Dallas Municipals: Where's the Money?

by: jvansickle

Wed Jan 16, 2013 at 02:26 PM CST

In the interest of full disclosure, I am working with Delia Jasso (District 1) and Bobby Abtahi (District 14) as Data Manager and Technology Consultant.

Article Update (1/21/13): The original problem with Councilors Tennell Atkins and Carolyn Davis reports have been fixed so they are now visible online.  I have updated the table in this article to list their report totals.  City Hall Blog from the Dallas Morning News also published an article today stating that Ori Raphael is continuing his campaign.

Find out who's running and how much they have in the bank below the jump.

A first look at Houston's 2013 elections

by: kuff

Thu Jan 10, 2013 at 05:57 AM CST

It is 2013, right? So while we have the SD06 special election and the new legislative session to worry about, it's not too early to start talking about the 2013 elections. Let's start with a peek at the campaign finance reports from last July of the Houston officeholders who will be on the ballot this November, at right.

I omitted the three Council members who are term-limited out (Melissa Noriega, Wanda Adams, and James Rodriguez), as well as newly-elected Dave Martin, since his July report would not be relevant. Normally there would have been five open seats this year, but with Mike Sullivan stepping down due to his successful candidacy for Tax Assessor and Jolanda Jones losing in 2011, there are only three vacancies, and as such there will likely be a stampede for those seats. But we'll get to that in a minute.

Below the jump, let's take a closer look at where the non-term limited incumbents are.

Meanwhile back at the ranch: Dallas Municipals 2013

by: jvansickle

Tue Nov 20, 2012 at 11:13 AM CST

Quick Dallas City Council Background

Dallas City Council is made up of 14 districted seats that run every 2 years. They are term-limited to 4 consecutive terms (8 years total) and earn $37,500 per year. Dallas Mayor, also known as Place 15, serves a 4 year term for a maximum 2 consecutive terms, and earns $60k per year. You can see a map of Dallas City Council Districts at Dallas County Elections website.

New Maps...err....maybe?

Thanks to redistricting in 2011, the City of Dallas now has new maps for its 14 City Council seats.  A fair amount of controversy was stirred up during redistricting about the number of Hispanic opportunity seats available.  Under the new maps, there are 4 Hispanic opportunity districts (Districts 1, 2, 5, & 6).  Some activists from the Hispanic community argued that the large Hispanic population growth justifies a fifth Hispanic opportunity district, but many African-American activists voiced concerns that such as district would be created at the expense of a one of their African-American opportunity districts and would result in retrogression.  The City of Dallas is currently being sued over the new map's hispanic districts.

Much like the State of Texas' redistricting battle, the arguments about maps with the City of Dallas can get complicated quickly.  Bill Betzen has written extensively about this fight on his blog, Dallas Redistricting 2011.  For this article, I will be focusing on upcoming City Council races based on the maps as they currently stand.  If the map lines change, then we will address how those adjustments affect the 2013 Municipal Elections at that time.

A Brief Review of Dallas City Councilors

The following table outlines the winners of Dallas City Council elections over the past 10 years.  Winners who also had a runoff election during a particular year are shaded in yellow; winners who ran unopposed during an election cycle are highlighted in blue.

