Johnson, of course, would likely agree with the former take.
In the mayor’s newsletter sent Sunday, he broadcast last week’s trip to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an annual meeting of Very Important People that has spawned a conspiracy theory or two.
Johnson also previously posted about November’s “official visit to France,” where he chatted with an art museum president, reps from a tech company and the founder of a French political affairs magazine, plus several others.
The mayor’s recent newsletter touched on discussions held during last week’s Swiss symposium. It echoed his oft-touted mission to make Dallas the safest major city in the U.S. It quoted a supporter’s letter to The Dallas Morning News’ editor that argued “representing Dallas on the world’s biggest stages is exactly how the mayor of our city should be spending his time.”
But Johnson is still getting flak from detractors. Attending the World Economic Forum also meant that he missed out on last Friday’s special City Council meeting, during which members made moves on a significant issue: the 2024 bond package.
Johnson dismissed this scheduling conflict as “silly calendar warfare” in his newsletter. Some may disagree with that characterization.
“It didn’t take long for Mayor Eric Johnson to reveal his true colors,” one critic wrote in a different letter to the editor published in The Dallas Morning News. “He’s using his ‘Ted Cruz get out of town’ card to avoid participating in a much-needed budget hearing here in Dallas.”
Johnson’s Dallas Goals
In January 2020, Johnson created the Mayor’s International Advisory Council, consisting of five residents who formerly served as U.S. ambassadors. A news release announcing its formation noted his intent to improve Dallas’ standing among foreign governments, global investors and international tourists.Speaking with The Urbanist podcast last week, Johnson explained that Dallas’ reputation has, for many outsiders, seemed stuck in the 1980s thanks largely to the eponymous soap opera. Since then, much has changed, such as the diversification of its economy.
“What I wanted to do was to make sure that we thought of ourselves first — not as some regional player or a leader in the Southwest, which we've been for a long time, but a global force to be reckoned with,” he said.
Mounting Criticism of the Mayor
Johnson has been buried beneath a mountain of criticism since announcing last September that he’d traded the “D” next to his name for an “R.”This political party switch upset a ton of people. Many residents believed that Johnson had cynically timed the reveal until after his May reelection so as not to jeopardize his chances. Some critics have wondered whether he has designs on higher office.
Demands for a recall have begun to crescendo.
KERA reported in September that since 2019, when Johnson became mayor, he had skipped out on more than 130 hours of meetings. KERA posed a question in the headline: “Absent mayor?”
Davante Peters, a former City Council candidate, started a recall petition, citing Johnson’s purported truancy as a motivating factor. “There’s obviously something that has his attention more than his role at hand,” Peters told the Observer earlier this month.“That's a curious look, a bad look.” – Dr. Cal Jillson, SMU
tweet this
In his newsletter, Johnson defended his absence from last Friday’s bond talks.
He wrote that although he’d rescheduled the bond discussion from Jan. 17 (when he was in Switzerland) to Jan. 31, three council members intervened. They called another meeting for Friday, when he’d still be out of town. The mayor alleges the move was politically motivated.
“In this case, it was clear that this was simply an attempt to capitalize on a nonsensical narrative, pushed by people with ulterior political motives, about my attendance record as the presiding officer of Dallas City Council meetings — which, to be completely clear, has been over 90% every year in office,” he wrote, including a hyperlink to a Dallas Express article about Peters’ recall petition. “(By the way, unlike councilmembers, state law says the presiding officer cannot attend the meeting virtually).”
Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, called the scenario surrounding the mayor’s trip a “peculiar situation.”
Dallas is home to a weak-mayor’s office, he said. Johnson doesn’t have the authority to control events the way that, say, the mayor of Houston can because of that city’s strong-mayor system. When council members met last week, they made important bond decisions without Johnson.
It’s not uncommon for mayors of big American cities to embark on consciousness-raising outings, like Johnson’s stay in Switzerland, Jillson said.
“But the mayor of Dallas seems really to be out there, roaming around on his own, with the city running in his absence,” he continued. “And that's a curious look, a bad look. Going abroad is not unusual, but a strong mayor would postpone events until he was present.”
When U.S. presidents face hiccups in domestic politics, they’ll often venture to other countries where they’ll be received more favorably. Mayors might do that from time to time, too, especially when tension is already percolating in City Hall.
“When things are rough at home, and you go to Davos and you share the stage with the presidents of major corporations and the directors of major banks and other leading political figures, it's easier to feel good about yourself than when you're getting pummeled at the Dallas City Council meeting,” Jillson said. “Because ... sitting through the public speeches has got to be a draining experience.”
