Prior to becoming a city council member, Laura Miller was a reporter for 15 years. She wasn't a business manager, politician or city employee. Ms. Miller didn't report about good things in Dallas, improvements being made or who was doing a good job. She only reported negatively about your city, leaders and businesses.
Ms. Miller has fought the American Airlines Center, complained about how the Trinity River improvements were put on the sideline and complained about White Rock Lake not being dredged like promised. Voters approved the American Airlines Center and the Trinity River project, and White Rock Lake was dredged as promised. What accomplishments can Ms. Miller show from those fights when everything went through?
Laura Miller did open up a few public swimming pools. Swimming pools give children places to play during the summer, but they also cost the city money. Public swimming pools are good and Dallas needs more community projects, but with Dallas' financial situation right now, community projects should not be the main focus. Economic stimulus should be the primary goal while building a strong foundation for the future of Dallas.
Laura Miller has made promises to give police officers raises, make street repairs a priority and fix all the little things. Where does Ms. Miller expect to get the money?
You should want a mayor who can bring Dallas finances back into the black so that there is money to give police officers a raise, fill potholes, maintain parks and enhance the appearance of Dallas. You need a mayor who can bring money into Dallas so the little things can be done. Can Laura Miller do this?
Over the history of any city, businesses have donated money for various city projects. Do you think businesses will be likely to give money to the city if there is an anti-business mayor? You need a mayor who knows how to weigh the priorities of businesses and citizens. Do you think Laura Miller is that person?
In a December 1997 Dallas Observer article, Ms. Miller wrote, "I was going to stop whining and get even. I was going to run for the Dallas City Council." That's all Laura Miller has done--try to get even. She tried to make former Mayor Ron Kirk's life a living hell. She turned city council meetings into circuses. She bitched about anyone who didn't think "her way." If Laura Miller is elected mayor of Dallas, she will have gotten even, but I'm afraid it will end up being at your expense.
I'll be one of the first to say, "Yes, things need to change, and yes, I have the same opinion about some things Laura Miller does," but I will also be one of the first to say she's not mayor material; she will harm the future of Dallas, and she has the personality of a reporter who seeks problems, corruptions and scandal, not the personality of a mayor who needs to unite, lead, be open-minded and respect Dallas' form of government.
In a January 1997 Observer article, Ms. Miller described herself as "a maniacally intense, perfection-seeking, schedule-juggling, somehow personally and professionally fulfilled female basket case" and a "madwoman." I do have to admit she knows herself pretty well.
A few choice words Ms. Miller has used in her own context in past Dallas Observer articles are son of a bitch, whore, half-assed, bullshit, dumbass, damn, goddamned. In a December 1995 Observer article written by Ms. Miller, she admitted she has a "penchant for swearing."
This is slightly important because she has recently called the Dallas Observer liars after treating them like God's greatest newspaper for so many years. Was she telling the truth or does she have a habit of kissing up to people paying her salary?
On August 30, 2001, the Observer quoted former Councilwoman Miller as once saying, "I'm going to go up and down that motherfucking street, and if they don't shape up and comply, I'm gonna close those fuckers down," but she denies the quote.
In a February 1996 Observer article, Ms. Miller wrote, "It's true that I tend to jump into things on impulse and then, at the sight of the first obstacle, become downright obsessed with them. I am especially attracted to challenges where the goals appear entirely unattainable and the missions themselves have no apparent merit whatsoever." Is this the type of mayor you want in Dallas?
In a January 1996 Observer article, Ms. Miller quoted a business owner telling her that he filled his own pothole. After reading more words Ms. Miller has written in the past, it's becoming very clear that her political agenda has been scripted by her previous articles and things people have told her while a reporter. You need a mayor who's real, not one who runs off a script or just tells you things she knows you want to hear.
Laura Miller is working from a predetermined script telling you exactly what you want to hear. There's nothing Laura Miller can do for you that any other mayor can't--except bitch and scream when she doesn't get her way--as history shows. Other mayoral candidates can unite and move Dallas forward. Laura Miller can divide and put a halt on potential city progress.
As I've heard somewhere before, "This isn't personal, it's politics."
Who needs the Barnum & Bailey Circus when you have Laura Miller in Dallas City Hall?
Dave A. Vance
Waxahachie
