One of the best political analysts I know, who was raised on Nixon, LBJ, and Jim Crow, just sighed when I asked her about tomorrow’s mayoral runoff.
"It’s all about their egos," she said. "The problem with this council, with all of the stuff that’s going on — the Trinity toll road, Leo Chaney’s statue, even the tax breaks they keep giving — is that they all want to have a park named after them. It’s not about running the city or making resident’s lives better. It’s about making sure they leave a legacy. They are terrified people will forget them. And let’s face it: Who is going to remember who served on the Dallas City Council? But if they can build big things or help developers build big things, they could get their name on a plaque. It doesn’t even matter if we need the big things or not. They just want to see their names on a plaque, so no one will forget them."
Cynical? Perhaps. But it also does put a lot of what has gone on over the past couple of years in perspective. One pro-toll road councilman sent Rick Wamre, our publisher, one of the nastiest letters I have ever seen someone in public life write, all because Rick thinks that the referendum is not a bad idea. This was a councilman, by the way, that the Advocate has been more than generous to. But all of that was forgotten when Rick dared to criticize the councilman’s legacy.
What does this have to do with tomorrow’s runoff? First, that whoever wins should know that we want results, not an attempt to pad some phony legacy. Second, when you vote — and please vote — vote for the candidate who you think will work for our agenda, and not the candidate’s. Otherwise, it will just be more of the same.
