Not My First Rodeo

Source: h/t DALL-E.

Project Rodeo. Project Nova. Project Journey. Project Connect. Do you know what any of these are? Even in general terms? I don't. Is that a problem? The Richardson City Council has discussed each of these...subjects, I guess I'll call them, in executive session during council meetings this year. That's all I know about them, the code names used the way code names are used in the military — to keep the enemy from knowing what's going on. In this case, the "enemy" is the public.

Charter Review: The Commission Rests

Artist: John Trumbull.

The once-every-ten-years Charter Review Commission concluded their service with their submission to the City Council of a report of their recommendations. I've blogged about the commission meetings. Justin Neth has reported them as well. Dustin Butler of Community Impact (the closest thing Richardson has to a local newspaper) reported on the commission submitting its report to the City Council.

The Coming Disorder of Robert's Rules

The Richardson City Council, adding to its long history of misjudgment, has just elected Ken Hutchenrider as Mayor Pro Tem. One of the main duties of Mayor Pro Tem is to chair council meetings in the Mayor's absence. What can go wrong? Richardson City Council meetings have never been a shining example of parliamentary procedure. Often things are confused, and sometimes just plain wrong.

Transparency: "The Room Where It Happens"

Part 3 of 3.

Source: Hamilton: An American Musical.

No one really knows how the game is played
The art of the trade
How the sausage gets made
We just assume that it happens
But no one else is in the room where it happens.

Source: Hamilton.

In the first two parts of this (too long) blog post (Part 1, Part 2), I congratulated Mayor Amir Omar on trying to add transparency to the council's decisions. And I applauded Jennifer Justice and Joe Corcoran for joining him in voting against moving the decision-making process into secret. And I didn't applaud Hutchenrider, Barrios, Dorian, and Arefin who all voted to continue excluding the public from witnessing the council conduct this important business.

Today, I'll examine the result of the council's closed-door session, their pick for Mayor Pro Tem for 2025-2027. I could have led with that two days ago, but I seriously think the process used (closed instead of open) was the more important story. Mayor Pro Tems come and go. The principle of transparency is forever. My mission is to rescue "transparency" from the lip service that politicians pay it, and give gravity back to the word, so people take it seriously again.

Transparency: "The Room Where It Happens"

Part 2 of 3.

Source: Hamilton: An American Musical.

No one really knows how the game is played
The art of the trade
How the sausage gets made
We just assume that it happens
But no one else is in the room where it happens.

Source: Hamilton.

Yesterday, in Part 1, I congratulated Mayor Amir Omar on trying to add transparency to the council's decisions. And I applauded Jennifer Justice and Joe Corcoran for joining him in voting against moving the decision-making process into secret. And I didn't applaud Hutchenrider, Barrios, Dorian, and Arefin who all voted to continue excluding the public from witnessing the council conduct this important business.

Today, I'll examine the council's reasoning behind their decision to keep their deliberation secret.

Transparency: "The Room Where It Happens"

Source: Hamilton: An American Musical.

No one really knows how the game is played
The art of the trade
How the sausage gets made
We just assume that it happens
But no one else is in the room where it happens.

Source: Hamilton.

Amir Omar, when campaigning to become mayor of Richardson, wrote, "As Mayor, I envision propelling our city to regional leadership in transparency." Well, Amir Omar became mayor and on Monday night, while presiding over his first City Council meeting, Mayor Amir Omar began delivering on his promise. It came during the selection of the Mayor Pro Tem.

Charter Review: "We the People"

Artist: John Trumbull.

On May 15, 2025, the Richardson Charter Review Commission completed their review of the Richardson City Charter. Well, almost completed. They still need to come back and review the final drafts of the amendments and formally vote on what they'll submit to the City Council.

After 10 meetings and I don't know how many suggested amendments (we won't know for sure what the number is until the City Attorney packages them up in way to submit to the City Council), the commission finally added one substantive amendment that I consider to be primarily in the public interest, not the commissioners' own interest, not the city council's interest, but in the people's interest. Read all the way to the end to see what it is.

My Coffee with Alan C. North

Source: RichardsonMayor.com.

It turns out that newly-elected Mayor Amir Omar is not the only candidate who has coffee with voters. This week, mayoral candidate Alan C. North had coffee with me. And now, with his permission, I'm here to answer all your questions.

An Open Letter to Our New Mayor

Dear Mayor Amir Omar,

Congratulations on winning election to become Richardson's Mayor. You worked long and hard for this. You deserve it. Before you decided to run this year, you individually met with 200 Richardson residents for coffee. Friends, foes, and strangers. You tried to understand what the community cared about. Then, after you decided that you had something to offer, you kept on meeting with Richardson residents. Your latest count of coffee meetings is over 400. You had your finger on the pulse of Richardson. And the voters rewarded that. You were the clear choice of a majority of voters to lead our City.

A Change Election

Source: BBC.

Habēmus Maiōrem Urbis! We Have a Mayor! Richardson elected a new mayor on May 3. Mayor Bob Dubey will be succeeded by Mayor Amir Omar. It might not make headlines the world over like the selection of Pope Leo XIV did in Rome, but it's significant news here in Richardson, Texas.

Richardson hasn't had a mayor lose re-election since 1987. That was undeniably a change election. Three council members lost, two more retired. We didn't have that kind of turnover on the council May 3. But any election that results in an incumbent mayor being sent packing is a change election. It's up to the rest of us to understand just what change the voters are looking for.

