A few thoughts about yesterday’s indictments of two former council members and a former member of the zoning commission:
• Is U.S. attorney Richard Roper a Trinity toll road opponent? The only way that this could have hurt the pro-toll road crowd more is if Roper had announced the indictments 10 days before the election. One of the main thrusts of the pro-toll road side is that they know what’s best for us, and that we should trust them. The indictments don’t do much to win our trust.
• Mayor Park Cities seemed genuinely blindsided by all of this. I guess he didn’t get any Dallas news in whichever Park Cities newspaper he read before he ran for mayor. He was quoted as saying: "I now ask that we all refrain from judgment and let the judicial process work. We are governed by a tapestry of rules and laws." Tapestry is a nice touch. I wonder: Does the tapestry of rules and law include recall and referendum? (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)
• The next person who says the council-manager form of government saves us from the evils of ward politics needs to take a six-week time out. Roper said the investigation was the biggest, most expansive public corruption case he has seen in more than 20 years as a prosecutor. And, for those of us keeping score, there have been three FBI City Hall investigations in the last 12 years, with indictments every time. At this rate, Chicago and New York won’t have anything on us in a couple of years.
