08/19/02 Bad Decisions have got us in a Big Mess.

The bombshell over Ron & Matrice Kirk cashing in her stock options in a Hicks-owned company put things in perspective again. That explains why Con Jerk's campaign was getting all those puff pieces out in any publication that would run them. I don't know why they didn't send a press release to www.DallasArena.com.

In $275,998, I asked if anyone had ever heard of Karen Tumulty.

P. D. Sterling said she was not registered to vote in Dallas, Denton or Collin Counties.

Of course, Stan Aten found her mini-biography.

As Time magazine's national political correspondent, Karen Tumulty counts among her confidants some of the country's most powerful and influential people. But that doesn't mean she's forgotten her days at the San Antonio Light, where she started her career in journalism. "It was a really wild time," Tumulty recalls. "The paper was owned by Hearst, and our chief competitor was published by Rupert Murdoch. It was a classic newspaper war, with dueling headlines along the lines of 'Baby Eats LSD' and 'Pregnant Cat Gunned Down.'" Tumulty would be reminded of some of that circus atmosphere years later in Washington, especially during the Clinton impeachment hearings. "We would hear things at Time that in our editorial judgment did not belong in the magazine's pages," she says, " but then they would jump from Matt Drudge to Jay Leno, and everyone would know about them. I never thought I would find myself in the position of chasing the tabloids, but in fact they did break some news." . . .

At Time, Tumulty notes, "one of the great luxuries is that you don't have to cover 'the daily story.' So, for example, two years before the last presidential election, I was assigned to Al Gore. Sometimes I'd be the only reporter on his plane." That kind of access enabled Tumulty to break the story that Gore had hired feminist Naomi Wolf as a consultant, an exclusive about which she says facetiously that "my bureau chief and I will probably have no greater achievement in our careers than introducing the 'alpha male' concept into the political lexicon." Similarly, Tumulty was assigned to cover Newt Gingrich early on when he was still a relative unknown. "It seemed at times a fool's errand," she recalls, "so it was fascinating to see all he talked about - his grand design - actually come to fruition, only to turn into disaster two years later."

As for President Clinton, Tumulty will long remember a leisurely off-the-record dinner with Clinton and several other journalists only a few months after he was nearly forced out of the White House. "What struck me," she says, "was that he had lived through something totally different than what the country had been through. It made me realize that when you're President and you have all these aides and supporters and the institution around you, it creates an almost entirely different reality, separate from what all the rest of us know and have experienced."
http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/bulletin/2002/february/tumulty.html

In $275,998 Pieces of Silver, you were reminded that in 1998 Tommy Hicks said he only appointed Mrs. Ron to his board because she was Black and someone thought it was a good idea. Ralph Goin couldn't believe it.

It was was in the DMN. He really said it. I didn't have the article archived then (not as much of a geek then as I am now), so I can't retrieve it. But, that's what he said. I just refuse to pay the DMN a dime to use their archive, but I will get Stan Aten to find the article for me. This all came about in August, 1998. This is an official request to Stan Aten to do his search magic and find the article for us. Here's one source:

Ralph Goin:

After reading many of your editorials, I keep thinking I've heard it all.

However, one statement stands out in $275,998 pieces of silver that absolutely floors me: "Tom Hicks admitted then that he knew nothing about Matrice Kirk, but she was black and somebody asked him to put her on the board". I can't even slightly believe that!

As much contempt that I have for Hicks and his crowd, I don't, for a minute, believe that he would select a member of his board of directors, or hire an employee, on the basis of a recommendation like that! In fact, if he did, he would have gone out of business a long time ago. He is not that stupid! What is stupid is for him to believe that we could buy an explanation like that! In my opinion, this just proves what a liar he is!

If he isn't a stupid liar, I would like to be "somebody" to recommend that he hire Tonia Harding to manage his Stars operation!. GIVE ME A BREAK!

I hope you don't feel I was doubting your facts (I know better). I was just expressing my feelings, as these ODB people all think we are stupid! Keep on keeping on!

www.mayorkirk.com/features/features0106.shtm
The Dallas arena deal

In 1995, a close friend of Ron Kirk approached media mogul, sports team owner, and investor Tom Hicks with the idea of hiring Mayor Kirks' financially needy wife, Matrice Ellis-Kirk (the description financially needy would subsequently be disputed by both the Mayor and his wife).

Mr. Hicks found a place for Mayor Kirk's wife on Chancellor Media's (now AMFM.Com) Board of Directors, citing race as his motivation. In radio, you want to be as inclusive as you can with the FCC because that's one of their big issues, Hicks is reported to have stated.

Hicks had also said that Ms. Ellis-Kirk's resume was not particularly strong: If she wasn't a female and she wasn't African-American, I would not have offered her the board seat. Mr. Hicks later recanted these statements, saying that his words were spoken in anger at reporters questioning him about hiring the Mayor's wife.

Ms. Ellis-Kirk's one-year stay on the board netted her a $12,000 salary plus stock options that have may been worth as much as $1.1 million.

