Government and Politics

It's a diary of a mad year as Buzz recalls a P.O.'d 2010.

Mass deportation, strict border enforcement, amnesty. What will comprehensive immigration reform look like if the feds take action--or if they don't?

Head of Economic Development Explains $2 Million Grant Proposed for North Oak Cliff

Click to embiggen the map of the area that would be impacted by the proposed $2 million economic development grant.​On Friday we sneak-peeked that proposed $2-million economic development grant proposal intended to "support emerging development opportunities in North Oak Cliff." Before Wednesday's ... More >>

Council to Consider Doling Out $2 Million In GrantBond Money to North Oak Cliff Developers

​So much for North Oak Cliff not needing City Hall ...On Monday, the council's Economic Development Committee will discuss an "economic development grant proposal to support emerging development opportunities in North Oak Cliff." Which is kinda vague till you look at the corresponding item (No. 57 ... More >>

Mexican Macro-economics

FAIR-y Tales

Russell Pearce and Other Illegal-Immigration Populists Rely on Misleading, Right-Wing Reports to Scapegoat Immigrants and Terrify Penny-Pinched Americans.

Resource Center Dallas Happy, For the Most Part, With "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Report

U.S. Navy Petty Officer Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeleyRobert Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at today's press conference​The Department of Defense today released its 247-page Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of ... More >>

Stick It In Your Earmark Redux, or: Surprise, News Views Ban as a Bad Thing for Trinity

​O.K., I promise not to go on about it, but there's an interesting little two-step today on Page One of Dallas's Only Daily Newspaper. I just wanted to call it to your attention. It's about congressional earmarks and us. For a week or so we have been going on and on about how the Republican ban o ... More >>

Kosher Pork? One In a Series of Items About Flushing Money Down the Trinity River.

​Last week Friend of Unfair Park Shaggy predicted that the Tea Party will get over its aversion to congressional earmarks in however long it takes for the Triple R's (Really Really Rich People) to get Dick Armey to convey the new post-election marching orders down to the tri-cornered-hat persons: ... More >>

What Two Sentences in The WSJ Suggest About the Future of the Trinity River Project

U.S. Army Corps of EngineersFrom the Dallas Floodway Extension Project Description, this 1989 photo: "US175 blocked by water backed up into White Rock Creek. Normally, this is a busy traffic artery leading to the central business district."​Wilonsky sent me an interesting Wall Street Journal artic ... More >>

Stick It In Your Earmark, or: You Don't Have to Look Far To See When Good Money Goes Bad

The Trinity Parkway Toll Road, looking south from Hampton Road, from the master plan​Not to be cranky or anything, but it's really irritating to read all this crap about congressional earmarks and realize nobody knows what the hell they're talking about. Stories in both The Dallas Morning News and ... More >>

DOJ, FCC Settle With HP (For $16.25 Mil!) Over E-Rate Fraud In Dallas, Houston ISDs

Ruben Bohuchot​Back in June 2009, you may recall, the Dallas Independent School District and the U.S. Department of Justice settled up over the misuse of funds provided to the district for the feds' E-Rate program, which was created in 1996 to give "affordable access to telecommunications services ... More >>

How Much Money is MoneyGram Getting to Move From Minnesota to 2828 N. Harwood?

​A couple of weeks ago, MoneyGram announced it was moving its HQ from Minnesota to Dallas -- you remember that, right? And at the time, City Hall said the move involved "a public incentive package" that the city council had to approve -- oh, like it wouldn't. Anyway. Some Friends wondered how much ... More >>

If You Don't Want to Raise Taxes, Better Look At The Kind of City You Do Want.

Liveblogging Today's Council Meeting During Which It'll Vote on FY2010-11 Budget

Friendship-West's Dr. Frederick Haynes, a longtime Leppert ally, spoke in favor of a tax hike: "We cannot ride first class without paying for it."​Hey y'all. I rode the elevator up to City Council Chambers this morning with Carolyn Davis, who is doing this whole Jackie O thing in a fun-collared ... More >>

Doing the Math After Today's Tax Rate Vote

City of Dallas Facebook pageFrom yesterday's Pavaho Pump Station groundbreaking, though feel free to write your own caption​Didn't even get my print-edition column out the door this week before I got a major correction, and this one from a person who would know -- city council member Angela Hunt. ... More >>

Mayor Leppert Won't Say What Other Federal Agencies He Lashed Out Against Last Week; Suhm Calls Criticism "Not Very Harsh"

Sam MertenMayor Leppert giving his State of the City address last week.​As we mentioned last week, Mayor Tom Leppert spiced up his State of the City address with, among other things, some harsh comments directed toward the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Not only did he claim the corps is "not a ... More >>

Mayor Tom Leppert's Last Ditch Effort to Pick Off One City Council Member Before Wednesday's Big Budget Vote

