Linda Pelon
Anthony Jones
                             

08/29/02  Sometimes, the Good Guys Win!

It's School Board President Ken Zornes.  Thank you very much to all who helped make that happen, particularly Allen Gwinn and Jesse Diaz!  What a nightmare we have all just experienced.  

We have Joe/José May on the School Board now, thanks to 212 mail-in ballots.  DISD.org lists the names of the people who voted by mail-in ballot.  Nancy and Howard Weinberger were out of town on election day and really did mail their ballot to the Elections Department, but we need to talk to all those other people and find out if someone "harvested" their ballot or they actually mailed it to the Elections Department in the self-addressed and pre-stamped envelope furnished with their ballot.  Of even more interest would be to ask those people who did not return their ballot whether their ballot was "harvested".

Having Joe/José May on the School Board almost proved catastrophic today.  We nearly had Ron Price as the President of the School Board, which would be like having Maxine Thornton-Reese as Mayor.  As a DISD taxpayer, I want to again thank Jesse Diaz of LULAC and Allen Gwinn of Dallas.org for their part in influencing the final outcome.  Although Diaz was unable to get Joe/José Thug May to vote against Ron Price, his press release got media attention on the skullduggery going on.

We all need to thank Trustee Lois Parrott for doing the right thing and supporting Ken Zornes.

Here is a press release LULAC put out today.  It certainly got media attention on the matter, and it probably got Joe/José May's attention, BUT IT DID NOT INFLUENCE JOE MAY.

Joe/José Thug May may not have known that Ron Price was a major opponent of the third Hispanic DISD district.  Until his gang of vote thieves decided to run him for the DISD Board, he probably knew nothing about what happens at Board meetings.  When he realizes how much work he will be expected to do as a Board member, he probably will be very sorry he was elected.  I already am extremely sorry this bum was elected.  I am even more sorry that some people I formerly respected backed this bum.  It is impossible to make excuses for what they did in throwing support to Joe/José Thug May.

The doings on Ross Avenue pale in comparison to what happened at City Hall this afternoon.  After what seemed like hundreds of speakers, the council started commenting on the budget process.  Mitch Rasansky rightfully and righteously unloaded on Ted Benavides.  Everything he said was true.  The City MisManager is responsible for our budget problems.  It's his job to manage the city.  Benavides makes almost a quarter of a million annually, but he acts like he did when he was an Asst. City Manager, befuddled and bewildered.  Rasansky said that if one of his CEO's presented his company's board a $95 million budget shortfall, that CEO would be fired on the spot.  The chambers were packed with city employees who applauded when Rasansky lit into Benavides.  Beat that Indictment Fantroy and Send Me Some Money Loza jumped to the City MisManager's defense -- what either of them know about business or management could be written on the back of a postage stamp.

Linda Pelon and John Burton have both reported on townhall meetings they have attended.  Their experience was much like two meetings I attended -- one was Ed Oakley's and the other was a joint meeting between Loza and Valetta Lill.  The people at those meetings were blaming Ted Benavides for this mess.  They were also most upset about the Palladium $43 million tax giveaway.  Fantroy and Loza may not blame the City MisManager for our mess, but city employees and city taxpayers most certainly do.

Brain Dead said we should follow "Mayor Kirk" and end this "blame game".  In other words, it's nobody's fault that we are laying off hundreds of employees and are $95 million short in our budget.

I was only able to catch the council meeting on the radio.  I would have loved to see Mary Poss spitting out her consonants on TV.  Remember how smarmy and unctuous she used to be when Con Jerk was Mayor?  Well, she is downright nasty lately.  She has this new hard diction.  She never does that fakey smile anymore.  Are we finally getting to see the real Mayor PreTend Poss?  She was really sucking up to the civilian employees today.  Oh, and she has some secret budget plan that she will reveal in mid-September that will save the day.  What a sad joke she has become!

Tuesday night, the Dallas Police Assn. President was encouraging his members to support a two-week delay in their 5% raise, so the civilian employees would not have to have to take an unpaid holiday on Christmas Eve.  It was a real gesture of esprit de corps with the civilians, but the civilian employees who spoke to council were not impressed and/or wanted more.  Apparently, Dr. Elba Garcia's administrative assistant is the spokesperson for the civilian employees.  She really hurt their cause today.

I have worked for several large law firms, a big insurance company and even the City of Dallas.  As an employee, I cannot imagine ever addressing the Managing Partners of a law firm or the Board of Directors of a company the way those city employees talked to the council today.  Several high-level employees spoke to the council.  They did not represent their fellow employees well.  They were so nasty toward the police and firefighters that Glenn White reversed his Tuesday night "happy face".  He is now discouraging his DPA membership from supporting any delay at all in their 5% raise due to start October 1.

If there ever was a justification for collective bargaining, it was today's parade of civilian employee speakers.  They would have been much better off with only a few speakers who were coached and consistent.  That was not the case.

I think it was a great idea for the police and firefighters to make their gesture.  It was an example of Laura Miller going the extra mile, considering how many times she has been rebuffed by Glenn White since she went against the 17% pay referendum.  She put her pride aside to try to make something good happen.  

Can you imagine Ron Kirk going hat-in-hand to the DPA?  Mayor Con Jerk would not even give them an appointment when they asked, much less have sought a meeting.   Candidate Kirk is probably wishing he had been a little less aloof to the police and firefighters as Mayor Kirk.

