School of Hard Knocks

The problem with being the smartest, prettiest girl in class is you have to get hit over the head ever so often to be reminded you might learn something from the class dummies. Laura Miller had one of those "ever so oftens" today. To her credit, she listened.

If you heard Wednesday's council meeting, you may be still trying to take it all in.

We are flat broke -- thanks to Ron Kirk and Mary Poss and the rest of the council crooks who pushed the Hicks/Perot arena on us. We should not forget John Ware's part in our situation, but apparently some folks have. Not one word was mentioned about John Ware. Even Beat That Indictment Fantroy forgot John Ware when he said Ted Benavides is the best City Manager we have ever had.

For the first time I can remember, we have a Mayor who actually thinks she is personally supposed to do something and get something done -- other than cutting ribbons and making speeches. Mayor Miller has this funny idea about doing the people's work. She sees a multi-million budget shortfall, and she starts looking for ways to balance the budget without raising property taxes. She does a very un-political thing for a politician, she tries to fix the problem the same way CEO's all over the country are trying to fix their ailing companies -- laying off employees to reduce personnel costs.

Employees got cut under Ron Kirk, but he let the City MisManager do all the dirty work and get all the blame. Kirk also had the council whipped into submission (except for trouble makers Donna Blumer and Laura Miller and later Mitch Rasansky). Civilian employees lost their jobs and those who stayed got no raises. Under Kirk, Police and Firefighters were treated like they did not exist.

Lady Officer:

    I saw your post, and I hope that come the 30th it comes true.

     Just so you know, not all of us who visit www.undergroundcop use profanity and call names.   I was disappointed with much of what I heard today, but I am also intelligent enough to see many people are trying to balance the budget.

       I came to Texas for one reason only -- to work for the Dallas Police Department.

      I actually cried today while listening to the council meeting and thinking about how much I will hate turning in my badge. I love my job, but I will not remain with the DPD if our STEPS are taken away.

     I am a single mother of three with a house payment that just increased 15% and $30,000 sunk in education loans. If the STEPS are gone, I won't be able to make ends meet as my expenses increase each year.

       Today was tough. Laura Miller has the hot seat. I just hope she realizes how many officers and firefighters will leave if the STEPS are taken away. I have talked to many, and at least 60% of them will seek other jobs, and 30-35% will succeed in leaving. I will be one of those.
       Good luck to you ma'am, and also to Ms. Miller. I apologize for the unprofessional behavior of some. Unfortunately, those may be the only ones left after the rest of us leave! I hope she keeps that in mind...

When Laura Miller ran for Mayor, she brought the Police and Firefighters into her camp and embraced them. They worked their tails off to get her elected -- even their wives helped. They thought Miller's election would be their ticket to finally getting parity with their colleagues in the suburbs. Miller thought they would understand she might have new priorities once elected. Both sides were mistaken, but neither side was wrong.

It was not wrong for Police and Firefighters to expect Miller to be their salary champion, but it was not really feasible. They did not help Miller become a High Priestess or a Wizard who could cast spells and pull resources out of thin air when there was nothing out there but thin air. They helped her get elected Mayor over a council of 14, most of whom campaigned against her. Once she was sworn into office, she not only got the keys to the Mayor's bathroom, she got to see the city vault. Baby, what a shock! The cupboard was bare, and our "Can Do" city was stocked with empty tin cans.

Being the smartest and prettiest girl in town with a winning command of the language, Mayor Miller thought she could explain to the sworn officers that she had new information -- really bad new information -- and she was going to have change her focus and position on their 17% raise. If you think they were shocked at her about face, Miller was just as surprised that she could not make them understand the city's dire situation.

When Ron Kirk wanted to camouflage how bad things were getting under his watch in our "Can Do" city, he went chasing after one big ticket item after another -- from a sports arena (when we had a perfectly good one already) to mythical lakes in the middle of the Stinky Trinity to bringing the Olympics to Dallas in 2012 -- in a Dallas summer.   They were all stupid ideas, but he sold 2 out of 3 of them. While Kirk was doing his big ticket thing, Laura Miller was rounding up one posse after another to defend against his evil plans.

When Kirk and the council stole that first $50,000 Miller raised to save 3 wading pools, she went out and rallied the locals and saved those pools. When Kirk was chasing the Olympics dream, Miller was leading a gang of rag tag realists to block him. When we finally got a chance to vote after Dallas did not make the first cut, there was a resounding rejection of Dallas 2012. Con Jerk was actually surprised Dallas did not make that round and Dallas voters would turn it down.