​While Mayor Tom Leppert has dismissed headlines surrounding the budget as "perpetuated unfortunately by politics," we pointed out that he's been sending out campaign e-mails and mailers in a desperate effort to secure enough votes among his colleagues to prevent a tax hike. Despite his campai ... More >>

Governor Perry Drops By East Dallas Gun Shop to Remind Us How Much He Loves Second Amendment, Hates Coyotes

Sam Merten​Gov. Rick Perry said concealed handgun laws have made Texas safer during a campaign stop at McClelland Gun Shop yesterday afternoon while receiving endorsements from the National Rifle Association and the Texas State Rifle Association. He also continued to milk his story about killi ... More >>

Leppert: Tax Hike Is "A Very Risky Gamble"

​Mayor Tom Leppert has said it time and again: No tax hike. No way, no how. But in case you missed it the first 29 times, his e-vite to tomorrow morning's council budget briefing serves as yet another just-say-no note in which he takes aim at Angela Hunt and the other seven council members support ... More >>

City Manager Mary Suhm: Call for Tax Hike "Pretty Universal" at Budget Town Halls

Sam MertenMary Suhm​"Do a tax rate increase." That's how City Manager Mary Suhm sums up the feedback from Thursday night's budget meeting at Edna Rowe Elementary. "That's pretty universal when we're at town hall meetings," she says. Despite the overwhelming number of residents pleading for ... More >>

Leppert on Tax Hike: "I Don't Want it Coming on the Shoulders of the People Who Live Here."

Sam Merten​While I had Mayor Tom Leppert on the phone Monday evening, to discuss the walkout by six council members before the tax-rate hike briefing even got going, we talked for a few minuts about his opposition to a property tax hike. He acknowledged: Yes, some council members are leaning that ... More >>

The More Things Change: Yesterday's Council Walkout Brings Back Fond (?) Memories

​Fine print alert! When Mayor Tom Leppert tells you that yesterday's agenda item vote on the city tax rate didn't mean anything, he's got his hand deep in your pocket. It may be fine print, but ask Leppert why the vote was required by state law if it didn't mean anything. Yesterday's council walko ... More >>

Angela "Swing Vote" Hunt Gives Us a Hint of What to Expect at Tomorrow's Love Field Airport Concessions Shindig

Angela Hunt's flickrWill this be the scene after tomorrow's council briefing?​Tomorrow, finally, the city council will be briefed once again on the concession contracts at Dallas Love Field Airport that has the council is split along racial lines. Mayor Tom Leppert failed to mention the racial ... More >>

Illegal Immigrants, Desperate To Find Work In The U.S., Risk Kidnapping, Rape and Murder From Those Smuggling Them Across the Border

Local Republican Party Drops Three Grand to Protest President Obama's Visit to Dallas

​While President Obama drops by the Highland Park home of lawyer Russell Budd this evening to raise dough and break bread with local Dems, Republicans are rallying at Franklin Stadium next to Hillcrest High School to ... well, to do what? "It's not just complaining about the Democrats," says ... More >>

SMU Professor Hired By Aranza Pens 24-Page Report Defending City Staff's Love Field Food and Beverage Contract Recommendations

Brandon ThibodeauxWhile the city council took a month off, concessionaire Gilbert Aranza hired one of the mayor's former consultants, who convinced him to pay an SMU associate professor to take a look-see at the controversial Love Field food and beverage contract.​After the city council on Jun ... More >>

Despite draconian budget cuts, DART continues to put on a happy face.

Four Months After Hubbie Pleaded Guilty to Tax Evasion, Realtor Eleanor Sheets Joins In

Eleanor Mowery Sheets and husband Nicky​Again, this is Candy Evans's beat -- why, just today she noted over on D's DallasDirt that the former manse of Eleanor and Nicky Sheets is selling at half off the original asking price after it failed to move at an IRS auction in February. Nevertheless, this ... More >>

At the Poor People's March, Davis and Caraway Demanded Tax Hike to Cover Budget Shortfall

Photos by Evan ClintonCarolyn Davis briefly joined John Fullinwider, left, at the Poor People's March in front of City Hall today.​About 75 people gathered outside Dallas City Hall today -- accompanied by a 20-foot banner that said, "To Redeem the Soul of America" -- and accused city leaders of wa ... More >>

Minority Council Members Blast Mayor For Not Supporting Love Field Contract Extensions

Photos by Sam Merten"Enough is truly enough," said Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway at today's press conference before explaining why he and Mayor Tom Leppert are on opposite sides.​The Dallas City Council's seven minority council members launched a counterattack this afternoon against Mayor Tom L ... More >>

The Battle Over Airport Contracts Opens a Rift Between the Mayor and Minority City Council Members.

FCC Tells FOX to Hand Over Indecency Complaints. Instead, It Sends 'Em to KDFW.

