Lots of sturm und drang around the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board. Reliable sources say Mayor Tom Leppert is continuing to call other city council members, reading them his little list of votes on the council in favor of appointing former city manager John Ware to replace disgraced and deposed former DART chair Lynn Flint Shaw.
I’m picking up vibes that tell me some of the council members think Leppert would do better to back off and show a touch of humility about L’Affair Shaw. After all, it’s his mess.
In fact, Leppert’s lack of adroitness in pushing Shaw for chair of the DART board is why the board’s all bollixed up now and Dallas is in such a bad position at such a bad moment. You’d think maybe instead of ramming Ware down people’s throats, Leppert might even call up council members and ask if they have anybody else good in mind.
But that’s the other problem.
The council are all so worried about their mini-perks -- committee chairmanships, Cotton Bowl tickets, the like -- that they’re afraid to cross him.
The suburbs see all this. It’s why they leaped at the chance to make one of their own chairman of the DART bard while Dallas was down a quart.
Next joke. Shaw may be done as chair of the DART board, but according to the Texas constitution, she ain’t off the board. Article 16, section 17 provides that “all officers within this State shall continue to perform the duties of their offices until their successors shall be duly qualified.”
That means if Shaw wants to waltz into the next board meeting and cast a couple votes, she can. It’s the kind of anomaly you’d think they’d want to clear up as fast as possible. So far, however, Leppert’s deal is not done.
One wonders about political acumen here. --Jim Schutze
