Audio By Carbonatix
Like him or not, I’m sure we can all agree: Damarcus Offord, the 20-year-old Lincoln High grad who’s challenging Bernadette Nutall for her southern Dallas seat on the Dallas ISD school board, is making the typical snoozefest that are school board politics a lot more fun.
Last week, Greg showed the video being circulated by Offord’s opponents that shows the candidate ensuring, shall we say, that if trustees voted to close schools — as they did in January — he would show up at their homes and offices. To do what? He left that to their imaginations.
Mark Melton, the chairman of EducateDallas, the Dallas Regional Chamber’s PAC and a group that Mayor Mike Rawlings has referred to as “our PAC,” took to Facebook to raise even more questions about the video. Offord didn’t appreciate that. And in this morning’s city council meeting, he made his feelings more than clear to Rawlings.
He began, apparently, by passing out copies of Facebook comments made by Melton, who said things like:
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Trustee votes impact the entire district, not just district 9. So, we all have an interest in every race. I think Damarcus is a nice enough kid with a bright future. But he’s not ready to lead a 20,000 person organization with a $1.5 billion budget. He needs to focus on college right now and go get some life experience.
“Shame on you for using your office to support any school board candidate,” Offord told the mayor. He asked for copies of emails between Rawlings and EducateDallas, which endorsed Nutall. “This is ridiculous. I just want you to take care of these slanders and biases.”
“I think it’s unacceptable,” Offord went on. “As a citizen, I have a right to know.”
He asked Rawlings why he didn’t meet with him before “his” PAC endorsed Nutall. “Man to man, and as a citizen of Dallas,” Offord said. “You represent all people, not just certain people.”
“This is ridiculous,” he added, on multiple occasions.
After Offord left the mic, Rawlings mentioned that he actually had invited Offord to his office, through councilwoman Carolyn Davis, and that he would be happy to meet with the young candidate. Davis said she’d received that invitation and would make sure they got together. “Man to man,” she said.
Sounds like fun. Can we bring anything?