​Variety's reporting that the Federal Communications Commission is fining FOX $25,000 over the January 3 episode of American Dad titled "Horse Chores," in which -- as the trade's Ted Johnson puts it -- there's a scene "in which two characters engage in ribald dialogue, followed by a scene in which ... More >>

County Commish Maurine Dickey's Campaign Report Long on Smoke, Short on Fire.

As City Awaits Ruling in "Billion-Dollar Case," New Lawsuits Were Just Added to the Pile

Joe Betzel, one of the Dallas Fire-Rescue workers who filed suit against the city -- yet again -- today​Back in December we wrote a few items about the so-called "billion-dollar case" currently being considered by the Supreme Court of Texas. Very long story way too short: It stems from a 1979 refe ... More >>

Why Do The Powers That Be In Dallas Want To Regulate A South Dallas Scrap Metal Yard Out Of Existence?

So, If The Mayor's So Unhappy With Love Field Deal, What's He Gonna Do About It?

Tomorrow, the role of Laura Miller will be played by Tom Leppert.​So tomorrow's shaping up to be a very interesting Dallas City Council meeting: As Rudy Bush wrote yesterday, the mayor's mighty unhappy with the no-bid concession contracts being doled out to Dallas Love Field Joint Venture and Huds ... More >>

Mayor Pro Tem Caraway Wants to Make Sure Jim Gets His Quote Exactly Right

​Sometimes I feel that life is unfair. I have way too much fun. On occasion I think I should share some of it with others. In that spirit, I offer the following: In tomorrow's paper version of Unfair Park I will have a column dealing with efforts by Dallas city council member Dwaine Caraway to sh ... More >>

Two Months After Taking Guilty Plea, Terri Hodge Sentenced to Year in Prison

Sam MertenTerri Hodge​The staff was all tied up today and couldn't make it to the Earle Cabell for Terri Hodge's sentencing. But the guilty-plea-taking ex-state represenative got a year in federal prison, because U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn didn't really buy her story that, look, it was ... More >>

Manufacturing Dissent: Bush Institute's Cyber Dissidents Panel Gathers Friends of the Freedom Agenda

Patrick MichelsPresident Bush opens his institute's Conference on Cyber Dissidents: "The Bush Institute is going to be involved in the freedom movement."​The George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University won't be breaking ground till November, but its policy arm, the Bush Ins ... More >>

Call It a Tea Party, Serve Beer: On Tax Day, Getting Populist at the Ballpark

Patrick MichelsThe Tax Day Tea Partier's sophomore effort drew the largest crowd QuikTrip Park's ever hosted.Heading west on I-30 from downtown last night, you'd have passed two stretches of stalled traffic -- the first, along the access road just across the Trinity, made up of the grumbling masses ... More >>

The Humane Society and big agriculture slug it out over animal rights

Take One Guess Why Council's Messing With Judicial Nominating Commission

​Interesting item on the Dallas City Council's agenda this morning: "Judicial Nominating Commission." (It's Action Item No. 5, for those playing along at home.) City Attorney Tom Perkins is offering the council three alternative ways to fix the body that vets candidates for municipal judgeships. S ... More >>

So, If You're Lobbying Dallas City Hall, You Need to Report To, Um, Everyone?

​The city finally came up with that list of city officials with whom lobbyists must report contacts under the new lobby reform ordinance that goes into effect a week from now. The lobbyists had been bitching behind the scenes because the city was taking months to come up with the list. Now that we ... More >>

Mayor Leppert's Contributions Dry Up and Then His Big Fund-Raiser Becomes a Charity Event -- What Gives?

Mayor Leppert at last year's "Giraffes, Monkeys and Lepperts" fund-raiser.​For the past two years, Mayor Tom Leppert's annual "Giraffes, Monkeys and Lepperts" event at the Dallas Zoo has served as a birthday bash for the mayor and fund-raiser for Friends of Tom Leppert, a committee formed to p ... More >>

The Feds' Local Tax Busts Best-Of: The Chart-Topping Hits From 2009

​There's magic in these hits hot off the charts, all charged with original star power -- pure power! New, from K-Tel and the U.S. Attorney's Office, this hit parade of local tax preparers, investment advisers and other no-filing nogoodniks currently serving five to Top 10! The original hits of '09 ... More >>

Why Is It, All of the Sudden, That Today's Starting to Feel Like 2007 All Over Again?

​Doing some Trinity River research this week, I came across an item posted on Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert's Web page talking about how the outcome of the 2007 toll road election was a real kick in city council member Angela Hunt's ass. Hunt, of course, sponsored the unsuccessful referendum. "The vo ... More >>

Do Primary Voting Numbers Spell a GOP Trend?

With Shifting Attitudes and a Burgeoning Medical Marijuana Movement, the Future Looks Rosy for Legalized Weed