Free at Last

My precinct went for Kirk. No, I'm not going to move. There was a lot of straight ticket voting. There were people at the wrong place who couldn't understand why they had to go to their neighborhood polling site. There were a lot of people who didn't know they had to register before they are eligible to vote.

What scared me most was a teacher at Burnett Elementary who didn't know why he couldn't vote at our place, didn't know how to get to his polling place which was over in East Dallas and yet he was qualified to be teaching our children. How can someone that completely stupid be able to teach a class of children anything useful? For that matter, how did someone that dense ever get a teacher's certificate or graduate from college?

Even though it was clear how my precinct was going, I was not worried about the day's final outcome because there were many people also asking how to vote straight Republican. After awhile, I could tell ahead of time who was going to ask me a question, who knew how to use the ballot already and who would be a problem. We were in the school auditorium, and they had to walk down the aisle, so there was time to observe.

I am all for getting people to the polls, but they ought to be legal voters. Don't any of you Democrats get offended, but to a person -- everyone of the problem voters wanted to vote Democrat. Everyone!

My Alternate Judge is the Democrat Precinct Chair for our neighborhood. Her husband and two of her friends were also my clerks. We had a wonderful lady named Elida who was there all day to be our interpreter, and she was really busy. My Democrat clerks were much tougher on my questionable voters than was I, but there was one man (Mr. P) at the end of the day who I did not intend to let vote.

Mr. P came in with no identification, no drivers license and was not on our registered voter list. Had he come in a couple of hours earlier, I might have been able to get through to the County to verify he was a voter and get his certificate number. After 5:30, there was no reaching the County's hotline -- overload, overload. Mr. P went home and got his telephone bill to prove that he was himself, but that still did not put him on my registration list. Mr. P was disappointed but accepted it. This was all after 6, when things were just rocking. Then it was 7 pm, and we thought we were done.

In walks that same unidentified, unlisted voter with a tall, good looking man and a cell phone. We go through the same spiel. My Democrat clerks were really getting annoyed with Mr. P and his escort. The escort calls some lawyer who starts explaining to me about the Election Code. She read off what I already have in front of me about utilities bills being identification, and I explained to her that's all well and good but that bill identified him but did not verify him as a registered voter.

Don't you just hate people who start speaking slowly to you to make sure you can understand their simple message? I told the patronizing you-know-what I would let her hear my discussion with the Democrat Alternate Judge. I explained the situation again, and we decided to let him vote a challenged vote. When I went back to the patronizing lawyer, she had hung up.

I sincerely hope the County throws out Mr. P's vote because I don't believe for one minute that someone who walks around with not one piece of identification on him is a registered voter. But on the oft chance that he is registered at our precinct, he got to vote. When the County checks Mr. P's challenged vote if it turns out he should have voted at a different precinct after all that hassle -- his vote will not count.

As you can imagine, I was very happy with the Statewide results. I did not vote a straight ticket -- never have in my life.

I was shocked that David Cain was defeated. When I lived in Oak Lawn and we were fighting to put the Central Expressway DART light rail in a tunnel rather than using the one-track-wide MKT,
David Cain was our champion in Austin.

I respect him very much, and think Dallas County and Texas are going to miss David Cain in the State Senate.

Dr. Deuell will be a quick learner, but I am concerned about how much attention Dallas County will get from him.

A bunch of folks are scared Kirk will run for Mayor again. That's just silly! Kirk has touched the big time -- dined with Hillary and Babs! Ch. 8 interviewed Kirk, and I thought I would lose my dinner. He says he's just going back to practicing law and help build his firm? When has he ever practiced law?

Ron Kirk is no lawyer. He's a carny barker, a salesman, a lobbyist, but who's he going to lobby? When he was a star in Austin, Democrats were in control. Who in D.C. is he going to lobby? Kirk and the lovely Mrs. may have to live on their ill-gotten gains --- unless a local station hires him as an anchor. It could happen!

Speaking of ill-gotten gains, Ch. 8's Brett Shipp has nailed our poor old City MisManager AGAIN.

Shipp was interviewing Ted Benavides, and I actually felt sorry for the CM and wanted him to stop the interview. There are these Dallas Star tickets which are supposed to be used to entertain potential convention organizers. But the CM admits to using them personally. We are talking about $40,000 worth of expenses.

I don't know whether the City gets a cheaper rate for tickets by buying them in advance as a package, or whether they are bought as needed with the "Visitors' Bureau" credit card. If they are bought as a package and are not needed, then that is not the cheaper rate. Still, if the tickets were bought as a package and there's no one to entertain, the seats would be empty -- la la la.
When I worked for a law firm that represented the Murchison's and the Cowboys (back when they won games), firm tickets not spoken for by the attorneys were given to staff who worked lots of overtime. That was a private law firm. That was not City Hall.

Is there no end to what the Hicks/Perot/Cuban gang will do to squeeze another dollar out of Dallas taxpayers? It is surprising Ted Benavides would do this with all the scrutiny going on during our recent budget wars.