Dallas	Incumbent	Past Election Winners
District	2013	2011	2009	2007	2005	2003	2001
1	Delia Jasso	Delia Jasso	Delia Jasso	Elba Garcia	Elba Garcia	Elba Garcia	Elba Garcia
2	*Open Seat*	Pauline Medrano	Pauline Medrano	Pauline Medrano	Pauline Medrano	John Loza	John Loza
3	Vonciel Hill**	Scott Griggs	David Neumann	David Neumann	Ed Oakley	Ed Oakley	Laura Miller
4	Dwaine Caraway	Dwaine Caraway	Dwaine Caraway	Dwaine Caraway	Maxine Reese	Maxine Reese	Maxine Reese
5	*Open Seat*	Vonciel Hill	Vonciel Hill	Vonciel Hill	Don Hill	Don Hill	Don Hill
6	Monica Alonzo	Monica Alonzo	Steve Salazar	Steve Salazar	Steve Salazar	Steve Salazar	Ed Oakley
7	Carolyn Davis	Carolyn Davis	Carolyn Davis	Carolyn Davis	Leo Chaney	Leo Chaney	Leo Chaney
8	Tennell Atkins	Tennell Atkins	Tennell Atkins	Tennell Atkins	James Fantroy	James Fantroy	James Fantroy
9	Sheffie Kadane	Sheffie Kadane	Sheffie Kadane	Sheffie Kadane	Gary Griffith	Gary Griffith	Mary Poss
10	Jerry Allen	Jerry Allen	Jerry Allen	Jerry Allen	Bill Blaydes	Bill Blaydes	Alan Walne
11	*Open Seat*	Linda Koop	Linda Koop	Linda Koop	Linda Koop	Lois Finkelman	Lois Finkelman
12	Sandy Greyson	Sandy Greyson	Ron Natinsky	Ron Natinsky	Ron Natinsky	Sandy Greyson	Sandy Greyson
13	*Open Seat*	Ann Margolin	Ann Margolin	Mitch Rasansky	Mitch Rasansky	Mitch Rasansky	Mitch Rasansky
14	*Open Seat*	Angela Hunt	Angela Hunt	Angela Hunt	Angela Hunt	Veletta Lill	Veletta Lill

** Vonciel Hill used to represent District 5, but redistricting will now have her in District 3.

Current Elections

Now that we have done a brief overview of City Council, redistricting, and past incumbents; let's take a look at the potential races that will be going on in the 2013 May Municipal Elections.

District 1 (Delia Jasso vs. Scott Griggs)

District 1 encompasses Oak Cliff and Kessler Park, and has the largest concentration of Hispanic voters (79%).  Under the new maps, current city council incumbents Delia Jasso (District 1) and Scott Griggs (District 3) both got drawn into the same district.  Neither has so far indicated that they are NOT running so we could have two sitting councilors fighting for the same seat.

Delia Jasso has represented District 1 since 2007, and succeeded County Commissioner Dr. Elba Garcia who was term-limited out.  Scott Griggs was elected in 2009, and has gained some popularity with his outspoken anti-fracking stance.  Both councilors have good backgrounds in helping their communities, and the fact they may now have to fight each other over a city council seat is a truly sad outcome of these new maps.

I should note for full disclosure that I worked with both candidates in their elections and re-elections.

District 2 (formerly Pauline Medrano, Open Seat)

For the past 8 years, District 2 has been represented by Pauline Medrano.  In the past two elections, Pauline's incumbency was challenged by William "Billy" MacLeod whom she handily defeated on both occasions.  It is unclear if Billy MacLeod will make a third attempt to run for District 2 now that Pauline is term-limited out of this election.  Adam Medrano, nephew to Pauline Medrano, has been rumored for years by local activists to be considering a run for the office as Pauline's successor.  Adam currently represents District 8 on the Dallas ISD Board, and was first elected in 2006.  So far Adam has not made any formal announcement of running so it remains to be seen what he will do.

Herschel Weisfeld, an openly gay real estate developer, has already announced his intention to run for District 2 in the upcoming election as mentioned by the Dallas Voice.  District 2 covers a large section of the LGBT community in Oak Lawn.  However, in 2006, Dallas' Stonewall Democrats endorsed Pauline Medrano over LGBT community member Monica Barros-Greene citing Pauline's support of the LGBT issues and community.

Ricky Gonzales filed a Treasurer Appointment with the Dallas City Secretary.  I do not have much information on Ricky at this time, but did find that he posted an online notice seeking a volunteer web developer for the campaign.

Open seat elections easily draw four or more candidates so it remains to be seen who else announces for this seat.

District 5 (former Vonciel Hill, Open Seat)

District 5 is an open seat election under the new map.  Scott Griggs of District 3 was drawn into District 1, and Vonciel Hill formerly of District 5 now resides in the new District 3.  District 5 has been drawn as a Hispanic opportunity district in the area of Dallas known as Pleasant Grove.  At this time, I have not heard of any candidates that have formerly announced to run for this new seat and no one has yet filed a Treasurer Appointment with the Dallas City Secretary.

