Mayor to Media: You're Not Invited
A party thrown by the Mayor of Dallas in the penthouse of Ross Perot Jr. atop the W Hotel does raise eyebrows about the too-cozy relationship between developers and politicians. Especially when it's an unpublicized private party, with media excluded, and whole City Council is there. James Ragland, in a column in The Dallas Morning News, raised his eyebrows at the secrecy and the exclusion of the public's watchdog, the press. Then, Michael Davis of Dallas Progress, and a bit of a watchdog himself, in a letter to the editor, barked, who cares, as long as the mayor shows his face in Oak Cliff, too. Then, James Ragland, in a Sunday blog posting, retorted, why should anyone care what Michael Davis thinks? Then, Trey Garrison, in his own blog post on Frontburner, pops some corn and watches the fight, doing a little heckling himself, but only a little for Garrison.
That's where I come in, to try to get this mud wrestling back in the ring at least. Ragland is asking some good questions. We all should care, not just about whether the mayor pays attention to this neighborhood or that, but about the openness of the process. That's why Texas has an open meetings law. The mayor should live up to the spirit of the law, not just the letter. Because the voters are welcome to toss the whole too-cozy bunch out if he doesn't.
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