Benavides is not qualified to be City Manager, even though he was a pretty good Asst CM. Until Shipp's report, I thought Benavides was just in over his head. It appears he has lost his mind.

Shipp will continue the report tonight. There's apparently more.

City Hall corruption brings us back to Ron Kirk, who went up to Denton and hired Ted Benavides -- not for TB's qualifications, but for his ethnicity and his submissiveness. Kirk controlled the Dallas City Council like a dictator. There was never a question that Benavides would be the new City Manager after John Ware if he was what Kirk wanted.

Hiring Ted Benavides is a typical Ron Kirk executive decision. What could he possibly do for his law firm except get it in big trouble?

Local Democrat leaders may try to spin Tuesday's results as a signal they are moving up. Baloney. They had an African-American and an Hispanic at the top of their ticket.

Sharon,
Couple of comments on this article:
   When I heard the Democrats whining and crying (again) about voting irregularities early on in this election, all I could think was "Thanks Al!" (and I don't mean the local insurance guy).
   You know, I even wondered if the Democrats had sent out operatives to polling places to purposely create stinks, so they would have some excuse later to challenge results in close races. (Your experience with "Mr. P" may confirm this.)
   Thank God the results were decisive in so many races that they didn't have the gall to challenge them!
About Kirk running for mayor, I agree that he won't run for Mayor again. Unfortunately, I don't think we've seen the last of Con Jerk in the political arena. Just for the reason you cite--he's now rubbed shoulders with the REALLY rich and powerful. A guy with a stupendous ego like his just has to have more of this "drug."

Neil Planick

Sharon,
   The one thing that would have made Tuesday's election better was if Kirk had lost Dallas County. I agree we must stay vigilant, the last time I talked to Kirk in person I told him that I understood that regardless of the outcome of this election I knew he was not going away. We will be dealing with him in some ARENA ( pun definitely intended ).
   Today is the second happiest day I have had all year. First was Laura becoming Mayor and the second, Ron Kirk is history!
Cliff Reed

It is such a relief to know Ron Kirk does not hold a political office and is not currently a candidate for one.
   Perhaps he can go back to lobbying for companies that he'll soon forget about. We were fortunate -- the overwhelming national Republican victory, which was particularly strong in Texas, was Kirk's undoing.
    Kirk's loss was not due to his questionable ethics, ridiculous ideas, or inability to tell the truth. It can be attributed to the overall failure of the Democratic party in this election. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt that we've seen the last of this scumbag. During the election, I talked with numerous people about Kirk and found that very few have any real knowledge of the damage he has done or how he seems to be ignorant of the very concept of ethical behavior.
    Be glad that we dodged the bullet -- this time. But, we still have a lot of work to do to prevent Kirk from continuing his deception of the public and his path of destruction.
J.Brent Everett

Now that the election is over, Ron Kirk can add another footnote to his resume and legacy: The first black, ex-mayor of Dallas to run for the US Senate and be soundly defeated. SWEEEET!
   Sharon, you were right. Cornyn trounced Kirk by an even larger margin than the polls. In light of Kirk's sound defeat, I think the Kirk camp needs a new theme song.
My nomination:
             "Hit the Road Jack..."
Gordon James

I looked over the Dallas County Election results. Ron Kirk and John Sharp won Dallas County.
   Straight Party Dem voting was higher than Straight Party GOP voting.
   The margin of victory was very slim for quite a few GOP candidates ie: less than 1% in quite a few judicial races. An extra 5,000 Democratic votes and several Republican judges would have lost.
   The DA did not do that well either. His winning margin 1.5%.
Stan Aten

I voted during "early" voting. Looks like Con Jerk's past has finally caught up with him.
He lost!!! Good riddance!!
Mayor Miller is again vindicated.
So is Victor Morales for what it's worth.
   It seems the "Dream Team" wasn't much of a team in the Eyes of Texans.
L.Garrett

I can't remember how many years it has been since I have felt so good about the results of an election, both state and federal, as I do right at this moment.
   Nationally, those of us who want smaller government finally got our belly full of the politics of personal destruction and obstructionist actions.
   Last week's prostitution of the memorial service in Minnesota was the straw that broke our back! I think it affected many Democrats also.
As I am writing this, Kirk has given a concession speech. Why am I not surprised? Could it be the size of his ego prevents him from doing so?

Thanks, Sharon, for leading the pack in holding Ron Kirk accountable for his actions. Kirk has reaped his just rewards!
Ralph Goin

Sharon: You did a great job on the Kirk campaign.
I don't think I could have fathomed another six years of Kirk. In the end, Kirk did a great job of screwing things up for himself.
   Kirk has no one to blame but himself.
    The Hispanic community did not support Kirk to the degree he thought would produce victory.
   The Hispanic turnout increased throughout the state but Kirk did not pick up the percentage of the Hispanic vote he needed because I believe they knew the real Kirk too.
   Like Jesse Diaz said in his letter to the DMN:

"Ron Kirk never gave a hoot about the Hispanic community in Dallas."