District 10 (incumbent Jerry Allen, fourth term)

District 10 is represented by Jerry Allen who will be running for his fourth and final term.  Jerry has a distinction of being unopposed during his first election, and then opposed in every election since.  It more common for candidates to fight a contested race the first time and then run unopposed in subsequent elections.

District 10 resident Matthew Shuman has filed a Treasurer Appointment for District 10.  Matt is a 30 year old resident with sporadic voting history (2008 & 2004 General, no Primary or Municipal).

District 11 (formerly Linda Koop, Open Seat)

District 11 remains largely unchanged from its previous incarnation, and is the second most northern council district of Dallas.  District 11 covers the heavily Jewish areas of Preston Hollow represented by Jason Villalba (State House 114); plus neighborhoods surrounding the Galleria represented by Stefanie Carter (State House 102).  Some followers of Dallas Council politics have suggested that Lois Finkelman is considering a possible run to replace Linda Koop who is term-limited out.  Lois has previously served 8 years on the Dallas City Council, Park Board President, and was appointed to head the city's Gas Drilling Task Force.

District 13 (formerly Ann Margolin, Open Seat)

Current incumbent Ann Margolin was elected in 2009 in the most expensive city council race in the City of Dallas.  The Dallas Morning News reported on Sunday that Ann Margolin had announced she would not be seeking re-election in 2013.  It is unclear exactly who will run to replace her in this district, or whether Brint Ryan may take another stab at running.  Brint currently serves as Finance Chairman of the Dallas County Republican Party and CEO of Ryan LLC, a global tax services firm.  District 13 is composed almost entirely of the Preston Hollow, and its Councillor would represent such local celebrities as former President George W. Bush, Ross Perot, Mark Cuban, and Roger Staubach.

District 14 (formerly Angela Hunt, Open Seat)

In 2011, Angela Hunt was often mentioned as a possible contender for the open mayoral seat vacated by Tom Leppert so he could make his ill-fated bid of United State Senate.  Angela opted to run for her fourth and final term representing District 14, instead.  District 14 has a number of potential candidates that could potentially make this one of the more crowded races of 2013.  I should note for full disclosure that I worked as Angela Hunt's Data Manager for her re-election campaign in 2011.

Here is a breakdown of announced or potential candidates:

Jim Rogers: Jim gets listed first since he announced in 2011 before it became clear Angela was not going to run for Mayor.  Once Angela chose to run for District 14, Jim Rogers changed his plans to run in 2013 when Angela's term expired.  Jim is a lawyer by trade, and one of the founding members of the Byran Place Neighborhood Association.

Philip Kingston: Philip Kingston informed the Dallas Morning News on October 10 that he was running after filing a Treasurer appointment with the City of Dallas.  Philip is also a lawyer, and also served as Angela Hunt's campaign treasurer.  Paul Sims, Angela's husband, is acting as Philip's treasurer.

Judy Liimatainen: Judy Liimatainen has also filed a treasurer appointment with the City of Dallas.  She is a board member for the Greenland Hills Neighborhood Association.

Robert Abtahi: Rumors have been circulating that Robert Abtahi, who currently sits on the city's Plan Commission, is considering a possible run.  Robert is an attorney who graduated from Southern Methodist University, and also served as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Dallas.

James Nowlin: James Nowlin ran against Angela Hunt in 2011, and was the second highest voter getting (27%) in a four person race.  James dissolved his campaign committee in 2010, but does still live in District 14 under the new maps.  It remains to be seen if James decides to try running again in this open seat election.

Looking ahead at 2015

Dallas County 2012 Municipal Elections

by: jvansickle

Thu Mar 29, 2012 at 02:15 PM CDT

The majority of the mayoral and city council elections are for small towns and suburbs that form the outline of Dallas County. Cities with municipal elections on the 2011 ballot include Addison, Balch Springs, Carrollton, Cockrell Hill, Coppell, DeSoto, Duncanville, Farmer's Branch, Garland, Glenn Heights, Grand Prairie, Highland Park, Hutchins, Irving, Lancaster, Mesquite, Sachse, Seagoville, Sunnyvale, University Park, and Wilmer. These municipalities range in size from large cities such as Grand Prairie and Irving to towns that encompass little more than a single voting precinct like Cockrell Hill.

I won't be going into too much detail for each race in every town, and am focusing on two hot areas of contention.

