Dallas Mayor Laura Miller Won't Run for Re-Election

[MrMustang1965]

Do any of these candidates have an S.M.U. connection? Who would best serve S.M.U.'s interests, if elected? Let's hear the opinions of PF's!

from the Star-Telegram:

Six candidates filed notice of their intent to raise money for a campaign before Miller made her announcement earlier this week, said Brooks Love, Dallas elections manager.

They are City Councilman Gary Griffith; Darrel Jordan, who lost a 1995 mayoral bid; Zachary Crain; Roger Herrera; Jurline Hollins; and Billy MacLeod.

Councilman Don Hill, 55, potentially a leading black candidate for the mayor’s job, “will make a decision soon,” said assistant Steven Williams.. But Hill’s name surfaced in connection with a 2005 City Hall corruption investigation.

Other council members are expected to run, said political observers, but they could not be reached for comment because the council is on its July break. Mary Poss, a former council member and mayoral candidate, said she will not run.

Phil Ritter, a senior vice president of Dallas-based Texas Instruments, said he has considered a race for 10 months.

“My plan is to put together a campaign later this year,” he said. “It’s a much more wide-open circumstance now.”

“It’s a wide-open race with a lot of new people that haven’t been talked about before,” said Carol Reed, a political consultant who worked with former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk and then Tom Dunning, whom Miller defeated in 2002.

Political coalitions, such as the black community, which united against Miller, will not vote as a bloc anymore, Reed said. The conservative north Dallas community, which supported her, will be up for grabs, she said.

Some said Miller isn’t finished with politics.

“You are almost required to be skeptical of a politician who says they’ve accomplished everything they set out to do and they want to spend more time with their family,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “I do think she has had a difficult time putting together a workable coalition on the City Council.”

She twice failed to push through a strong-mayor initiative and was targeted in two recall efforts that did not succeed.

“I think in spite of all the attention paid to her very distinctive personality she led very forcefully on three or four big-ticket issues for Dallas,” said Lee Jackson, former Dallas County Judge, now chancellor of the University of the North Texas System.

[feelan]

Do any of these candidates have an S.M.U. connection? Who would best serve S.M.U.'s interests, if elected? Let's hear the opinions of PF's!

from the Star-Telegram:

Six candidates filed notice of their intent to raise money for a campaign before Miller made her announcement earlier this week, said Brooks Love, Dallas elections manager.

They are City Councilman Gary Griffith; Darrel Jordan, who lost a 1995 mayoral bid; Zachary Crain; Roger Herrera; Jurline Hollins; and Billy MacLeod.

Councilman Don Hill, 55, potentially a leading black candidate for the mayor’s job, “will make a decision soon,” said assistant Steven Williams.. But Hill’s name surfaced in connection with a 2005 City Hall corruption investigation.

Other council members are expected to run, said political observers, but they could not be reached for comment because the council is on its July break. Mary Poss, a former council member and mayoral candidate, said she will not run.

Phil Ritter, a senior vice president of Dallas-based Texas Instruments, said he has considered a race for 10 months.

“My plan is to put together a campaign later this year,” he said. “It’s a much more wide-open circumstance now.”

“It’s a wide-open race with a lot of new people that haven’t been talked about before,” said Carol Reed, a political consultant who worked with former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk and then Tom Dunning, whom Miller defeated in 2002.

Political coalitions, such as the black community, which united against Miller, will not vote as a bloc anymore, Reed said. The conservative north Dallas community, which supported her, will be up for grabs, she said.

Some said Miller isn’t finished with politics.

“You are almost required to be skeptical of a politician who says they’ve accomplished everything they set out to do and they want to spend more time with their family,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “I do think she has had a difficult time putting together a workable coalition on the City Council.”

She twice failed to push through a strong-mayor initiative and was targeted in two recall efforts that did not succeed.

“I think in spite of all the attention paid to her very distinctive personality she led very forcefully on three or four big-ticket issues for Dallas,” said Lee Jackson, former Dallas County Judge, now chancellor of the University of the North Texas System.

Gary Griffith has an SMU connection, he was instrumental in starting the SMU chapter of SigEp, but to my knowledge hasn't been involved lately.

[Hoop Fan]

Dallas cant do any worse. Go away Laura Miller.