today.  That was the beginning of the  decaying inner city infrastructure.  That was the beginning of the end of our beautiful park system.

Laura Miller was elected because 55% of the city voters know we are in a mess and know Ron Kirk got us in this mess.  He did not do it alone, but he took things from a slow decline to warp speed chaos.  One reason Tom Dunning lost was because 55% of the city voters identified him with Ron Kirk and Domingo Garcia.  Tom Dunning seemed to have blinders on to the real world.  Tom Dunning would have subscribed to the philosophy that Hank Tatum proposed to solve our problems.

	Budget turns Dallas dream into a nightmare The city's bubbling optimism hits a fiscal brick wall 08/14/2002  By HENRY TATUM / The Dallas Morning News
. . . It is amazing what a $95 million shortfall can do to budget planning and to the hopes and aspirations of a city like Dallas. . . . The adage that you have to spend money to make money may be hard to swallow in such difficult financial circumstances. But it still is true.

Ron Kirk is responsible for our $95 million shortfall.

Dallas voters know Ron Kirk.  We are sick of him.  We want to close the door on that chapter of our city's history.  We do not want him in any elected office -- not citywide, not countywide, not statewide -- and certainly not in Washington, D.C.

Not only should someone file a complaint with the State Ethics Commission over the Hicks/Kirk stock deal, but the rest of the state should know how he abused citizens of Dallas.  We have video of him making fun of Dallas citizens speaking to the council over the Tennison Park issue.  We have an affidavit from a former city employee who swears Ron Kirk called those citizens "tree huggers" and he would get some of them.  Not long afterwards, one couple suddenly had code enforcement problems on several of their rent properties.

Ron Kirk never showed the least respect to anyone who was not rich -- which is why so many of his best pals are white, rich guys.  He is a con artist who can switch personalities like changing the color of his tie.  Those of you who think he's charming --

If you are contemplating voting for Ron Kirk because you are a dedicated Democrat or have some issue where you think he will vote with you, consider what you already know about this con artist.  

· To my gay friends who think he will be your friend in D.C., he was Mayor for 6 years and Laura Miller did for you in 6 weeks what Kirk would not.  

· To my pro choice friends who think he will be your ally in D.C., Kirk will go to the highest bidder. 

· To my environmentalist friends who think only a Democrat will help them, Kirk was head of the pack to bulldoze those trees at Tennison Park and he has been deaf to warnings by environmental experts about his plans for the Trinity River.    

· To any other moron who thinks Ron Kirk was good for Dallas, you must have decided to build your retirement home in Santa Fe or you are one of his benefactors who expect a return on your investment like he delivered for Tom Hicks and Ross, Jr.

· To anyone else contemplating voting for Ron Kirk who does not fit one of the above groups, all I have to say to you is get out of here because you clearly don't care about honest government or honest elected officials.  We are going to change things in Dallas, Texas, and you will not like living in a city where it works for everyone regardless of your financial status or political connections.

In the interim, we have to stop Ron Kirk from doing to the country what he did to Dallas.