District 14 City Councilman Angela Hunt has not yet announced her run for Dallas mayor. But all signs point to a Hunt for Mayor campaign this spring.
In light of that, three candidates so far have said they will run for her City Council seat if she gives it up to run for mayor.
We spoke with all three this week. Here’s what we learned.
Jim Rogers
Jim Rogers might be the most familiar face in the bunch. He moved to Bryan Place in 1980, just after it was developed, and he co-founded the neighborhood association there.
A lawyer and certified public accountant, he has served on the city’s zoning board and the Urban Rehabilitation Standards Board.
“I’ve been at City Hall. I’ve been involved. I care about the district a lot,” he says. “I’ve been around a long time, and people can trust me.”
His campaign platform includes reducing crime, improving roads and making the city “fiscally responsible”.
“People really feel impacted by the tax rates in Dallas. What can you do about that? I don’t know,” he says. “But being an attorney and CPA, I feel l can evaluate what’s going on better than the vast majority of people who have been on City Council.”
James Nowlin
Attorney/business owner James Nowlin is 30 years old, so if elected, he would be one of the youngest men to serve on the Dallas City Council. Hunt, who was elected at 33, was the youngest woman elected to that position.
Hunt appointed Nowlin to the Dallas Citizens Police Review Board, and he also served on the board of Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas and currently serves on the AIDS Services of Dallas board.
Nowlin lives in Lakewood Heights, and his corporate financial consulting firm, Excel Global Partners, is in Lake Highlands.
His campaign platform is conveniently alliterative: Badges, Buildings and Bucks. He wants to focus on crime in our neighborhoods, preserving our historical buildings while planning good new development, and making “smart choices so that we live within our means and improve our city.”
Chad Lasseter
Chad Lasseter is a 37-year-old resident of Hollywood Heights. He is sales and services director for Issaquah, Wash.-based Northwind Consulting Services, whose biggest client is IBM, and he works from home.
He and his campaign workers are still crafting a platform, and they expect to have it completed early next week.
Lasseter says his campaign will focus on “increased responsiveness from the government, and increased transparency, especially on the financial side.”
“We are going to approach (city government) as we would running a business,” he says.
The official filing period for the May election is Feb. 14-March 14.