Paul Patterson jumped into the fray:

Paul Patterson:

While city employees are being asked to take a pay cut, the mayor and city council should do the same. The Palladium and Arena scams should be rescinded. I dare Tom Hicks to sue the City of Dallas for reneging on its handouts. Think of the negative PR.

Speaking of the Palladium scam, why was there no revelation regarding Dallas' $95,000,000 shortfall before the city council voted to give Tom Hicks $43,000,000?

I'm starting to wonder if Ted Benavides works for Arthur Andersen. This jerk knew about the shortfall and deliberately withheld held it from the public until the vote.

If all that wasn't enough, Stan Aten found another article on one of those fantasy "tenants" touted by the Robber Barons' partner (formerly known as Palladium) that so excited Mayor PreTend Mary Poss.

Without enough cash, House of Blues ends San Jose lease From the August 16, 2002 print edition
Sharon Simonson

. . . After months of effort, the Hollywood-based entertainment company can't get financing to redevelop a former Woolworth's in downtown San Jose into one of its trademark ultra-hip clubs. . . . the company has agreed to free the San Jose Redevelopment Agency from a January 2001 lease. . . .
House of Blues concerts feature a broad range of music . . . .
Mr. Thornton admits that the company also has not been able to get its financing in place for a like project in San Diego, despite an announcement in January quoting the company's president and chief executive, Greg Trojan. The news release said the company had "an agreement in principal with a San Diego investor group" to bring a House of Blues music club to San Diego. . . .
In September, House of Blues Entertainment laid off 39 of 189 workers involved in the company's production, distribution and record-label divisions. The first two divisions stream live video of concerts from its music halls onto the Web and produce DVDs. . . . The San Diego and San Jose properties were to join a network of eight existing House of Blues clubs in Cambridge, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Chicago, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Las Vegas and Anaheim. The clubs are venues intended to draw from 1,000 to 2,000 people to hear live music, typically indoors.
In contrast, House of Blues Concerts Inc., a sister company, owns, operates or exclusively books 20 arena and amphitheater venues throughout North America, including Los Angeles and San Diego, seating 20,000 people or more in mostly outdoor arenas.

Boy, that's just what the West End needs to prosper -- a competitor just off Woodall Rogers that doesn't have to pay property taxes -- thanks to all the council crooks who voted for the $43 Million tax giveaway to Hicks/Perot/Palladium.

If you aren't already boiling, we now find out that DART Board Member Jesse Oliver has got DART into a mess that is likely to cost taxpayers in excess of $315,000.

DART book may be costly

08/19/2002 By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News

Dallas Area Rapid Transit may have to pay $315,000 to settle a failed book deal � a proposal for a commemorative 20th anniversary publication the agency tried to get out of two years ago.

DART officials began seeking a settlement with Integrity Publishing of Dallas after being drawn back into the deal by a letter that contained a DART board member's signature. The letter, which urged advertisers to sponsor the book, could bind DART to the unwanted deal, DART officials said.

DART board member Jesse Oliver said Friday that his signature was used on a letter sent without his knowledge.

"I didn't authorize the letter to go out," said Mr. Oliver, who had authorized a previous letter announcing the project. "I have not engaged in any activity detrimental to the organization." . . .

Jesse Oliver made a bad decision.

Ron & Matrice Kirk made a bad decision thinking no one would notice that little Hicks company windfall on their tax return. Actually, they knew it was going to raise a ruckus. That's why the Kirk campaign did that bizarre stunt of only letting one reporter at a time "review" the tax return and prohibited any photocopying.

Tom Hicks made a bad decision giving Matrice Kirk a board position with high compensation when he knew nothing about her except she was Black and someone told him to do it because the Kirk's needed some revenue. He made another bad decision when he popped off at some reporter and told him why he appointed Mrs. Kirk to his board.

Ron Kirk and John Ware made numerous bad decisions while negotiating the arena master agreement, including the Reunion Arena addendum. Does Ron Kirk's conflict of interest in the deal negate the contract?

Every moron on the council who voted for the Palladium $43 Million tax giveaway made a bad decision. Let's not forget who they were -- Mayor PreTend Mary Poss, Deputy Mayor Don Hill, Mayor Pro Tem John Loza, Elba Garcia, Brain Dead Thornton-Reese, Beat that Indictment James Fantroy, Duh Alan Walne, Shakedown Chaney, Ed Oakley. Did one of those council crooks know that $43 Million tax giveaway is going for another entertainment hall? Bad decision!

Our elected and appointed officials, as well as some high paid City Hall employees, are selling us out. Although we may never know the specifics of their payoffs like we know about Ron and Matrice Kirk or John Ware or Old Al Lipscomb, no one will ever convince me that these wacky votes were not motivated by financial encouragement to certain council members. What do you think?

Since we know about some of the funds that Ron Kirk extorted from the business community as Mayor of Dallas, do we want him in a national position to really expand his empire? Personally, I don't want the scandal that will follow. I don't want Texas to be represented by a crook in the Senate. I wish Dallas had never elected him Mayor.

The city is not better for that decision.

Without enough cash, House of Blues ends San Jose lease From the August 16, 2002 print edition Sharon Simonson

Without enough cash, House of Blues ends San Jose lease From the August 16, 2002 print edition
Sharon Simonson