Mari Woodlief

Habitat's $100 Million "Dream Dallas" Initiative Will Uplift Neighborhoods, Not Just Houses

Photos by Leslie MinoraMayor Rawlings calls the $100 million Habitat investment "big news" for Dallas.​Dallas Habitat for Humanity, which already claims to be the biggest single-family home builder in the city, will knock down and build more than 500 more homes in a $100 million blitz on the c ... More >>

Mayor Mike Rawlings, the Promise Keeper

Hizzoner swears he'll keep vow to clean up City Hall lobbying.

Mike Rawlings Vowed to Clean Up Dallas, But the Feds Are Spilling Dirt Everywhere

To keep his promise, Dallas' new mayor will have to distance himself from the city's political machine. Good luck with that.

Rawlings Campaign Tells Us What Price Pal Kathy Nealy Did to Earn Her Quarter Mil

​Mayor Mike Rawlings' chief campaign-runner, Mari Woodlief of Allyn Media, responded this afternoon to questions I had posed about the $270,000 paid by the Rawlings campaign to consultant Kathy Nealy, whose offices were searched by the FBI Monday as part of the federal investigation of County ... More >>

Mike Rawlings Clobbers Ron Natinsky and David Kunkle in Mayoral Fund-Raising Effort

Photos by Sam MertenWe're guessing this was Rawlings's reaction when he received bills from his consultants.​Former TracyLocke CEO Mike Rawlings easily outpaced the field of mayoral candidates by raising a whopping $1.03 million -- nearly three times the combined haul of Ron Natinksy and David ... More >>

Dallas' Next Mayor Will Face Tough Budget Choices. Too Bad The Candidates Won't Talk About Them.

Welcome To The Dull House

Rob Allyn Used to Run Local Politics. Now He's Making Movies in Indonesia.

Rob Allyn​Longtime observers of the local political landscape probably hear the name Rob Allyn and think of the Trinity River Corridor Project (Schutze insists it was Allyn who came up with those solar-powered water taxis), myriad mayoral campaigns, those Dubya ads attacking John McCain's environm ... More >>

Natinsky Gets Dallas Police Association Nod

Peter CalvinGlenn White​It's probably not the most surprising press release of the week: "Dallas Police Association PAC Unanimously Votes to Support Ron Natinsky For Dallas Mayor." After all, as we noted way back in September 2004 -- two months into David Kunkle's tenure as Dallas Police Departmen ... More >>

And Now, to the List of Dallas Mayoral Candidates, Add Mike Rawlings

Sam MertenMike Rawlings​It's the least surprising political announcement of the week, no doubt: Dallas Park Board President Mike Rawlings is running for Dallas mayor. The formal announcement, sent from Mari Woodlief, follows in full. In the release -- which names Joe Haggar Jr., former CEO of Hagg ... More >>

The Billion-Dollar Question: If Mayor Tom Leppert's Really About to Ditch, Why?

Mayor Tom and Ron Natinsky​Gromer Jeffers is saying this afternoon it's "all but certain" Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert won't run for reelection in May, although he doesn't quite say how he's so certain. I certainly have been picking up a lot of ground clutter in the last week, mainly about various hop ... 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 >>

Consultant to Tom Leppert and John Carona Says it's Going to Be "a Long, Painful Process" Waiting for Senator Hutchison's Next Move

John Carona​On Tuesday, state Senator John Carona said he'd "give consideration" to a mayoral run should Tom Leppert vacate office early in pursuit of Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat. A top Republican in the state and one of several names included among Leppert's potential would-be suc ... More >>

Challenger Eric Johnson Takes the High Road Against State Representative Terri Hodge, But Where Will It Lead Him?

Top 25 Food-Related Quotes Of The Past Decade

​Almost a decade ago, I wrote this: "Every time this country ends up with a Bush in the White House, several things most assuredly occur: The government inflicts some regrettable incident on Japan, the nation tumbles into a recession, a presidential pet writes a book, and everyone worries about th ... More >>

Before She's Required to Disclose Her Lobbying Efforts, We Take a Look-See at What Carol Reed's Banked From Mayor Leppert

Mark GrahamSure, Woodlief's Allyn Media has brought in about seven times the amount Reed has from Tom Leppert-related campaigns, but Reed remains the queen of consulting.As the city council continues to discuss ethics reform in the aftermath of 23 guilty verdicts in the Dallas City Hall corruption t ... More >>

While Breaking Ground for Convention Center Hotel, Mayor Tom Leppert Unveils Updated Design and Becomes Bellhop for a Day

Sam MertenCaption contest!It took Mayor Tom Leppert approximately two years to accomplish what no one else in Dallas could: begin building a convention center hotel. And hundreds of assorted politicos, city officials, business leaders and supporters were on hand Tuesday afternoon at the site of the ... More >>

Lesson learned from federal corruption trial: How to gain access to the portals of power at City Hall

As City Council Considers New Lobbying Rules, We Learn Carol Reed Banked $65,000 From Mayor's Back to School Fair

Brandon ThibodeauxIn case you missed it, Reed was profiled in December 2007 by former Observer-er Matt Pulle.In this week's paper version of Unfair Park, Schutze uses two of Mayor Tom Leppert's top political consultants -- Carol Reed and Mari Woodlief -- to explain why the mayor is hardly the "Angel ... More >>

Finance Reports Confirm What You Already Knew: Harlan Crow and Ray Hunt Are Loaded

Sam MertenWhat recession? As Harlan Crow told us right after the losing the election and more than $5 million: "I'll get over it before I get home."The spending gap between the two convention center hotel campaigns predictably didn't mimic the narrow margin at the polls, as Harlan Crow's $5.2 milli ... More >>

The Convention Center Hotel Vote is Not Just About a Building. It’s About a Mayor.

City Council Candidate Brint Ryan's Campaign Materials Violate Texas Election Code

Brint Ryan's campaign materials might lead some voters to believe he's a sitting council member because of the lack of a certain word required by Texas Election Code.The battle for the city council's District 13 seat is already quite a pricy one, as Ann Margolin takes on Brint Ryan for the right to ... More >>

New Candidate Joins Race To Replace Mitchell Rasansky on Council

As we mentioned here a couple months ago, Ann Margolin seemed like a tough candidate to beat in May for Mitchell Rasansky's open city council seat. However, comments she made to us about a certain $520 million boondoggle may have sparked Mayor Tom and others to find someone who will fall in line an ... More >>

Before Council Votes to Ban Smoking, a Lot of Smoke is Blown at City Hall

After nearly three hours of discussion, the city council wrapped up yesterday's briefing on the proposed strengthened smoking ordinance seemingly prepared to vote on the item at next week's agenda meeting. Council members appear poised to approve a ban on smoking in bars, pool halls and within 15 fe ... More >>

With Dallas Republicans in Pain, One Local Leader Believes He Has the Cure

How County Chair Jonathan Neerman Plans to Ease the Dallas GOP's Woes

Mayor Tom and Friends Really Would Like You Stop Asking About That Hotel

Dallas' Political Designing Woman

When Dallas' political elite need a win, Carol Reed cheers them on and calls the plays

Tipping the Scales

Why do self-service restaurants ask for tips?

Burning Question

Where are the spoons?