Dallas County Commissioners are at it again

You DO get the government you deserve. After Dallas voters effectively put John Wiley Price and several of his good friends (including former neighbor Elba Garcia) in charge of Dallas County, decorum and transparency have gone out the window. The latest shenanigan involves Commissioner Price submitting a plan for new district boundaries for their positions. That would be fine, had anyone actually known this was going to happen. Instead, Price submitted the plan and it was voted in by the Democratic majority in a matter of minutes. No one got to see the plan beforehand or comment on it.

The action would have hardly made news had not Commissioner Maurine Dickey pitched a fit about it. The new plan changes the boundaries of her district enough to include Democratic neighborhoods, which would likely give Democrats an additional seat during the next election. Commissioner Mike Cantrell, a Republican who has sided with Price on many occasions, saw few changes to his district, leaving him safe for re-election.

When the Dallas Morning News reported on the issue, they seemed more concerned about Dickey's outburst (she claimed she would gladly go to jail just to have her objections heard), than by Price's backroom maneuvers. Of course, they missed the point: Dickey is not running for re-election, so she has no personal stake in changes to her district boundaries. Why, then, would she protest so much? Perhaps it is because Dickey is arguing about something much greater than personal political survival. She is holding her fellow commissioners to account. She wants their motives to see the light of day, and she wants us to take notice.

Price's changes, had he submitted them to the public and media in advance, would almost certainly have passed anyway. So why didn't he do that? Why not be more forthcoming? The answer is simple: Price is trying to avoid the citizen uprising that occurred when he railroaded Bruce Sherbet out as head of the elections department. He knows with his short temper, he is likely to have another "white people can go to hell" moment. Why stir up all that trouble when your fellow commissioners will help sneak changes in?

Commissioner Elba Garcia promised transparency at the Commissioner's Court when she took office. Now, the only things transparent are their lies: we all see through them.   

Politicians with no shame

My latest article concerns a Dallas politician who is being accused by a voter of improper help in filling out a mail-in ballot. The incident shines a light into the whole issue of "vote harvesting," in which susceptible voters, usually the elderly, are targeted for their votes. Voters are then "encouraged" or "helped" into voting for a certain candidate, and in some cases, ballots are outright stolen, filled out, and submitted by someone else. It has been a problem in southern Dallas for years, and every election, new accusations surface.

To read what one voter accused Dallas county commissioner candidate Elba Garcia of doing, click right here to read my article.

No thanks, Elba Garcia

Well, that didn't take long. Former Mayor pro-tem Elba Garcia isn't yet ready to return to the private sector. She has managed to find an office a Garcia hasn't held: Dallas County Commissioner! Elba is now running for the Commissioner seat currently held by Ken Mayfield. The question voters should ask is.....WHY? Mayfield has done a great job in his time as commissioner. He's picky with spending county funds, has kept county services on their toes, and best of all, he isn't afraid to take an unpopular position if it is in the county's best interests. I don't care what party you're in, that's what an elected official should do. With a perfectly good comissioner in place, what is Elba's excuse for running? Can she do a better job than Mayfield? It's doubtful. I know Ken Mayfield, and he is a good man, and a better commissioner.

We have already seen her campaign approach in her announcement to run. She said, "I'm Elba Garcia, I'm a Democrat, and I'm running for County Commissioner." Really? Because she's a Democrat, she deserves the seat? I'm telling you, that will be her plan. We'll hear what an evil Republican Mayfield is. They will try to portray him as anti-Hispanic and try to drum up the Latino vote. Suddenly, the man she never cared about enough before to even mention his name will now become Oak Cliff's biggest problem. The problem is, folks will buy it.

Three reasons why you SHOULDN'T vote for Elba Garcia were visible at her press conference when she announced her intention to run: to her side stood Royce West, John Wiley Price, and hubby Domingo Garcia. We don't need an extension of the Garcia Cabal. Elba was my councilwoman for years. She had ZERO impact on my neighborhood and our way of life. That's why she doesn't have my vote. Only influential people in her "circle" got attention. The little guy didn't. No thanks, Elba. We're good as it is.