Speaking of Kirk, he is really dodging bullets.  He wants to claim credit for some accomplishments as Mayor, but he will not accept any blame for the mess he left behind.  As Mayor, Kirk treated our cops and firefighters like garbage.  As a Senate Candidate, Kirk actually thought they would forget all his slights and insults and endorse him.  Wrong!  Dallas Police Association endorses John Cornyn for Senate.

Here is an interesting commentary:

Bench Warmers BY MARK DONALD  08/29/02

. . . Democratic political analyst Dan Weiser says that Dallas, more than ever, is a marginal county--too close to call Democratic or Republican. Ron Kirk runs behind John Cornyn in statewide polls, but Dallas voters heartedly embrace their former mayor. Tony Sanchez may be running poorly in Dallas, but Weiser expects John Sharp (Democrat for lieutenant governor) to win the county over Republican David Dewhurst. "I see Dallas as a toss-up," Weiser says. "It won't be enough to just be a Republican candidate for judge or a Democratic candidate for judge. That's when everything else comes into play." Incumbency, endorsements, qualifications, even mud. Which may be the reason we are seeing this final flurry of instant incumbencies. . . .

Dan Weiser is the guy who slammed Laura Miller last winter.  Where anyone got the idea that he had a clue about Dallas County is beyond me.  Weiser was part of the Lordi Lori Palmer entourage.  Look where he got her!  If Weiser thinks "Dallas voters heartedly embrace their former mayor", he's smoking something illegal.

There may be pockets of the city that vote for Ron Kirk in November, but he will not carry Dallas.  Con Jerk will most certainly not carry Dallas County.  Weiser does not seem to realize that the 55% win Miller took over Dunning was a referendum on Ron Kirk as well.  

But, back to Dallas city and school politics.  We are much better off with Mayor Miller presiding over these trying budget times that were Ron Kirk still mayor.  We are certainly much better off than if Mary Poss were acting mayor.  Kirk and Poss would have glossed over the entire debacle like an episode in the Andy Hardy series.  You know the old movies with Andy Rooney and Judy Garland?  Every time they got in a pickle, they would just organize a talent show.  The Kirk and Poss response to our $95 million shortfall (which is Kirk's legacy) would have been to find some big ticket project to chase after -- like the 2012 Olympics.  Anyone bringing up pesky problems like a $95 million budget shortfall would be belittled and branded an aginner.

Wouldn't it have been embarrassing had we made that October cut for the 2012 games?  

Here's a question -- why don't the ODB (Our Downtown Betters) raise the money to cover our shortfall?  Weren't they going to come up with the millions it would have taken to stage the 2012 games in Dallas?  

Let's just count today's blessings.  Mitch Rasansky showed that at least one guy on the council has some gonads.  That's a good thing.  Thanks to Lois Parrott, Ken Zornes will be the President of the DISD Board for another year.  That's a good thing.  Mary Poss is not our mayor.  That is very good thing.

** When I posted, The Dallas Managed News had not posted this slanted story by Tawnell Hobbs.  DallasArena.com is an opinion web site -- no bones about it.  But the DMN makes no such disclaimers on fabrications written by Tawnell Hobbs.  This woman is as biased as any columnist.  Everything she writes is slanted and anti-White.  It was interesting that Ron Price includes Hispanics to back up his minority numbers for DISD students.  When Hispanics were begging for another predominantly Hispanic district, it was Ron Price who told them they need to WAIT THEIR TURN.  Joe Thug May voted for Ron Price.  Now, I hope Jesse Diaz knows he can't trust the guy.
 

DISD president hangs on to post; With Zornes win, minorities narrowly miss chance to lead 08/29/2002 By TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News

Ken Zornes was re-elected Dallas school board president Wednesday, to the dismay of four minority trustees.   Trustee Ron Price, who is black, had his sights set on the post. He was supported by three minority board members: Hollis Brashear, Lew Blackburn and Joe May.   Votes were evenly split between Mr. Zornes and Mr. Price. Mr. Zornes was supported by trustees Rafael Anchia, George Williams and Jack Lowe. Trustee Lois Parrott abstained.   Because of the tie, another motion was made for the post. This time Mr. Blackburn was nominated to challenge Mr. Zornes.   The voting pattern remained the same, except Dr. Parrott participated and cast the winning vote for Mr. Zornes, who has been board president since June 2001.   "It's unfortunate that you can have a 93 percent minority school district, but you still can't elect a minority board president," Mr. Price said after the meeting. . . . Mr. May, a new board member who is Hispanic, threw his support to the slate of minority trustees. . . .

Have you ever seen a story by Hobbs that mentions Ron Price's excessive spending on travel and cellular phone use?  No.  Had those $$ been spent by any White Board member or even an Hispanic, you would have seen that with a headline "White Board Member spends 10 times more".  Have you seen a follow-up by Hobbs to her story on the Price-Brent Brown race claiming that Brown was not qualified to run in District 9 because he had recently moved into the district?  No!  She knew what the rules were.  They had already been explained to her.  When you have re-districting, the only rule for residency is that you had to live in the district on the day you file to run.  Otherwise, anyone could be drawn off the board by moving them into a different district than their base.
 
I started out thanking Jesse Diaz and Allen Gwinn for their part in Ken Zornes being re-elected as DISD Board President.  Their efforts were so important today, I want to end on that same note.  Thank you, amigos!