For some reason, I didn’t receive one — maybe principal Gilbert Aranza reads our blog — but one of two Love Field vendors facing a council vote to open up bidding for the contracts has mailed his plea directly to voters. Rudy Bush and the DMN discuss the unusual plea in Sunday’s newspaper, and the general consensus is that it’s the first time in recent memory a city vendor has tried to go over the heads of the council directly to their ostensible bosses, the voters.
What the vendor hasn’t figured out is that most voters don’t even know what’s going on with the Love Field contracts, much less care what ultimately happens (just my opinion). Anyway, Mayor Tom Leppert, who started the ruckus just before the council went on summer vacation, has been struggling to come up with a couple of alternatives to make everyone happy, but no dice so far. The council is expected to vote on the issue in the next few weeks, and at last nose-count it was split right down the middle on whether to approve the contracts on a no-bid basis or put everything out for bid. Reportedly, councilman Angela Hunt is the swing vote and hasn’t announced her intention yet.
As for whether it’s OK for Aranza to go directly to the public with his appeal, Leppert seems to think it’s a bad idea, but I don’t have a problem with it. The guy is spending his own money to influence voters to do what he wants them to do; that sounds exactly what politicians do every election cycle. Can’t blame the guy for trying.
