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 [1]) 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.