The Dallas Morning News has just endorsed attorney Scott Griggs over incumbent District 3 council member Dave Neumann in the May election. If Neumann were a high school quarterback, this would be like his parents going across the field and cheering for the other team.
Switching metaphors, for years Neumann has been one of the screechiest cheerleaders in the city for The News' pet project, the Trinity River toll road. Apparently that wasn't enough to earn him a permanent endorsement.
Of course, ever since Neumann got his ass handed to him by angry constituents at a campaign debate with Griggs two weeks ago, the editorial board has to have been hearing from everybody in his Oak Cliff district. People are furious with him, especially over gas drilling.
It's fairly unheard of for the endorsologists at The News to ditch out on an incumbent (unless it's Eddie Bernice Johnson), but in this case the tougher move might have been to stick with him.
The endorsement says, "This newspaper is impressed not only by [Griggs's] innovative approaches, as president of the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group, to get new businesses into the area, but also his ideas for spurring growth elsewhere in the southern half of the city."
May we say, this blog is favorably impressed by the ability of The News's editorial board to pull its head out of its ass and do something smart for a change once every four or five years, and we heartily encourage the continuation of such praiseworthy behavior in the future.
That is all. You may go now.