When Kirk's ego and somebody else's money convinced him to leave City Hall for his shot at the big time, a whole bunch of us begged and pleaded for Laura Miller to run for Mayor. At the same time, Mary Poss was out there begging and pleading for someone to ask her to run for Mayor. Miller combined all of her posses into an army, and at the front of her troops were the Police and Firefighters.

There's no denying the importance of the Police and Firefighters' support, but there was another component to Miller's victory that she seldom acknowledges -- RON KIRK.   Dallas voters were disgusted and fed up with Ron Kirk. A lot of her vote was as much anti-Kirk as it was pro-Miller.

The Police and Firefighters should have taken a cue from the resounding defeat of their 17% raise (which I supported), but, they got mad and stayed mad. Much like Bad Dealers are still ranting over what happened to us in 1998 -- even though our loss was less than 1%. So, I am certainly not going to criticize our sworn officers for being sore losers. They overplayed their hand against the Mayor and turned off many who had supported them.

Then, Mayor Miller overplayed her hand. She had just saved the city millions with her campaign to block the 17% pay raise. A good politician would have left them alone for awhile to lick their wounds and left the impossible job of balancing the budget to the City MisManager. Our Mayor rightfully thinks she is smarter than Ted Benavides, and God knows she is prettier. She has too much integrity to have allowed him to just muddle through again and get us in a deeper mess.

Police and Firefighter reading this are likely screaming just now. Integrity? They think she lied to them. She thinks she changed her mind when she got new information.

People do change their minds with new information. A couple of weeks ago, I wanted Wal-Mart to go in at Mockingbird and Lemmon. Well, I really wanted Wal-Mart to wipe out the sex clubs on Northwest Highway and put that store right where those whores used to service all those old perverts. When I actually got to hear Wal-Mart's little arrogant representative make his presentation, I began to waiver. Part of my support for Wal-Mart had been because the opposition had hired Lord Lori Palmer to lobby for them at City Hall. But the community activist side of me could not dismiss the people who had worked so hard to keep the Mockingbird-Lemmon area livable. The final nail in Wal-Mart's coffin for me was when they used the ploy Albertson's frequently uses when communities oppose one of their stores.

Wal-Mart went to the Black Preachers and turned a zoning case into a class and racial fight, much like what Mary Poss and her posse tried to pull at Wednesday's council meeting.

Laura Miller and most of the council know our municipal cupboard is bare. They also know with increased school taxes and our new property valuations, Dallas taxpayers are almost tapped out. Senior homeowners are just about to the point where they can no longer afford to live in their homes, at a time when the city looks worse than ever and we get less bang for our municipal buck. Alan Walne talked about how crime is up in almost every area in his District 10 after he heard about crime reductions in Vickery Meadows. He and Miller and most of the council know what we have been doing is not working.

In the private sector, people are losing their jobs. Some are taking pay cuts to keep a job. Very few are getting raises or bonuses. That's not a good ruler to use against our city employees, both civilian and sworn officers. Our employees were losing their jobs during the Kirk boom years. They were not getting raises while we were giving away millions to Billionaires. They were getting SIP pay at year's end to encourage them to stay. Our sworn officers were getting STEP PAY every two years to encourage them to stay "on the streets" protecting us rather than going inside to compete for the next sergeant opening, etc.

Our employees had been sheltered from the real world of health insurance premiums. Few companies pay insurance premiums for spouses anymore or even dependent children. Our city employees now get to share that experience with the rest of us, but it is all coming at them at once.

So, the sworn officers rightfully feel like they are being hit left and right. The move against their STEP PAY was the last straw.

At the same time, the Mayor has all these special interest groups coming at the council. There are people who think the performing arts are as vital to our welfare as police and fire protection. Being the smartest girl in town (and she certainly is that), our Mayor has been grasping at straws to try to make things work for everyone. Unfortunately, she grabbed the STEP PAY straw.

It looks like our smart mayor is backing away from STEP PAY. She is doing the right thing.

Mary Poss will try to keep churning the water so someone might possibly look at her as a viable alternative to Laura Miller next Spring. Keep dreaming!

Mayor Miller is doing the right thing by re-assessing the situation now that she has new information. Now, it's time for our Police and Firefighters to back off from their attacks on her. They should imagine how Ron Kirk would have reacted to their demonstration. Before they look to Mary Poss as someone to consider, they should remember her part in procuring millions for Ross Perot, Jr. and Tom Hicks at the expense of city employees and Dallas taxpayers.

Mayor Miller is still the prettiest and smartest girl in class, she just learned something new at the School of Hard Knocks.