AISD Votes Unanimously to Move Trustee Elections to November

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Tue Oct 11, 2011 at 04:50 PM CDT

Board president Mark Williams stated the following in the Statesman.

"This will substantially increase voter turnout and significantly reduce cost for the district," Austin school board President Mark Williams said. "There's benefits in increasing access to voters, and part of a public school district is public involvement."

District 7 Trustee Robert Schneider said the following in an interview with KUT.

"If you look at the percentage of voters in May of even numbered years versus November of even numbered years, it's literally like ten percent or so on average for May versus fifty or sixty percent for November. I mean the more people you have involved and informed the better your process is going to be, so it was a very easy decision for me to make," Schneider told KUT News.

The move to November elections will save about $300,000 for the school district next year, while leaving the City of Austin as the sole entity holding and funding a May election to an estimated total of $1.25 million, not including another $500,000 for a June runoff. The current 2012 city budget only calls for spending $791,269 so additional funds are expected to be drawn from one of the city's emergency or reserve funds.

When asked about the increased cost to the City of Austin, councilmember Kathie Tovo, who voted to keep the May election date, stated the following in the Statesman.

"The city has held municipal elections without partners, for example this past spring," Council Member Kathie Tovo said in an interview.

Councilmember Tovo is referring to her own election this past spring, which included a runoff whose cost raised concerns by a number of her campaign's key supporters as well as herself in an interview with KXAN.

The cost of the runoff for taxpayers according to the city, $528,400, or $24 per expected vote.

"It certainly will cost the taxpayers a lot more than many of them would want to spend on a runoff election," Tovo said.

I had an opportunity to ask Councilmember Tovo about the costs during last week's council debate on the matter. She stated that she "never once raised a concern about the cost of having a runoff election." Our remarks begin at the 21:30 mark in the video below the fold.  

75% of Austin Voters Prefer November for 2012 City Election

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 11:52 PM CDT

In short, 75% of city voters prefer holding the 2012 municipal elections in November. Support runs broadly across partisan and local ideological lines. If you cannot see the press release below, click here. The margin of error is +/- 5.13%. The script is available here.  Crosstabs are available here.

Previously On Burnt Orange Report:

• Primaries, Run-Offs, Municipals, Oh My! -- Austin's Spring 2012 Election Calendar
• Austin Democracy, the Machine, and the Future of Our City
• Austin Hispanic Leaders Hold Press Conference Supporting November Elections
• Austin Municipal Elections and the "Uninformed Voter" Canard
• Clarifying Three Points on the Austin Municipal Elections Debate
• A Vote Against Democracy in Austin

Elsewhere On the Web:

• 3 Reasons to Watch City Council This Week, Austin Post
• Dear Austin City Council, Letters from Texas
• Austin Considers Moving Election Date, Austin Business Journal
• Austin Latinos Fight to Reschedule Elections, The News Taco
• Austin Considers Changing Election Date, KXAN
• City Elections - Nov v May, Eugene Sepulveda, Community Matters
• Moving City Elections from May to November, Mayor Leffingwell's Blog
• Point Austin: Voter Suppression Made Easy, Austin Chronicle
• City Hall Hustle: Rock The Vote ... Not, Austin Chronicle
• Austin will keep May elections for now, Off The Kuff
• Austin council keeps next city election in May, Austin American-Statesman
• The Daily Hustle 9/23/11, Austin Chronicle

Austin Democracy, the Machine, and the Future of our City

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 10:23 AM CDT

"Proponents of moving the election to November say putting the council on the general election ballot will be a guaranteed turnout booster. By implication, they say the council will better reflect the views of the community at large. Yeah, reply some of those who advocate the status quo, you'll get a bigger turnout - of uninformed voters.

"It's an elitist argument that betrays the entitlement mentality of the cadre of insiders who benefit politically from the city's notoriously low turnout. The argument neither needs subtitle nor translation, but here's one: "We know what's good for you."

"If that reasoning puts you off, let the council know about it."

