Halliday, who has sold supplies to the topless club from his white warehouse building on Northwest Highway, recalls the day he signed his letter. "Somebody from one of those topless clubs came over and said they just wanted to see if they could get City Hall to consider a solution," he says. He signed a prepared letter and the topless club workers mailed it for him, Halliday says.
Luna had suggested he was responding to spontaneous grassroots public opinion. In truth, the episode--so brazenly orchestrated by the consultant, giving cover to both of his clients--shows how members of the City Council respond to Burch Management's political handiwork.
Two weeks after the resolution passed, Luna's campaign filed financial reports that showed the council member had received $5,000 from Burch Management officials 10 days before the resolution passed. Duncan Burch and his wife Sue had given Luna $2,000; brother Scott and his wife Phyllis had donated $2,000; and Burch executive Kathie Golden had contributed another $1,000.
Other council members who voted in favor of the ordinance have also gotten Burch money. Craig McDaniel received a $1,000 contribution one week after the resolution passed; Charlotte Mayes received $650.
In a press release issued September 22, 1995--after Channel 5 broke a story about Burch's contributions to Luna--the council member stated: "My critics have the story backwards. My efforts have been at the request of and to benefit neighborhoods in their fight against the impact of sexually oriented businesses."
Luna noted that he had over 700 individual contributors to his campaign, donating more than $100,000. "I am not aware or familiar with every single contributor. As you can see, a contribution does not impact how I approach my public service."
When called for comment on this story, Luna, through his assistants, refused to add anything--or answer questions about his earlier statement.
Assistant City Manager Levi Davis has met several times with Burch officials and neighborhood groups to start fashioning the compromise the council authorized him to seek.
Burch has not yet delivered a proposed settlement, but says it will do so soon.
Dallas' bid to regulate sexually oriented businesses offers a case study in cynicism and hypocrisy.
Chris Luna, with his pockets full of donations from Burch employees, declares that citizens' groups prompted his resolution. Burch Management executives, proprietors of topless clubs, mingle with Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition and send their employees to dole out goodies to poor kids in the park. And conservative council members like Donna Blumer and Max Wells contend that they are just trying to regulate topless clubs--not wipe them off the map of Dallas.
Meanwhile, the market for topless entertainment swells like Candy's cantaloupes. And for better or worse--freedom of expression or sign of moral decay--topless bars are here to stay.
