Have you VOTED yet?  Have your FRIENDS voted?  Has your FAMILY voted?

ELECTION DAY IS SATURDAY, JUNE 18th.  If you haven't voted, PLEASE VOTE!

In many elections, we the voters do not have real choices.  We don't have that excuse this time.

Regarding our Earlier Comments re: John Wiley Price:

In an earlier post, we suggested that John Wiley Price's support of mayoral candidate Mike Rawlings might be sufficient reason for Dallas citizens to either support or oppose Rawlings.  On further reflection, we feel compelled to revise that suggestion.

 

According to the Dallas Observer's Jim Schutze, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and Senator Royce West recruited Mike Rawlings into the mayors' race.  As noted previously, Rawlings is also endorsed by the S.E.I.U. (Service Employees International Union).  Owing to this support, some believe that Rawlings may represent a vote for the agenda of Commissioner Price and/or the S.E.I.U. 

 

While that may be a reasonable perspective, we agree with Mr. Schutze that every candidate deserves to be evaluated on his own merits.  While the support of John Wiley Price and the S.E.I.U. for Rawlings are facts that certainly bear consideration in evaluating Rawlings, no single fact tells the whole story about a candidate, and we encourage our members to look at each candidate as a whole and make an informed decision.

For those of you still deciding who to support in the race for Dallas mayor, we present...

KEY ISSUES IN THE DALLAS MAYOR'S RACE:

ETHICS REFORM:

Mike Rawlings says he'll appoint a committee to look at best ethics practices nationwide and propose revisions to the Dallas ethics rules.  (SOURCE)  Rawlings has also criticized city council member Ron Natinsky for failing to oppose changes loosening limits and time windows for campaign contributions by parties having business before the city council. (SOURCE)  More on Mike Rawlings and ethics HERE.

David Kunkle has unveiled a detailed ethics plan including increased government transparency, restrictions on campaign consultants as lobbyists, a secure line of communication for whistleblowers and mandatory ethics training for elected officials, appointed officials, and all city employees. (SOURCE)  Kunkle has stated that the City's fight to keep the documentation of the Trinity River project secret was one of the reasons he decided to run for Dallas Mayor.  (SOURCE)  More on David Kunkle and ethics HERE.

PROPERTY TAX RATE HIKES:

Mike Rawlings has not come out in definitively in favor or against tax rate increases, but has indicated that he is of the opinion that city services can be protected without raising tax rates. (SOURCE)

David Kunkle has stated unequivocally that he will not consider supporting another property tax rate increase.  Asked by the Dallas Morning News whether he would consider supporting another property tax increase, Kunkle replied "No." (SOURCE)

TRINTY RIVER TOLL ROAD:

Mike Rawlings has not stated a clear position on the Trinity River Toll Road. (SOURCE)

David Kunkle has come out squarely AGAINST the Trinity River Toll Road. (SOURCE)

THE TAXPAYER-OWNED CONVENTION CENTER HOTEL AND OTHER 'BIG TICKET' ITEMS:

Dallas' taxpayer-owned convention center hotel is now a done deal, but it was the signature project of former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert.  Thus, a candidate's point of view on this sort of project may tell us a lot about his philosophy of government. 

Asked by The Advocate magazine about his support for future projects similar to the taxpayer-owned Convention Center Hotel, Mike Rawlings answered as follows :

"In the next four years, I don't think we've got a lot of money for that.  I mean, we've got to clean up, or continue to institute and implement our bond election, the last one, we've got to tee up a new bond election and understand what infrastructure we need.  We need to fill the potholes.  We need to focus on economic development.  We've got to focus on schools." (SOURCE)

David Kunkle addressed the taxpayer-owned convention center hotel as follows:

"I don't think the government is ever good at entrepreneurial activities...You can walk into a City of Dallas facility, or walk in to some place like, say, Six Flags over Texas, and they're just different...The kind of people who work there, the efficiencies of getting people in there, the marketing...the city never does a good job.  The hotel bothered me on the front end for two reasons.  Philosophically, I'm troubled that the city directly competes with other private businesses who don't have that financial advantage.  It also troubles me when in the last 25 years, when every hotel company in the world has looked at that price of that hotel, and said, 'based on what we know, we can't operate that hotel and make money, and we're not going to build it.'  The only way it got built was through government subsidies." (SOURCE)

You can find more information on the Mayoral Candidates HERE.

EARLY VOTING ENDS TUESDAY, JUNE 14th.  PLEASE VOTE.