~ Editorial Board, Austin American-Statesman, 10/3/11

Last week, in a 4-3 decision, Councilmembers Sheryl Cole, Bill Spelman, Laura Morrison, and Kathie Tovo voted (in the first of three readings) to hold the 2012 Austin municipal election in May, against the advice of the city's election administrator, the State of Texas, and a diverse array of community leaders. A number of rationales have been offered by these members defending their positions- from upholding their oath to the city charter, to not arbitrarily extending their terms by six months, to concern for uninformed November voters.

As someone who has been involved in the elections of a supermajority of this current city council, I am admittedly part of the Austin Political Machine as described by Phillip Martin over two years ago. I don't deny it; it is true that this city's politics has been guided for many years by small group of insiders with occasional, minimal, variation. But because of my position and my role in helping to elect members on each side last week's vote, I feel obligated to break my silence.

It's time to put the truth on the table. This debate is about the balance of power between different factions of Austin's political establishment and it is driven by political self interest.

The defeat of Randi Shade by Kathie Tovo this spring saw the rise of a new coalition on the Austin City Council who were ostensibly united by their opposition to Water Treatment Plant 4, F1 subsidies, downtown parking hours, and long term development in urban neighborhoods. Surprisingly, on all of these issues considered by the council since the election, this 4-vote coalition has yet to materialize as an effective block of votes on any of these issues. In particular, support for halting construction of Water Treatment Plant 4, widely seen as "the" defining issue this past election, evaporated in a 7-0 vote to continue the project not weeks after Tovo's election.  While Tovo, Morrison, and Spelman ideologically operate within the same spectrum, many saw the alliance with Cole as somewhat surprising. After all, she had historically been supported financially by the same business and development interests as Randi Shade.

So why is it on this issue of all issues- when to hold the 2012 election- that these four have finally come together to vote as a block? Political self-interest of the most disappointing kind.

It has been an open secret among city hall insiders that Sheryl Cole, Bill Spelman, and Laura Morrison have each expressed interest in becoming the next Mayor of Austin. It was expected that Mayor Leffingwell would retire after serving one term, having served his intended purpose in blocking former councilman Brewster McCracken's mayoral ambitions. But after seeing Austin successfully navigate the economic downturn, Leffingwell has decided to run for re-election. Additionally, Austin is set to vote in November of 2012 on a wide-ranging package of changes, including fundamental changes to how and when the council is elected. This package, pushed by Leffingwell, and ostensibly still supported by most councilmembers, is perceived as severely disrupting the influence of the traditional low-turnout electorate and the existing political machine.

Simply put, Cole, Spelman, Morrison, and Tovo advocate keeping next year's city election in May because they believe that it remains their last and best chance to defeat Mayor Leffingwell and his key ally Mike Martinez before the opportunity is lost forever. For all the rhetoric about the oaths to the charter (which both Cole and Spelman in particular have voted to break previously without issue) and concern for uninformed voters (who are regularly depended on to pass the council's preferred bond measures in high turnout November elections), this all boils down to defending a broken system for personal political gain.

How sad for Austin. How sad it is that liberal councilmembers are using their power to pick the smallest, most distorted electorate for themselves. How sad it is that we have to suffer through layers of rationalization and excuses to mask the naked political truth before us.

Today, the council will hold the 2nd reading on this issue in an nearly unprecedented rushing of the measure through the process to minimize public input or attention. This is because last Friday, at 5:37PM, well after city offices normally close, Councilmembers Spelman and Morrison placed this item on the agenda for this morning's Council Work Session, which is usually reserved for council discussion of items to be considered at their Thursday council meetings. There is no contemporary precedent for taking action on a contested, divisive issue at a work session; usually they are 7-0 votes involving last minute time sensitive permits for road races, like the October 8th NAMI Walk which is on today's agenda. (The last time a controversial item saw a 4-3 vote on reading in a work session was in the 1990's when a vote was held to issue RFPs seeking to privatize Austin Energy.) Work sessions are traditionally NOT for public input -- they are for council to work out agenda items before Thursday's vote. In fact, the top of the agenda even states as much.

