By Bill Zeeble, KERA reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-488211.mp3
Dallas Voters Consider Another Strong Mayor Proposal
Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: Proposition One is a compromise born of fear. Last Spring, every Dallas city council member and many business leaders opposed lawyer Beth Ann Blackwood's plan to eliminate the city manager and grant the mayor broad powers. They called it too harsh, but then promised voters another choice if they rejected Blackwood. Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, now speaking for many businesses, says Proposition One is the result
Ron Kirk, former Dallas mayor: The city Council did what we asked, & came up with an alternative proposal, and now the voters of Dallas will have an opportunity to vote yes on a change to our charter that'll bring us more accountability, keep responsibility, the separation of the balance of powers we want, on November 8th.
Zeeble: Only the city council's key architect of the plan, Ed Oakley, has now changed his mind, along with some other council members who initially backed Proposition One. We met recently at a diner in his district.
Ed Oakley, Dallas City Council Member: I think we made some major flaws in this design and I'm admitting that fact. I think we created some inherent problems
Zeeble: Proposition One would double the Mayor's salary to 120 thousand dollars. In addition to letting the mayor hire and fire the city manager, the council could fire the manager with a simple majority vote, instead of the current 2-thirds. Oakley started backing off his proposition after Mayor Miller publicly opposed a tax deal for oilman Ray Hunt's new downtown headquarters. He says she violated city policy in that dispute, and couldn't have been punished if Proposition One had been in effect. Mayor Miller
Dallas Mayor Laura Miller:It's an amusing analysis, because the argument was there are no checks and balances in the Blackwood proposal, so defeat it and we'll give you one. He wrote it with the help of others, including the Dallas Chamber of commerce. So, if he wrote it and said it was a great solution, and now says it doesn't work and is a disaster, I don't understand that. He's the architect
Zeeble; Miller's lukewarm towards Proposition One but will vote yes. Unlike her efforts with the Blackwood plan, she's not campaigning for it. Business leaders though, are, spending more than a quarter million dollars backing it. But Dallas Citizens Council Chair Elaine Agather worries Miller's sometimes confrontational personality could hurt the effort
Elaine Agather, Chair, Dallas Citizen's Council : It's hard for voters to separate this mayor from this vote. We must. This is for 2007, for the future of Dallas - is a 2 billion dollar business, to move it forward.It improves it a bit, giving someone the right to run the biz and put the right people in place, and yet, work with the city council, so its definitely a hybrid of what we've had in the past, but it's about the future. It's about governing Dallas for the future
Zeeble: Without a change, Agather worries the city's ability to grow and compete is hampered. Southern Methodist University Political Science professor Matthew Wilson says in his opinion, a proposition one decision is fairly simple
Matthew Wilson, SMU Political Science Associate Professor: If you think there are serious problems in the city that need to be addressed, increasing power of mayor's office creates more possibilities for addressing those problems
Zeeble: On the other hand, he says, if you like the way government's going in Dallas, then leave proposition one alone. Early voting ends tomorrow. Election day is next Tuesday, November 8th. For KERA 90.1 I 'm Bill Zeeble