   Hispanics knew that was a factual statement.
Gehrig

   Hopefully, the long nightmare of Ron Kirk is over. For someone who has never met Ron Kirk or have seen him in person, I feel that I know him very well. Make that---know about him very well.
    I used to be a "Yellow Dog Democrat" and towed the party line. I believeed what the DMN and the rest of the media told me. What changed my views?
   When Ron Kirk's church was attacked by the "hate crime" in May of 2001, I was on vacation for two weeks. When I got back, I started hearing allegations suggesting the crime was staged.
   After a lot of self-investigation (even visited the church), it was clear what happened.
   Kirk and other fraudmeisters who decried the crime, later, after the suspicions started, had nothing to say.
   Though I'm ambivalent on hate crime laws, I was sickened by what I came to see as a left wing agenda to get a hate crimes bill passed. Painting one's own church to get a law passed. I started to see for myself that this works. Doing "whatever it takes".
   After setting up a website, www.TexasHateCrime.com, I discovered DallasArena.com. It was a breath of fresh air. I discovered that I was not alone.
   Sharon, I thank you again for inspiring me to not be afraid to speak up and speak out.
   I enjoyed Avi's recent comments on Kirk. Kirk truly is a scumbag. Six years is a long time for Texans to realize they screwed up at the ballot box!
Eric A. King

People voted who don't normally vote and probably will not vote again for a long time. Many people at my polling place said they never voted before. Their voting was a good thing. The bad thing was that they were not voting for their party or good government. They were only concerned about Kirk or Sanchez.

Several African-Americans and Hispanics were on the ballot as GOP. They did not stress their ethnicity -- just their qualifications. They got elected. Keep an eye on Lisa Hembry, our new County Treasurer. She is going places. She is smart, articulate and earned her spot through experience and hard work.

Playing the race card may have got the Dems more votes this time, but it did not win them a single election. Sally Montgomery beat an incumbent Republican Judge by campaigning hard and convincing voters she was more qualified than the incumbent. She could not have won without Republican votes. Many Republicans are angry with District Attorney Bill Hill's involvement in the fake drug arrests and convictions. My neighbors are less than thrilled with his lack of prosecution or involvement in our efforts to clean up prostitution and the sex clubs. Our DA could be of great help to us, but he stays on the side lines.

Dallas County Democrats put up some of their best names, and they did not win. Sanchez spent millions, and they did not win. Someone paid for vans to take people to the polls, and they did not win. None of the county wide seats are up again for 4 years.

There is no one with Harriet Ehrhardt's popularity to run against Margaret Kelliher. If a well known community leader like Ehrhardt can't beat an obscure judge like Margaret Kelliher, there is no way someone else will knock her off in 4 years. It doesn't pay enough to interest Kirk.

I never want City Hall office holders to run on party labels.

Laura Miller got thousands of North Dallas Republican votes and lots of Hispanic Democrat votes and a ton of Anglo Democrat votes. She got a miniscule amount of African-American votes. Had she run in a Democrat primary, she likely would have lost to Tom Dunning.   African-Americans were whipped up against her because she held Old Al Lipscomb and Ron Kirk and Chief of Police Terrell Bolton to the same standards of decency you would expect of any public official, no matter their pigmentation.

Think of our choices last January had we been electing our Mayor on party lines. Dunning as the Democrat. Mary Poss as the Republican (even though she is a Perotnista). I would have voted for Dunning - built signs for Dunning -- walked door to door for Dunning -- spent hours on the phone for Dunning. You know why? Because he was much more qualified than Mary Poss, but I don't think he would have been a very good Mayor.

Party labels do not work in local politics. We need the best person for the job who has been active in our community, not someone who earns their bones doing partisan stuff.

Look at Ron Kirk. He got where he did on the cocktail circuit, sucking up to rich white guys on the golf course and at Country Clubs. He talks that anti-Dallas Country Club stuff because they have no Black members (he was angling for a scholarship or be moved to the front of the waiting list), but he played many times at Preston Trails where they don't even allow women on the course, much less as members. Still, all those rich matrons in the Park Cities just love him. He fawns over them in person and ridicules them behind their back.

We have a great Mayor who is working hard to un-do some of the damage Ron Kirk did to our city. I think Mayor Miller is way off track over this no-smoking thing. And I disagree with her enthusiasm for a regional transportation system.

I don't want to scrap DART for a regional transportation thing until we have got our entire city served by light rail. If the suburbs have to wait -- so be it. If Dallas fails, the suburbs will be surrounding a dead hole. We need to be able to get our people around the city. The desperation of that need is the real reason for the ludicrous idea of putting a freeway in the Trinity.

That's the beauty of having an honest person as our Mayor. You don't have to wonder why she takes a position -- whether someone had her to their Southern France Chateau or put her up on a yacht in the Mediterranean. If she takes a position (no matter how wrong), it's because she believes it to be right -- not because someone gave her family some stock options or some other financial goodies.

Just because Ron Kirk lost this election, do not assume we are safe.
Stay vigilant.