Final Look at COR Money Race

It's often said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. In some ways, that was true in 2025. To see why, we have to go back to what I wrote in this space in 2013:

Money *did* make the Richardson mayoral election go around, but like a carnival ride that goes around and around and never gets anywhere. And here's the irony: for the backers of direct election who thought this would increase democracy, know that the cost of entry into electoral politics in Richardson just went up big time. Electoral politics in Richardson are likely to get less democratic in future, not more. Who has the deep pockets who can pay that cost of entry? Land developers, for one.

That brings me to the one money angle to this election that, had I noticed in time, I just might have made something of. Laura Maczka collected $5,000 from a developer who has come before the City Council seeking zoning approval for development projects in Richardson, and may do so again in future. That's sketchy, especially when it's this guy. It may not be illegal, but it just looks bad. Really bad.

Source: The Wheel, May 16, 2013.

Charter Review: Article 3

Artist: John Trumbull.

On May 1, 2025, the Richardson Charter Review Commission continued their review of the Richardson Charter, covering Article 3 (City Council) and returning to Article 4 (Nomination and Election of City Council Members), as these two articles are interdependent. I anticipated big changes to Richardson's way of electing City Council, but in the end, not much was changed. Read on for details.

Still no video by the City to link you to, something that this commission isn't about to change. To paraphrase City policy: "Move along. There's nothing to see here."

People are Asking: "What Else is Dubey Hiding?"

Thomas More: "I have one question to ask the witness. That's a chain of office you are wearing. May I see it? The red dragon. What's this?"

Cromwell: "Sir Richard is appointed Attorney-General for Wales."

Thomas More: (Looking into Rich's face, with pain and amusement) "For Wales? Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world . . . But for Wales!"

Source: A Man for All Seasons.

Election Day is near. This campaign season has had more people selling their souls with smears in text messages, robocalls, and mailers than any election since the 2013 election for mayor. I sometimes felt like I needed a shower after rebutting some of the attacks. The largest number and most hurtful of the smears came from the Dubey camp. They are spending thousands of dollars trashing a man's reputation in an effort to prevent him from becoming mayor for Richardson. Not the world, but for Richardson! It reminds me of that fateful scene in "A Man for All Seasons" where Thomas More confronts his false accuser, Richard Rich, in court. "But for Wales!"

As this is (probably) the last blog article I'll write before the election, I feel like I should document some of the questions I've never gotten to the bottom of. It wasn't for lack of trying.

Council Recap: A Crony for NTMWD

Source: h/t DALL-E.

On April 28, 2025, the City Council made appointments to boards and commissions. Maybe the most significant one, given how important water is to everyone in North Texas, is Richardson's representative to the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD).

Council Recap: A Lone Vote for Good Urban Design

Source: h/t DALL-E.

April 28, 2025, was the night that the Richardson City Council, led by Mayor Bob Dubey, officially abandoned our century-old downtown compact street grid in favor of a 580-ft superblock on which to build a 279-unit apartment building on property controlled by Manasseh Durkin, who just so happens to be a repeat donor to Mayor Dubey's election campaign. Also the same Manasseh Durkin whose limited partnership is being sued by the City of Richardson for breach of contract on another downtown project. These guys are getting brazen.

Dubey Gets Cash. Durkin Gets EDA. City Gets Screwed.

Source: Happy Hippie Brewing Co..

We've been getting down in the muck examining the hypocrisy hidden in plain sight in Mayor Bob Dubey's campaign finance reports. Manasseh Durkin, a big property owner in Richardson, gave money to Dubey's campaign for mayor, then sent out a mailer to voters smearing Dubey's opponent for having some lawsuits in his past, with neither mentioning the serious lawsuit Durkin himself is facing.

Diving into Dubey's Campaign Finance Report

Source: Adobe Firefly.

You know how, when you turn the light on in the kitchen, cockroaches scatter? Well, maybe not in my kitchen or yours, but let's say in the break room at City Hall. And let's say it's not cockroaches feeding in the public pantry, it's developers...and the Mayor is opening the food packages for the roaches, er, developers. Enough with the strained metaphor, let's get to the story.

Dubey Faces Ethics and Transparency Questions

Mayor Bob Dubey has close ties with a major developer with questionable ethics. Their cozy relationship raises ethical questions about Dubey himself. You won't find this developer listed among Dubey's endorsements. That raises transparency questions about Dubey as well. The supporter I'm referring to is Manasseh Durkin, whose self-named Durkin Properties says they are the "largest land holder in CORE District" in Richardson, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Following the Money behind Dubey's Mudslinging

Source: Pro-Dubey mailer.

Bob Dubey and his supporters have unleashed a barrage of mudslinging against Amir Omar using Dubey's advantage in fundraising, largely from sources outside the City of Richardson. Dubey might portray himself as a good old boy, but he's got big money backing him, including developer money, which is often the biggest money in local elections. Funny how that works. They are not holding back on mudslinging. Because we're already into early voting, it might be too late to properly sort out the truths from the half truths and lies.

The hypocrisy in this is that the attacks carry headlines like "Ethics and Transparency," but the authors of the attack ads don't reveal their names. One is a text message from "Larry with Right 4 Richardson." The other a mailer from "R2MFR, LLC." They force you to hunt down who is behind the attacks, if you can.

"This just got dirty. Disappointed in Mayor Dubey"

Source: Reddit.

After running a generally unobjectionable campaign (read "boring") for the first two months, Mayor Bob Dubey turned negative in a mailer during the first week of open voting. Why? Maybe he always planned to go negative at this point in the election or maybe he has some new polling that suggests Amir Omar's message of positive change is resonating with voters whereas Dubey's status quo message is not.