Subject: John Carona

• Have a Carona on David Dean

  October 18, 2006

• The Unholy Trinity: Kirk, Miller and Leppert

  August 15, 2007

• Lions, Tigers and a Mayor Tom Fund-Raiser -- Oh, My!

  June 11, 2008

• For District Judge Anne Ashby, What Happened in Vegas Didn't Stay in Vegas

  July 8, 2008

• TEA, Legislators Meet with Hinojosa to Discuss DISD's Direction, We Suppose

  October 24, 2008

• With Hope Dwindling, Republicans Compete For Next Caption Contest

  November 4, 2008

• GOP Kisses Sheriff’s Race Goodbye

  November 4, 2008

• Let them cast ballots

  February 9, 1995

• Ann Margolin Leads the Pack As City's Finance Report Deadline Looms

  As we mentioned a while back, District 13 city council candidate Ann Margolin appeared to be the heir apparent to Mitchell Rasansky with a long list of notable supporters and a strong résumé. And as the 5 p.m. deadline approaches for candidates and committees to file their finance reports, Margolin's stock just took another spike as she's blowing everyone else away with $130,360 raised from July to December (more than twice as much as Mayor Tom), including 86 maximum contributions of $1,000 f

  January 15, 2009

• If North Texas Really Wants to Ride the Rail, a Tax Hike's Coming Down the Road

  You may wanna spend a few minutes this morning boning up on the Rail North Texas plan, which calls for 215 miles of new commuter rail track that would connect much of North Texas -- from McKinney to Midlothian, Cleburne to Carrollton, Burleson to beyond. Only, who'll pay for it? Because it ain't cheap: $350 million and growing, by most estimates. And the suburbs badly want this, as evidenced by a press release issued by the city Burleson last week:It's been almost 80 years since the last passeng

  February 16, 2009

• Keynote Speaker at GOP Fund-Raiser Says Party is Facing "Gut-Check Point." Ya Think?

  Sam MertenU.S. Congressmen Jeb Hensarling (left) and Kenny Marchant (right) and State Senator John Carona (top right corner)The Dallas County Republican Party continued to pick up the pieces from another rough election cycle as it celebrated its largest annual fund-raiser last night at the Westin Park Central Hotel. The Reagan Day Dinner featured House Speaker Joe Straus and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who spoke to dozens of elected officials and more than 500 attendees. Straus energ

  February 27, 2009

• Plenty of Folks Are Starting to Place, and Hedge, Their Bets on Casinos in Texas

  One week ago today, state Sen. John Carona introduced proposed legislation, S.J.R. No. 31, that would allow for at least 12 casinos scattered throughout the state -- seven "in different urban areas," two "located on islands in the Gulf of Mexico that are tourist destinations with at least 1,000 guest rooms" and "three or more additional licensed locations," to be specific. And so, for the last week, local pundits and prognosticators have been betting on where Dallas's casino will land -- near t

  March 3, 2009

• Best Political Gaffe

  September 20, 2001

• Mirror, Mirror

  To see who's behind the bridge collapse, just take a look

  August 16, 2007

• Jerry-rigged

  Jones' stadium tax is in for one rough fight

  February 19, 2004

• State Senate Gives New "Pole Tax" a Whirl

  Courtesy The LodgeThe Austin American-Statesman reports this afternoon that the state Senate has given its unanimous OK to new-and-improved legislation that revamps the contentious "pole tax" imposed upon, ya know, gentleman's establishments a couple of years back. The original legislation, which imposed a $5-per-customer charge, wasn't a big hit with topless bar owners; said The Lodge's Dawn Rizos, "It's unfair in many ways, and it hurts our industry." And a judge slapped it down as unconstitut

  May 12, 2009

• Buzzkill: Senate Keeps Burleson Sex-Toy Crusader Off Pardons and Paroles Board

  Guess this will be the last time we run this photo of Shanda Perkins.Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast sent Unfair Park a note to point out this "amazing" development from yesterday: Burleson's Shanda Perkins bid to become a member of the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles was killed dead in the Senate yesterday. Happened just a week after the Senate Committee on Nominations gave her the 4-1 okee-doke, with senators John Whitmire (D, Houston), John Carona (R, Dallas) and Eliot Shapleigh (D,

  May 14, 2009

• Wade Emmert Emerges as Party Favorite in GOP Effort to Take Back County Judge Seat

  flickr member: cedarhillchurchofchristEmmert is charged with helping the local Republican Party rebound by jumping from a council member in Cedar Hill to Dallas County Judge.At the Dallas County Republican Party's annual Reagan Day Dinner in February, we described Cedar Hill City Council member Wade Emmert as a rising star likely to become the party favorite in the race for county judge in 2010. Emmert wouldn't confirm his plans with us at the event, but now it's official: He's running with the

  May 22, 2009

• After Years of Trying, Mother Can Sue State Over Son's Abuse at Denton State School

  Mark GrahamBefore Haseeb Chishty was released from the Denton State School last year, his mother Farhat visited him nearly every day.Last year, Jesse Hyde wrote several stories for the Dallas Observer and Unfair Park about Farhat Chishty's quest for justice for her son Haseeb, who, till last fall, had been one of 630 residents at Denton State School -- where, in 2002, Haseeb was savagely beaten by a caregiver who later admitted to being in a drug-fueled rage. (He was sentenced to 15 years in pri

  May 28, 2009

• Time's Running Out for State Legislature to Allow "No-Refusal" DWI Blood Drawa

  Dallas Police VideoA woman arrested for DWI during a so-called No-Refusal Weekend has her blood drawn inside Lew Sterrett. In her left hand? A search warrant that orders her to give up her blood.The Texas Senate yesterday refused to send to Governor Rick Perry a bill that included an amendment that would allow law enforcement officers to draw blood from folks suspected of driving under the influence -- otherwise known as the no-refusal initiative for which the Dallas Police Department is pushing

  May 29, 2009

• John Carona, Miles Away from Ordinary

  Must be love this morning, as two Friends of Unfair Park who more often than not vote "D" sent along this link to the new issue of The Texas Observer (unrelated), in which the staff ranks "The People's Friends and Foes" coming out of the 81st Legislature. And topping the list of Friends is a Dallas Republican, state Sen. John Carona, and not solely because he fought the G.O.P.'s attempts to rewrite the rules to push through the voter I.D. legislation:Carona championed legislation that would have

  June 23, 2009

• John Carona, a TxDOT Director and DART Spar Over Size and Safety of DFW's HOV Lanes

  Justin Cozart​Late yesterday, the Texas Senate issued a summary of sorts of the Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security's public hearing in Arlington on Thursday, during which everything from drought to driving was on the agenda. Of course, Rosemary Miramontes's testimony, concerning her son's accident in an HOV lane on I-35E in '07 that left him paralyzed, garnered the most coverage; some officials, concerned about the dramatic rise in crash rates since the opening of HOV lanes on

  August 21, 2009

• This Morning at DISD HQ, the Debut of the Dallas Friends of Public Education PAC

  ​Late Monday, Brooks Love and I had a brief chat about Dallas Friends of Public Education, the political action committee set to make its bow this morning with a 10:30 press conference at Dallas Independent School District HQ. (DFPE's Web site made its debut yesterday.) You know Love, right? Former Dallas City Hall elections manager who went on to become the political consultant behind the likes of TrinityVote (the group against the toll road) and Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel (the

  September 1, 2009

• Railing On Transportation

  September 24, 2009