Longtime neighborhood resident and former mayor Ron Kirk appears to be on his way to Washington, D.C., to be part of the Obama administration in some type of cabinet-level position. The DMN is the latest to write about the possibility, which has been rumored since Obama’s election.
Kirk has been an obvious choice since helping coordinate Obama’s Texas efforts and due to his personal relationship with Obama, which apparently started after Kirk lost his own race for the Senate to John Cornyn in 2002.
As mayor, Kirk did a few things I didn’t agree with — primarily buckling a little early on the AAC negotiations with Perot and Hicks, and allowing the Victory location instead of pushing the project to the Farmers Market area or near the Convention Center in exchange for city money, which I suspect accidentally hung downtown out to dry and led to Mayor Tom Leppert’s demand for taxpayers to fund his $500 million convention center hotel.
But when it comes to Dallas mayors, he has been one of the best since I’ve been in town. He also has been a longtime supporter of DISD, which his daughters attended for a number of years, and he lends support to the White Rock YMCA, too.
In fact, the last time I saw him was at an event for YMCA supporters shortly after the referendum on the Trinity project, which he was very vocal about supporting (the initial bond was passed during his administration) while I did not. Kirk sauntered over to me (he barely knows me), joked a bit about the impact that our magazine’s coverage had on the election (apparently not much), and was every bit the gracious winner. Kirk’s a natural politician in a good way, quick-witted and friendly even when he’s probably holding his nose, so he’ll fit right into the D.C. scene.
And I mean that as a compliment.