In addition, an item has been added to authorize the city to spend up to $1.3 million (not including another half a million if there is a run-off) to purchase more voting machines in order to hold a single low-turnout May election on top of an already scheduled November election for the city. The council's own documents admit that "The County acknowledges that machines purchased under this Addendum will likely be sold or otherwise exchanged or returned to the current or other future voting equipment vendor" after the election. The city will have to cover most all of that cost because last night the ACC Board of Trustees voted to move their elections to November, a move which AISD is expected to follow. This leaves the City of Austin alone in paying for a special election in May against the provisions of SB 100, against the expert recommendations of the election administrator, in contradiction of our values, and wedged in between and overlapping with the party primaries and runoffs- all for the perceived political benefit to four people.

I urge the council to reconsider the path they are leading us down- it is not too late. I recognize, as do many others that are a part of it, that the current political establishment's influence must, and is, coming to an end. We must trust the people of Austin, as many as possible, in determining our city's future.

We must recognize that fighting over where and when to have one final battle in a war over the past is a victory for no one.

"A city that loves to think of itself as forever in blue jeans has grown up. The Comprehensive Plan is far from the final answer, but it is worth a good, hard look by a circle larger than the City Hall hangers-on this type of conversation tends to attract. It begs a serious conversation about how to manage the city's future."

~ Editorial Board, Austin American-Statesman, 10/2/11

Take Action: Support Fair Elections for Austin on Facebook

• Austin Hispanic Leaders Hold Press Conference Supporting November Elections
• Austin Municipal Elections and the "Uninformed Voter" Canard
• Clarifying Three Points on the Austin Municipal Elections Debate
• A Vote Against Democracy in Austin

Elsewhere On the Web:

• Moving City Elections from May to November, Mayor Leffingwell's Blog
• Point Austin: Voter Suppression Made Easy, Austin Chronicle
• City Hall Hustle: Rock The Vote ... Not, Austin Chronicle
• Austin will keep May elections for now, Off The Kuff
• Austin council keeps next city election in May, Austin American-Statesman
• The Daily Hustle 9/23/11, Austin Chronicle

An overview of the 2011 City of Houston elections

by: kuff

Thu Sep 15, 2011 at 06:16 AM CDT

Dallas Municipal Elections Update

by: jvansickle

Thu Feb 10, 2011 at 00:29 AM CST

Hello Kunkle, Goodbye Moore and Hunt

While many progressives across Dallas have pined for City Councilor Angela Hunt (District 14) to run for mayor, Angela has decided that the time is not right for her and will be running for a fourth term as the City Councilor for District 14. Angela also had her first child barely 10 months ago. The story regarding Angela's announcement can be read in full at Council member Angela Hunt won't run for mayor.

Jim Moore was the first candidate to announce his run for mayor. On January 31, Mr. Moore announced in a letter to supporters that he was withdrawing his candidacy. Jim did not feel he would be able to raise the $1 million plus dollars required to run competitively across Dallas in 90 days before the election. Mr. Moore's lack of time serving on a local boards and negligible name ID would have made his candidacy even more difficult given the other potential contenders of city councilors and sitting board members. Jim's announcement is posted on the front page of his campaign website.

On the same day that Jim Moore withdrew, former Dallas Chief of Police, David Kunkle, jumped in. David Kunkle served as Chief of Police between 2004 to 2010, and has consistently voted in Democratic primaries during this period. David is married to Sarah Dodd, a former journalist and owner of Dodd Communications. David and Sarah live in north Dallas, and are represented by Angela Hunt on the Dallas City Council. The article discussing Kunkle's announcement can be read in full at Former Dallas police Chief Kunkle makes it official: he wants to be your next mayor.

Round Two for Billy MacLeod?

In 2009, William "Billy" MacLeod ran against Pauline Medrano for Dallas City Council District 2. Pauline received 74% of the vote, and spent a little over $8,000 during the race. Pauline is running for her fourth and final term as Dallas City Council. On January 15, Billy filed a campaign finance report indicating he was seeking election in District 2 on May 14, 2011. The report had only a single expense to GoDaddy.com for $80 and no campaign contributions. While Billy has not made any formal announcement, his Facebook postings have also indicated potential preparations to do something political in the very near future. Also, congratulations on your marital engagement, Billy.

