By Suzanne Sprague, KERA 90.1 Reporter
Dallas, TX – Laura Miller, Dallas mayoral candidate and former Dallas City Councilwoman (excerpted from a Dallas City Council meeting during her tenure): That is what point?
Ron Kirk, former Dallas mayor (from excerpt): Well, I think we're beyond -
Miller (from excerpt): What is the point?
Kirk (from excerpt): - we're beyond -
Miller (from excerpt): If the point is -
Kirk (from excerpt): Ms. Miller!
Miller (from excerpt): - to not allow amendments to be made -
Suzanne Sprague, KERA 90.1 Reporter: She's been called the "six o?clock Laura." During her three and a half years on the Dallas City Council, Laura Miller regularly found herself in the middle of protracted and often personal debates that made her a staple on the evening news.
Don Hicks, former Dallas City Council member: It was not a coalition-building experience, I'll tell you that.
Sprague: Don Hicks served on the City Council with Laura Miller until 1999. Like four of the current council members, Hicks is backing Domingo Garcia in the mayor's race. He says in part it's because he doesn't like the way Laura Miller works.
Hicks: One-ups-man show-woman kind of thing; you know, "I'm going to cram this down. I don't care what this is." That kind of thing. And you know, she has a lot of smarts and intelligence, but she wants to cram it down. You can't cram down eight votes. You've got to coalesce and get eight votes.
Sprague: Miller was on the losing end of such significant votes as the summer Olympics and parts of the Trinity River project. Her home was picketed by County Commissioner John Wiley Price. And, she's been publicly chastised by former Mayor Ron Kirk, among others.
Allan Saxe, Professor of Political Science, University of Texas at Arlington: Most important leaders, whether it's at the national level or state level or local level, arouse those kinds of feelings.
Sprague: Allan Saxe is a professor of political science at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Saxe: And it's because they have ideas. They stand for something. And when you have ideas and you stand for something, it's going to make a lot of people mad.
Sprague: But Miller also led successful drives to establish a new ethics code, save four inner city pools, and give council members a pay raise.
Laura Miller (addressing an audience): I want you to know that one of the biggest issues on the campaign trail has been the dreaded, hyphenated word "coalition-building." And I'm always asked about that, usually from my two opponents.
Sprague: At a gathering of Lakewood homeowners this week, Miller said her sparring at the horseshoe was the direct result of Mayor Ron Kirk's rule limiting comments from council members to three minutes. And she said, as mayor, she would help other council members with their projects. So, when a resident asked if she were softening in the wake of criticism from opponents over her leadership style, Miller laughed.
Miller: God, my husband hopes so.
Sprague: It's a question a lot of people are asking in the wake of Millers' two campaign ads that depict a very different candidate.
Excerpt from Laura Miller campaign television ad: I have a big vision of the little things that make a big difference in peoples' lives. It's the basics.
Sprague: Wearing a royal blue suit and seated in a soft, inviting living room, Laura Miller speaks warmly to her audience. Her campaign consultant, Rob Allyn, says Miller has evolved from a tough investigative reporter for the Dallas Observer to a legitimate candidate for the city's top post.
Rob Allyn, Laura Miller campaign consultant: Being mayor is different than being a council critic. Being mayor is about presenting a positive vision of what you want to do. So, she's going to continue to stand up against what's wrong at city hall, but she's also putting forward a very positive vision of what's right for Dallas neighborhoods, what's right for a new ethics code.
Miller: So, I'm not going to be sitting at a typewriter with slings and arrows; I'm going to be at city hall, if I win, working to make the colleagues feel good about themselves, about their districts, about their constituents, about what I can do to help them, and hopefully bringing city hall to a different place than it's ever been.
Sprague: But Julie Lyons, the editor-in-chief of the Dallas Observer, isn't convinced Laura Miller is showing her true colors right now.
Julie Lyons, Editor-in-Chief, Dallas Observer: We laugh here when we see the commercials. It's just hilarious to us. I know her as an aggressive, profane, hard-driving dedicated journalist; and her having to make nice to everyone and putting on this slick persona, it's funny for any journalist who knows her; and maybe that's what you have to do to win.
Sprague: That being said, Lyons also believes Miller has the potential to make a great mayor. Former council member Donna Blumer agrees.
Donna Blumer, former Dallas City Councilwoman: There was never a council member, at least in my term there, who dug into issues the way that she did. She can do research in an amazing way. She has sources the rest of us never dreamed of, and when an issue came up, she picked up the phone and she had answers just like that.
Sprague: Gromer Jeffers, Jr., a political columnist with the Dallas Morning News, says Miller's reputation on the city council was, if nothing else, a woman who was always ready for battle. So, it may come as no surprise that several council members and dozens of city staffers are, privately, very nervous about what a Mayor Miller would mean for them.
Gromer Jeffers, Jr., Political Columnist, Dallas Morning News: Laura's been a critic of city staff and the city manager at times, and her whole campaign message, her whole theme - improving basic services - basically is an indictment or a crack against the city manager and his staff. So, naturally, there's concern that if she does prevail and wins and becomes mayor, that she'll make it difficult.
Sprague: Miller says she wants a charter review commission to look at the powers of the city manager. And, she wants to loosen the rules governing discussion at city council meetings.
Miller: I want people who walk into that building to think, "This building is here for me, and they're going to take care of me, and I'm going to get my tax dollars' worth." I want to allow disagreement, not where you throw chairs around, but I think if you respect each other's differences of opinion, you can have good, healthy engaging conversation.
Sprague: This week, Miller received endorsements from five Dallas school trustees. But her opponents continue to attack her at public debates on the issue of style and leadership and building consensus. Tom Dunning spoke at a Press Club of Dallas event on Wednesday.
Tom Dunning, Dallas mayoral candidate: I think the real question is, why is only one person, one city council person endorsing Ms. Miller? I'm proud for her that she received the DISD trustees' endorsements. But she is not running for school board president. She's running for mayor.
Sprague: But perhaps the more telling commentary comes from the voters who attend the public debates, and often seem almost spellbound by Miller's charisma and message.
Resident 1: I'm excited about somebody who wants to pay attention to the details.
Resident 2: She stands up. That's good. There's nothing wrong with standing up for what you believe and what's right.
Resident 3: Sounds like she really has a fire in her belly to change things. That's what impressed me.
Sprague: Rob Allyn likes to tell reporters that a little revolution every now and again is a good thing. The question voters must answer on January 19th is whether they want a revolutionary to govern City Hall. For KERA 90.1, I'm Suzanne Sprague.