Year of the weasel

One thing that Barr and I talked about--and I appreciated his honest comments, which are hard to come by on this sticky topic of how some of our unpaid elected officials make ends meet--is how unfair it is that Ron Kirk openly accepts a six-figure salary from the business community in exchange for being mayor, and everybody thinks that's just a great idea. (He does virtually ZERO legal work for the law firm Gardere & Wynne, which represents new sports arena booster Don Carter among many other big shots who consistently seek City Hall favors.) But if Lipscomb takes a few used milk tanks or a couple hundred bucks from someone, it's a scandal.

"Maybe paying these councilmembers a salary would solve the problem," says Barr.

Maybe. But for a guy like Lipscomb, who clearly has no shame or conscience when it comes to accepting under-the-table largess and then returning the favor, a salary will only be icing on his mooch cake.

Last May, when the Observer story on Lipscomb ran, Lipscomb showed up for the weekly council meeting in a navy-blue sweatshirt with the word "CLUELESS" emblazoned on it--the cover headline of the story. Lipscomb chuckled all day about it--he thought it was all very amusing.

It's not amusing, Al. It's disgusting. And it's been allowed to continue for far too long. Al Lipscomb's secret gravy train is reason enough to vote against salaries for the city council. Maybe then his fellow councilmembers--some of whom may even deserve a salary--would come up with a fast way to get Lipscomb off the council. It wouldn't be hard; he's violated the city's code of ethics probably hundreds of times, and for that, councilmembers can vote to give one of their own the boot out of office.

If history is any indication, though, not only will the council do nothing, Lipscomb's constituents will vote him back in come May. And Al Lipscomb and his benefactors will stay in business.

Maybe it's the rest of us who are clueless.