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

When Angela Hunt was considering a mayoral run, two candidates, James Nowlin and Jim Rogers, announced their intention to run for her open seat. Jim Rogers was explicit in his announcement that he would not run if Angela chose to run for a fourth term on city council rather than run for mayor. James Nowlin simply stated "We'll cross that bridge when we get there." James responded on Facebook to Angela's announcement to run for a fourth term in District 14 by stating he is "In it to win it" and will continue his campaign. Angela Hunt enjoys large amounts of popularity in District 14, and has already served 6 years as city councilor. Any opponent in District 14 will face an uphill battle in fighting that kind of name recognition and popularity.

Unrest brewing in District 10?

Stultz is a heavily African-American area near Hamilton Park in North Dallas, and contained in Dallas City Council District 10. Residents have been fighting a zoning change that would change their area to a "Planned Development District," and open it up for future commercial development. Earlier today, Councilman Jerry Allen pushed to delay the vote for a second-time when a large group in opposition to the change appeared at City Hall. Speaking with residents from Stultz who attended the Council meeting revealed anger and frustration that their councilman was listening to developers over residents, and discussed looking for a candidate from their area who would represent them better than the incumbent.

January 15 Campaign Finance Reports

The table below outlines the data from recent campaign finance reports filed by City Council incumbents on January 15, 2011. To help provide context, I have also included each incumbent's election expenses that they incurred in their previous elections. The election expenses are calculated by reviewing their 30-day and 8-day election reports only for the relevant years.

It should be noted that Carolyn Davis submitted a campaign finance report with $0 cash on hand. This is most likely a clerical error since Dwaine Caraway and Angela Hunt initially had the same problem when using the City of Dallas' electronic filing system. Unfortunately, Councilwoman Davis has not corrected the error, unlike Dwaine and Angela. Subtracting the current report's expenses from contributions shows a minimum of $2300 possible cash. Her previous report also showed no cash on hand, but had an income of nearly $13,000 in contributions with barely $100 in expenses. So Carolyn has somewhere between $2,300 to $15,000 (or more) cash on hand.

District 6 is will be an open seat since incumbent Steve Salazar has reached his term limit. This is why the Cash OnHand value is blank for this district. Similarly, 2007 election expenses are blank for both Delia Jasso and Ann Margolin since they were first elected in 2009.

Dallas	City Council	Cash OnHand	Election Expenses
District	Incumbent	2011	2009	2007
1	Delia Jasso	$11,873.72	$56,576.65
2	Pauline Medrano	$4,442.04	$8,070.09	$5,405.15
3	David Neumann	$80,113.94	$55,039.09	$181,450.09
4	Dwaine Caraway	$15,940.00	$38,940.00	$35,074.18
5	Vonciel Hill	$17,298.68	$54,336.04	$69,346.64
6	Open Seat		$27,057.90	$4,746.28
7	Carolyn Davis	Unknown?	$18,393.39	$4,372.01
8	Tennell Atkins	$4,274.00	$31,582.67	$97,861.15
9	Sheffie Kadane	$15,918.95	$42,686.04	$52,184.37
10	Jerry Allen	$6,277.74	$37,425.32	$6,989.07
11	Linda Koop	$66,733.97	$3,016.58	$5,593.06
12	Ron Natinsky	$116,547.23	$9,187.21	$8,408.45
13	Ann Margolin	$82,784.28	$257,736.66
14	Angela Hunt	$28,583.19	$14,713.20	$7,386.30

James Van Sickle
http://www.darwood.us
http://www.facebook.com/Darwoo...

Dallas Municipal Elections Round Up

by: jvansickle

Wed Jan 19, 2011 at 02:35 AM CST

Mayor Leppert and Ron Natinsky make it official

Tom Leppert made it official by publicly declaring that he will not run for re-election as Mayor of the City of Dallas.  The Dallas Morning News covered the announcement in their article, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert says he won't run again, but hints at Senate.  As many suspected, Mayor Leppert also hinted in a possible run for higher office when discussing finding ways to help his community other than being Mayor of Dallas.  This does not mean helping out at the local soup kitchen, but is more likely the beginnings of his run for Senate or a statewide office, such as Lt. Gov if Dewhurst ran for Senate.  Since Mayor Leppert's announcement Ron Natinsky has been making it as clear as possible that he is running for mayor.  Ron is very likely to run his campaign as a "Stay the course" style race in support of continuing policies that Leppert favored.  Beyond Jim Moore, no other candidate has made any formal announcements that they are running for Mayor yet.  However, the filing period does not begin until February 14 and will run until March 14.

