Subject: Sheila Farrington

• Mayoral Candidates Like to Ac-cent-thcu-ate the Positive. If Only We Could Vote For All of Them!

  April 6, 2007

• Don and Sheila and D'Angelo Makes Three

  July 5, 2006

• Don and Sheila Sitting in a Tree...

  June 19, 2006

• Max Wells: Mayoral Candidate and Amazing Coward

  April 27, 2007

• Got Time to Kill? Here's That 166-Page City Hall Indictment You've Been Waiting For.

  October 1, 2007

• Street Tax

  October 1, 2007

• Mrs. Don Hill Speaks! And Says She and Her Hubby Are Innocent! No, Really?

  October 25, 2007

• Domino No. 2 in the City Hall Corruption Case Falls: Andrea Spencer Pleas Guilty to Bribery Conspiracy

  April 30, 2008

• Judge Provides a Generous Sneak Peek at Feds' Case Against Don Hill, Others

  August 13, 2008

• Don Hill Really, Really, Really, Really Doesn't Want to Go to Trial in January

  How many hours should we stay home this morning till the bridges and overpasses thaw, Don Hill? One? Gotcha. Thanks. Former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, indicted about 28 years ago in that City Hall low-income-housing bribery and extortion case that started back in the days of eight-tracks and bell-bottoms, has tried every which way to get out of his trial, scheduled for January 20. First, he claimed the U.S. Attorney didn't like black people and Democrats, a strategy first employed by Kanye West

  December 16, 2008

• Serving the "Ends of Justice," Judge Delays City Hall Trial Till June

  How many shopping days left till Christmas, Don Hill? Dang, then we'd best hurry! A couple of housekeeping items this morning, including the disappointing news of a scheduling change. You can cross January 20 off your calendar if you were planning on attending the trial of former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, wife Sheila Farrington, ex-City Plan Commissioner, D'Angelo Lee, low-income housing developer Brian Potashnik, his wife Cheryl Potashnik and the others indicted in the City Hall corrup

  December 24, 2008

• "There Will Never Be a Paper Trail." Whoops.

  OK, Don Hill, raise your finger every time you hear a defendant in the City Hall corruption case plead guilty.This afternoon, as promised, the U.S. Attorney's Office forwards John Lewis's plea agreement -- the one that finds him promising to testify against former Dallas City Council member Don "What Me Worry?" Hill. You'll find that and two other absorbing court documents filed today -- a little light weekend reading for those of us working on our novels about the city that likes to live large

  March 6, 2009

• Don Hill Slides From Mayoral Candidate to Alleged Criminal

  How did that happen?

  October 25, 2007

• Stacked Deck

  Giving penny-ante politicians a say over lucrative affordable-housing developments seemed like a good idea--until the FBI came calling

  January 26, 2006

• At This Rate, Don Hill's Gonna Be Awful Lonesome When His Trial Starts

  Hey, Don Hill, how many weeks till your trial starts? Wrong. It's two, not one.First, there was Allen McGill. Then, Andrea Spencer. Then, John Lewis. To that roster of names of folks who've pleaded guilty in the Dallas City Hall corruption case, add a fourth: Kevin Dean, president and a principal of Kevin Dean Asphalt Technology and a concrete subcontractor who today in a Dallas federal courtroom copped to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion for which the mandatory max is five years in p

  June 8, 2009

• So Help You God, Don Hill

  Hey, Don Hill, who just joined your legal defense team? You don't say.Earlier this afternoon, Ken Carter at Focus Communications sent along an invite to a Sunday-night prayer vigil in front of the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse -- where, so happens, one week from today former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and his missus, Sheila Farrington, finally go to trial in the City Hall corruption case in which four folks have already pleaded guilty. Hill's got quite the all-star lineup ready

  June 15, 2009

• Before the Prayer Vigil, South Dallas Ministers Ask Eric Holder to Review Don Hill's Case

  Hey, Don Hill, how many weekdays left till your trial starts, anyway?And the press releases keep coming from the Don Hill camp: Only a few days after inviting us to a Sunday-eve prayer vigil for Don Hill and Sheila Farrington in advance of Monday's start date in the City Hall corruption case, Ken Carter at Focus Communications last night sent out yet another notice -- this one, concerning a letter sent by "several prominent Southern Dallas ministerial organizations" to U.S. Attorney General Eric

  June 18, 2009

• The Night Before Their Trial, Don Hill and Sheila Farrington Talk to God in a Parking Lot

  Kimberly ThorpeIf nothing else, we now have a hundred new pictures of Don Hill praying, as he was tonight outside the Earle Cabell Federal Building with wife Sheila and friends.Former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill's public corruption case finally heads into an Earle Cabell Federal Building courtroom tomorrow morning, shortly before the Dallas City Council is sworn in at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center one mile away. But tonight, just outside the building on Commerce Street downtown, he go

  June 21, 2009

• Don Hill Files Motion to Dismiss, Claiming Government Withheld Exculpatory Evidence

