Thursday, August 29, 2013

This politician feels your pain, but not enough to work for free....

Attorney and U.S. Senatorial candidate Domingo Garcia was at a local Jack in the Box today protesting the minimum wage and demanding workers be paid more. Police threw him out. For someone so concerned with the poor, why doesn't this millionaire help out poor immigrants in Dallas who qualify for a legal adjustment of residency status, yet are still facing deportation due to aggressive ICE agents? He'll only help you if you meet his price. I wonder how many Jumbo Jacks it costs to put Domingo on retainer.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The Ten Most Powerful People in Dallas, 2013 Edition

My third annual ranking of the ten most powerful people in Dallas is now up at Yahoo News (you can read it by clicking right here) and I wanted to give a big thanks to those who provided their input.

Of course, some take issue with who is on the list, and that's to be expected. It's hardly a scientific process, and I'm sure there are those who give deference to a particular CEO or billionaire over an elected official or pop culture icon. I can't truly argue with different lines of thought on the issue, as each has valid points. In my view, however, I felt it necessary to give proper credit to the social, political, and business elite of the area, which means someone is getting left out and others may seem unjustifiably elevated over others.

D Magazine seemed annoyed by my list. Tim Rogers in particular was upset over my pick of H. Ross Perot. I'll give him partial credit for that. In my first draft, I gave equal listing to his wife and children, who actually do the lion's share of the charity work I was acknowledging, including the Perot Museum. However, I changed it to just Ross Sr., as figurehead of the family, in my final draft. Truly, I should have made it "The Perot Family" to be more precise and reflect the opinions of those I consulted for the list.

I still contend Larry Hagman (and the Dallas cast) deserves to be on the list. We here in town seem to loathe the idea of the J.R. stereotype, but ask any out-of-towner to define Dallas, and we all know what they'll say.

Perhaps I should have consulted D Magazine readers for their thoughts. However, since I don't spend any time in the waiting rooms of local plastic surgery centers, I never had the chance.