More City Council challengers

Now that the holidays and campaign finance reporting deadlines are past us, City Council candidates have begun announcing their runs for office.  Here is a quick rundown of recently announced candidates:

Scott Griggs (District 3) - Scott Griggs announced in December.  Scott is running against David Neumann, and has a history of voting in Democratic primaries.  Scott is a patent lawyer by trade, and works for his family's firm Griggs Bergen LLP.

http://griggsfordallas.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/...

Monica Alonzo (District 6) - Monica Alonzo is the sister of current City Council incumbent, Steve Salazar, who just completed his fourth and final term in office.  Monica is also State Representative Roberto Alonzo's sister-in-law.  Monica announced her campaign through a letter sent to key individuals within District 6.  Unfortunately, her campaign appears to have neither a website nor Facebook page at this time.

James Nowlin (District 14) - James Nowlin was appointed to the Police Review Board by Angela Hunt.  The day after Angela indicated she was considering a run for mayor, James announced his own candidacy to replace Angela when she vacates the District 14 seat.  James is a Democratic activist with a history of working with the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas club.

http://jamesnowlin.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/...

Jim Rogers (District 14) - Earlier today, Jim Rogers announced his candidacy for District 14.  Jim is one of the founders of Bryan Place in District 14.  Unfortunately, due to Jim's announcement earlier this afternoon, I still have sparse information on his full background and partisan leanings.  I look forward to posting more about that in the near future.

http://jimrogersdallas.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/...

A Brief Review of Dallas City Councilors

The following table outlines the winners of Dallas City Council elections over the past 10 years.  Winners who also had a runoff election during a particular year are shaded in yellow; winners who ran unopposed during an election cycle are highlighted in blue.  An interesting tidbit is that Elba Garcia and Mitch Rasansky are the only city councilmembers in the past 10 years to be completely unopposed after winning their first elections.  It is not uncommon for open seat races to have nearly a half dozen candidates running, which invariably results in a subsequent runoff election.  Most city council districts only require 25 to 45 signatures for someone to appear on the ballot.

Dallas	Incumbent	Past Election Winners
District	2011	2009	2007	2005	2003	2001
1	Delia Jasso	Delia Jasso	Elba Garcia	Elba Garcia	Elba Garcia	Elba Garcia
2	Pauline Medrano	Pauline Medrano	Pauline Medrano	Pauline Medrano	John Loza	John Loza
3	David Neumann	David Neumann	David Neumann	Ed Oakley	Ed Oakley	Laura Miller
4	Dwaine Caraway	Dwaine Caraway	Dwaine Caraway	Maxine Reese	Maxine Reese	Maxine Reese
5	Vonciel Hill	Vonciel Hill	Vonciel Hill	Don Hill	Don Hill	Don Hill
6	*Open Seat*	Steve Salazar	Steve Salazar	Steve Salazar	Steve Salazar	Ed Oakley
7	Carolyn Davis	Carolyn Davis	Carolyn Davis	Leo Chaney	Leo Chaney	Leo Chaney
8	Tennell Atkins	Tennell Atkins	Tennell Atkins	James Fantroy	James Fantroy	James Fantroy
9	Sheffie Kadane	Sheffie Kadane	Sheffie Kadane	Gary Griffith	Gary Griffith	Mary Poss
10	Jerry Allen	Jerry Allen	Jerry Allen	Bill Blaydes	Bill Blaydes	Alan Walne
11	Linda Koop	Linda Koop	Linda Koop	Linda Koop	Lois Finkelman	Lois Finkelman
12	Ron Natinsky	Ron Natinsky	Ron Natinsky	Ron Natinsky	Sandy Greyson	Sandy Greyson
13	Ann Margolin	Ann Margolin	Mitch Rasansky	Mitch Rasansky	Mitch Rasansky	Mitch Rasansky
14	Angela Hunt	Angela Hunt	Angela Hunt	Angela Hunt	Veletta Lill	Veletta Lill

James Van Sickle
http://www.darwood.us
http://www.facebook.com/Darwoo...