  Kimberly ThorpeDon Hill and Sheila Farrington filed a prayer of their own in federal court yesterday.Late yesterday, Don Hill's PR man, Ken Carter, sent to media an objection filed in federal court in which the former Dallas mayor pro tem and his wife, Sheila Farrington, want U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn to keep from the public's prying ears the feds' "audio-visual evidence" against the two in the public corruption case set to go to trial on Monday. Reads the important part of the legal doc:

  June 26, 2009

• In Corruption Trial, Defense Keep Asking, "But What About Laura?" (Again, Live Bloging)

  Well, looks like the frequent mentions of former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller in the federal Dallas City Hall corruption trial ain't just Dixie. The defense clearly plans to argue that the FBI should have gone after Miller, because she took a ton of money from developer Brian Potashnik, who's agreed to a plea deal in the case, and then vouched for his projects later at City Hall.She did get the money. She did vouch. Nobody has ever said she told Potashnik to give her the money or she wouldn't vouc

  June 30, 2009

• Mitchell Rasansky Says He "Got the Sense" Some Council Members Tried to Kill FBI Informant's Affordable Housing Deals

  Brian HarkinWill the jury get to hear from Mitchell Rasansky? Based on what he told us, we're going out on a limb and saying yes.Mitchell Rasansky, who served with Don Hill on the Dallas City Council for six years and is listed as a potential witness in Hill's ongoing federal corruption trial, says any direct ties between Hill and developer Brian Potashnik weren't apparent to him because the majority of the city's affordable housing projects at the time were built by Potashnik's company, Southwe

  July 3, 2009

• Prosecution Looks to Right Stumbling City Hall Corruption Case By Calling Brian Potashnik

  Sam MertenDon and Sheila Hill left the courthouse Tuesday afternoon in good spirits.An admittedly nervous Steve Williams spent all of Tuesday afternoon on the stand discussing his eight-year tenure as Don Hill's administrative assistant, pushing the anticipated debut of developer Brian Potashnik to this morning. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham paused his redirect examination of Williams as U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn wrapped up the day, so Williams will be back for at least another 30

  July 22, 2009

• Potashnik May Be the Prosecution's Smoking Gun, But He Sure Didn't Sound Like One

  Sam MertenBrian PotashnikNearly all of the 16 jurors grabbed their notebooks and focused on Brian Potashnik as the prosecution Wednesday morning called the witness expected to provide the most damning evidence in the City Hall corruption case. But while Potashnik's testimony raised concerns about the ethics of some of the five defendants, he struggled to directly implicate anyone in any apparent federal crimes. On several occasions, Potashnik claimed that he felt pressure to pay consulting mone

  July 23, 2009

• How City Hall Really Works: Notes from the City Hall Corruption Trial

  Once again, this more or less provides the perfect description of the testimony now being heard in the federal City Hall corruption trial.​O.K., I want to give you an example of the very good lawyering being done by the defense in the City Hall corruption trial going on right now at the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse. The witness on the stand this morning is the same guy who was on at the end of the day yesterday: Jerry Killingsworth, director of the city of Dallas's Housing Dep

  August 5, 2009

• Don Hill's Latest Defense: He Just Wasn't Powerful Enough to Influence Deals

  Sam MertenWhat, them worried? D'Angelo Lee, Don Hill and Sheila Farrington outside the federal courthouse​[Editor's note: Jim's on deadline, and Sam's on vacation. So Trey Garrison's down at the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse live-blogging the City Hall corruption trial for Unfair Park today. Jim's back tomorrow; till then, take it away, Trey.]Don Hill's defense attorney, Ray Jackson, spent the morning building on a main part of their argument that Jim so brilliantly summarized l

  August 10, 2009

• Big Fisher: Schutze is Back at the City Hall Trial As the Feds' Informant Takes the Stand

  Sam MertenDon Hill and the missus, Sheila Farrington​Victor Vital, Sheila Farrington Hill's attorney, is cross examining Allen McGill, Darren Reagan's partner in the Black State Employees Association of Texas (BSEAT), which prosecutors have characterized as a fake union and extortion scam. McGill, a defendant in the City Hall corruption case, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the prosecutors. All this, incidentally, is a prelude to the testimony of afforable-housing developer and FBI

  August 11, 2009

• The Biggest (and Funniest) Revelations So Far in the Federal City Hall Corruption Trial

  Carol Reed​Everybody knew it was about "pay-to-play" at City Hall. Don Hill, a former city council member and 13 alleged confederates are accused of strong-arming real estate developers for money.But nobody knew...1. Carol Reed's name would come up. Reed is the top political guru and campaign consultant to the old Dallas establishment. Reed got kind of thrown under the bus by a fellow political hack, Kathy Nealy, who volunteered in testimony that Reed had helped engineer a smelly deal: They se

  August 14, 2009

• Yet Again, Bill Fisher's on the Stand in Federal City Hall Corruption Trial -- And Former Mayor Laura Miller Gets a Shout-Out

  Sam MertenFormer Dallas Mayor Laura Miller outside the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, when she testified in the City Hall federal corruption trial a few weeks ago​Victor Vital, attorney for Sheila Farrington, began the morning's proceedings in the federal Dallas City Hall corruption trial by asking affordable housing developer Bill Fisher several questions about whether he hoped the jury in this case would render a "just and merciful" verdict. Finally the judge told him to mov

  August 18, 2009