Former Dallas police chief David Kunkle wants to be mayor.
This is intriguing enough news, given Kunkle’s reputation as an effective chief who worked diligently to bring community policing to the city. In this, he was a neighborhood kind of guy, which is something we haven’t seen in a mayor for four years.
But that’s not the most intriguing thing about Kunkle’s candidacy. It’s his campaign treasurer, former state Rep. Steve Wolens. Wolens, by himself, is an interesting choice — a politically connected lawyer who was a populist, neighborhood-oriented legislator.
But Wolens doesn’t come to the Kunkle campaign by himself. Whether he wants to or not, and whether Kunkle wants it or not, Wolens brings his wife with him.
And his wife is former Dallas mayor Laura Miller, perhaps the most controversial political figure in Dallas in the past 30 years.
Or, as almost everyone I talked to about this said: “She’s ba-ack!”
No one knows for sure if Miller will be involved with the campaign, and she hasn’t said anything. But it doesn’t matter. Miller is such a polarizing figure that even her presence by marriage will flavor the campaign.
A quick primer on Miller’s six-year tenure as mayor, and why so many people still disagree about what she did and how she did it:
• Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says Miller cost Dallas the team’s new stadium, and a lot of people believe him. Miller didn’t want to spend taxpayer money to benefit someone she considered annoying and fabulously wealthy, a decision that has not played well with a sizable part of the electorate.
• Miller was the driving force behind the city’s smoking ban. This may not seem like a big deal today, but five years ago the nicest thing she was called by people who opposed the ban was Communist.
• The city’s African-American community disliked Miller even more than the anti-smoking ban people, and they still feel that way. No one wanted to talk about Miller and the mayoral campaign on the record, but off the record? The muttering under their breath is getting louder.
The obvious question, given Miller’s reputation and that she will almost certainly become a campaign issue, is why Kunkle picked Wolens as treasurer. It could be completely innocent. Miller was mayor when Kunkle was hired to replace the legendary Terrell Bolton, who was fired for incompetence here (and then in Atlanta) and whom Miller actively disliked. It’s perfectly logical to assume that they know each other and like each other, and that Miller and Wolens want to help their friend become mayor.
Having said that, Kunkle told the Dallas Observer he thought that Wolens could help him raise money — which does seem more than a little disingenuous. A lot of people who aren’t married to Miller could do that, and it’s a statement that has left even those of us who don’t believe in conspiracy theories looking for shoes under the bed.
My favorite? That Miller is out to even the score with someone, and that could include almost anyone she dealt with during her tenure as mayor. That could be city manager Mary Suhm, who was an assistant city manager when Miller feuded with city manager Ted Benavides. It could be Far North Dallas city councilman Ron Natinsky, who is more or less the frontrunner in the mayor’s race and who has had his disputes with Miller. Or maybe Miller knew Park Board president Mike Rawlings was going to run, and she doesn’t like him? Who knows?
Regardless, Miller’s presence will liven up what looked to be a decidedly dull mayoral campaign. If nothing else, we should be grateful for that.
