Well the gadfly business has its up-sides and its down-sides. Granted, there are mostly down-sides. I mean, you're generally picking on powerful politicians who don't like to be "called on the carpet" over their behavior. People don't generally invite you to lunch or dinner. People don't invite you out for drinks.

Lets face it. I'm a garbage man. I'm a guy who does the thankless dirty work that needs to be done. I take relentless beatings at the hands of people who aren't happy about having their shenanigans exposed publicly.

But for what?

You see, friends, I hope that if our politicians won't do the "right thing for the right reason," maybe they'll do the right thing for the wrong reason: the fear of getting caught.

So yesterday at the Dallas City Council meeting, a friend and confidant of Dallas School Board Member Ron Price sought me out with the goal of (I suppose) "talking sense" to me. This Price supporter wanted me to know that I had it all wrong about Ron--that he's really an honorable guy and he's really cleaned up South Dallas.

When it became obvious that I wanted answers as to things like: what is honorable about lying to 250 of your graduating seniors on their big day, I could tell the conversation was going downhill.

This supporter's parting comment contained a veiled threat.

I don't like threats, so I'm going to share an open letter to this individual (sans name, of course).

Dear <Ron Price Supporter>,

I am glad you hold your friend in such high esteem. I know you spend time with him, respect him, help him, and you share margaritas from time-to-time (on the DISD taxpayer dollar, I might add--want me to prove it?).

You claim that Ron is an honorable guy, and I have him pegged all wrong. 

I know I'm a critic, but I'm not aware that I've done anything except publish facts and truth. If this is not correct, I need to know now.

In fact, I have an accuracy pledge, and if you or he will correct me and show me where I'm wrong, I'll not only change things--I'll admit I was wrong!

To date, nobody has corrected me. But we can start now.

Why don't you review Ron's graduation speech (view the video here) to Woodrow Wilson High School.  Explain to me what's honorable about lying to 250 of your own graduating seniors?

Or maybe he didn't lie. Maybe he is, for instance, president of the State Board of Education. I wasn't able to find it in the record, but it should be a fairly easy matter to clear up. Don't you agree? So help me do it.

Another issue I'm curious about: his job? He's told me (and he's told others) that he uses his "influence" because of relationships he's built, while a board member, to arrange meetings between officials in other school districts and people who wanted to meet them.

I guess he calls himself an "education consultant" but I'm willing to let him tell me whatever title he wants to give himself.

I'm interested in who he consults with, and who pays him. I'm also willing to approach this with a completely open mind, and assume that he's not doing anything wrong--and that everything is above board. I'm just curious.

But I get concerned, as someone who pays DISD's tax bills, when I see a major district vendor drop $25,000 in a school board member's campaign account just because (and I quote Ron) he's a "nice guy." 

I've personally never had anyone drop $25,000 on me because I was a "nice guy." Not that I'd complain if someone did, but my experience tells me this just doesn't happen!

With respect to his domestic violence conviction, I've offered to take a look at anything Ron wants to send. But, to date, I've received nothing.

All I've heard are charges of racism leveled at Municipal Judge Jay Robinson (the judge that convicted him). Ron has some unintelligible, what sounds suspiciously like a conspiracy story about how Judge Robinson sent him to "window 1" instead of "window 10" after finding him guilty.

And that, somehow, is why Ron was found guilty and managed to blow his appeal.

When I look at the court records, I show Ron's attorney-of-record to be Royce West.

Royce West, in my opinion, is one of the smartest lawyers in the State of Texas. He knows courtrooms, and he knows the appeals process. I would be interested in knowing how a "racist" judge managed to get Ron falsely convicted and have it survive the appeals process when Ron was being represented by one of the best lawyers in the State of Texas!

Certainly Ron isn't claiming that Royce West is incompetent?

I'm going to be the first to admit that Ron's a nice guy. He's really likeable, and (here's where Sharon's going to hit me with the refrigerator again) I think he has it in him to be an asset to Dallas.

Ron simply needs to start taking responsibility for his actions. He needs to lay off the name-calling and the blame game. He's a big spender of my dollars, and he needs to start looking at whether all that is appropriate and necessary.

He needs to quit blaming "The Dallas Lyin' News" and "Channel Fake" (yes, I have Ron's graduation speech videos from Lincoln and Madison's graduations too!) for his problems. 

So look, Dallas.Org is an open site. You're welcome to respond to anything here. You're welcome to take issue with me. You're welcome to say I'm being too hard on Ron and I'll post it--every bit of it. 

When Ron does something good, please tell me about it and I'll post it here. But don't make up the facts because I'm going to check them out! 

In closing, I hope we can put the veiled threats behind us. Let's stick to the facts. If you want to help Ron sand off the rough edges, that's an honorable endeavor and I'm willing to approach things with an open mind.

But as long as Ron's conduct raises questions, I'm going to have to ask questions. 

Thanks for your understanding. 

Today, Mr. Price spoke at two assemblies at Hood Middle School. I was present for just one of them so I don't know if the following comments were made at both. I'm gonna guess they were. I leave these for your perusal:

"I'm chairman of a $2 billion company." (Huh? Does anyone know the name of this company?)

"Slavery was the cause of the Alamo." (Huh? Where did this come from?)

"Stewardesses (sic) make $100,000 a year." (This has to be welcome news for all the flight attendants out there.)

It smells bad, adds flavor, and has many layers.

I am left a bit confused by your last blog, was your letter directed at the person who threatened you specifically, or anyone who feels like supporting Ron Price? Or both?

Being taken aside for a talking too, well, you must have hit a nerve. But if you are right in that you are exposing a wolf in the sheeps clothing, it should be expected.

If you have children or a wife, when you peel the onion of corruption back a bit further, it will not be a talking too. It will be something similar to a pictures of them going about there daily business and a message like, "You have beautiful family"

So here is my second attempt at a defense of Ron Price. Calling him a connisour of historical fiction did not get him off the hook.

He is not using his power to sleep with underage females or openly sell drugs. He seems better than some. Marion Barry was mayor of DC and was on camera smoking crack. And years later, ran again. MLK, Malcolm X, and JFK did not do get caught for any of that... Yet they all have something in common...

Ron Price is a player in the game, but he not "The Player" The real problem is not those that take the money, it is the people that provide money.

Like Miller's idea that the city needs to crack down on folks that give money to beggars. If the city stopped giving money to homeless folks downtown the homeless would stop hanging out downtown.

If I could see white face in Dallas Morning News that was supposedly giving the money, I would smile from ear to ear. I have seen did see the faces of that have taken alot money, his name was Barton, or was it Delay?

Ron Price has done a few things for his folks, but it was done by making a deal with the devil. He knew it was wrong, but it could send some money south, and get rich to boot.

Here is another bit of background to chew on.

Distribution of power in Dallas.

If I were to go back several generations I would see that nearly all the black children are not native Texans. They are slaves.

I would also see the Native Texans getting shot dead. I have traveled Texas enough to see the historical markers that celebrate how well "Texans" won major victories. I think they are called indians. They were there and in the way, the ones that could not be civilized, meaning bought off, were shot.

So, back to the defense of Ron, he is bought public figure. He is a known value. Get over your personal axe you grind against him. Dig deeper and find out where the money really comes from that keeps him afloat.

Ron Price is not the problem, he is a symptom. The people who pay for him are. Do want to treat the symptom or go after the disease?

Then you can be a super "gadfly"