DALLAS, Texas — It might be a first in the history of Dallas politics, a sight containing decades of both new and old leadership within Dallas City Hall.
At a hotel in downtown Dallas Wednesday afternoon, former mayors, former council members, a majority of current council members, and former Police Chief David Brown, along with County Commissioner John Wiley Price and State Senator Royce West (D-Dallas), stood against newly proposed charter amendments S, T, and U that Dallas voters will say yes or no to come November 5th.
Each supports a "Vote No Dallas" campaign under the "Together For Dallas" political action committee. The campaign will educate the public via TV, social media, and email about propositions S, T, and U and why they should vote no in the coming weeks.
All three have emerged as fiery political footballs with incredibly weighty consequences that would steer Dallas in the right direction or be similar to 'throwing a hand grenade into city hall and destroying it.'
It all depends on who you ask.
First and foremost, what are propositions S, T, and U?
They are brought to your ballot by the Dallas HERO Initiative, which claims to have gathered roughly 170,000 signatures from residents who support them-- much more than needed -- to place its three charter amendments on the November ballot.
The most crucial asks voters to approve an item that would take 50% of the city's revenue each year to shore up the police and fire pension fund that narrowly dodged insolvency. It also requires using the remainder of those funds to hire 900 more officers until the department has at least 4,000 in its rank and file, along with bettering their pay to stay competitive with top departments in North Texas.
Current council members have told WFAA that this public safety amendment is too lofty a goal and would hog funding from other departments that rely on revenue within the city to stay afloat.
"Every former living mayor of Dallas is opposed to this," Former Mayor Laura Miller said.
"This is the wrong course for Dallas in the future--you won't be able to turn this around when circumstances change. We will not be able to undo the unintended consequences or challenges against the city if these are passed. Think of what an inflationary environment would do to a city budget if these amendments passed," Former Mayor Tom Leppert said.
"This will paralyze the city."
The consensus of former mayors admitted that focusing on public safety, adding more officers, paying them more, and lowering crime needs to be a priority for current council members, the mayor, and whomever they hire as new city manager.
But they stressed this isn't the way to do that.
"This is not taking a sledgehammer to the way we do business--this is throwing a hand grenade into city hall and destroying," Former Mayor Ron Kirk said.
Former Dallas Police Chief David Brown also spoke against the amendment. He most recently led Chicago's police Department as its Superintendent and was the police chief in Dallas from 2010 to 2016.
"This amendment would render Dallas a 'police state' with no budget flexibility to address emerging issues within our neighbors via code compliance, public works, or the parks department," Brown stated.
Former Mayor Mike Rawlings also took the podium and said that the public safety amendment sounds like a great idea to any voter who picks up a ballot—but it is not.
"This is chocolate-covered rat poison--it might look really good, but it's going to be the death of taxpayers and what they get out of this city," Rawlings said.
The other two amendments would make the city manager's salary performance based on a community survey of no less than 1,400 residents 'on their satisfaction on quality of life issues, the results of which will result in the city manager earning additional performance compensation (between 0 percent and 100 percent of the city manager's base salary) or the termination of the city manager.'
The other would waive governmental immunity from the city and allow citizens to sue employees and city leaders if they don't obey state law, the charter, or any other ordinances. If passed, it could set up a lengthy court battle if city leaders don't follow through with the other amendments that may be approved.
However, according to former Mayor Kirk, waiving governmental immunity would put the City of Dallas in a position that no other city in Texas faces.
WFAA has done stories about governmental immunity in Texas and how some who have had their property destroyed by SWAT activity are left with no avenues to be compensated for their losses because municipalities claim 'immunity' when they file suit.
It's a large shield to prevent officers and cities from being sued over performing the scope of their duties. Kirk said Dallas, not just officers, would be left wide open litigiously if this amendment passes.
"Not only would we be able to hire 1,000 officers--we wouldn't be able to hire 5! If someone thinks an officer looked at them the wrong way, a paramedic didn't show up on time, or someone didn't get a permit--they could sue us," Kirk said.
This opposition campaign faces a massive challenge: How do they reach Dallas voters before early voting/election day?
Rawlings told WFAA that the campaign is funded well and is working 'hundreds of thousands of dollars.'
But the Dallas HERO Initiative's Executive Director, Pete Marocco, said that a gaggle of 'corrupt politicians' who have plunged the City of Dallas into problem after problem only helps its cause and should deter voters from saying no.
He told WFAA that a donor cut a $50,000 check to the initiative once they discovered that Rawlings was involved.
"It's no surprise that Rawlings is trying to rewrite his history--our police are being paid lower than Plano is paying. There is no math behind the alarmism what they're saying, and it was the most vapid press conference that I've seen in my life," Marocco said.
"We've had a surge of support, and 170,000 Dallas residents have signed these petitions! We've gotten nothing but positive responses. I'm glad that they did this--it helps us, it helps us with funding, so thank you, Mike Rawlings."
Marocco also noted that the signatures and petitions speak for themselves--that the same people who signed them will likely walk into a voting booth on or before November 5th.
"Again, 170,000 residents signed these petitions--the people are going to win this fight, and we're looking forward to election day."