“How about I admit I made a mistake? How about I admit that I didn’t dig enough, didn’t ask enough questions? – Mayor David Miller - KFYO Radio Interview 9/29/2006



“How about, we the voters admit we made a mistake. How about we admit we didn’t dig deep enough or didn’t ask enough questions – before we voted this man into office? Lubbock Voters – March 1, 2007



The first quote is by Mayor David Miller during a 2006 radio interview during which he attempted to justify and defend his flip flopping on the issue of raising city taxes.

The second quote? OK. I admit I made it up. Although it’s probably too soon to make that judgment call, it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s how most Lubbock voters are feeling these days.

A little bit less than a year ago, conversations about city politics revolved around who would win the Lubbock Mayor’s race. Back then, a lot of people were talking about the man the majority of Lubbock voters believed was, figuratively speaking, a political “knight in shining armor”. He would be the one who would save us all from the “man who would be mayor”, former Councilman Tom Martin. To many Lubbock voters, especially to a large majority of this city’s Hispanic electorate, Miller was the “anti-Tom Martin”. And in terms of leadership style, he has mostly lived up to that expectation.

It’s his 9 month record as Mayor that some people are looking at and questioning.

Running on a message of “creating partnerships and a team building” philosophy, most voters believed David Miller would ride into city hall on his white horse and with one fell swoop of his imaginary sword; clean up city hall; tax rates would not go up; he would shine the light of day on a “behind closed doors or secretive” form of city government. He would conduct city business in an atmosphere of openness and accessibility; one in which all citizens would enjoy equal access. And finally, he would build the “mother of all partnerships” and lead us all to the “model city” promised land!

Based on what we’ve seen since the new council’s honeymoon period ended, his honor’s vision of a model city has been blurred by a long list of calamitous mishaps along with some questionable city council actions.

Consequently the council is nearer to becoming a shining model of

a dysfunctional political family; almost a modern day feud similar to the Hatfields and McCoys. Why even the longest serving member on this current council, District 3 Councilman Gary Boren, is quoted as saying that, “The last eight months have been very disjointed; it seems like we’re not all singing out of the same hymn book”. (KFYO Radio Interview, Feb 27, 2007)

This council has gone from forming partnerships to forming council factions which seem to have a fondness for pointing fingers at each other. On one side we have the quartet of Miller, DeLeon, Price and Jones singing out of one hymnal. On the other, we have the trio of Boren, Leonard, and Gilbreath singing out of another; although Gilbreath has been known to sing out of both hymn books from time to time.

A candidate’s promise not to raise tax rates has resulted in a Mayor’s broken promise. Miller has referred to the media as the enemy; the devil in some media reports; simply because it happens to have opposing views or has questioned the mayor’s actions.

Open government has turned into a “no comment” form of government. An effort to improve public safety by placing red light cameras at some Lubbock intersections has been exposed as nothing more than a “money grab”. The city manager disingenuously promises unbudgeted raises to 3 assistant city managers and after voting against the raises in December, the mayor once again flips and casts the deciding vote in favor of the raises in February. Councilwoman Linda DeLeon’s town hall meeting goes from a discussion of a new Mercado Project to a local radio station operations manager yelling at the mayor and other council persons in attendance. It produces not an open discussion but a “see ya” from the mayor. And the highly trumpeted “Mayor’s Night In”, an idea which gave Lubbock citizens some face time with the mayor seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur.

And the list just goes on and on and on.

How did this happen? Why does the mayor suddenly find himself the object of ridicule along with rest of the city after the Chippendale incident?

First and foremost, this mayor has hurt himself by going against his own campaign rhetoric to conduct city business out in the open.

During the McDougal administration most of us knew that deals were struck long

before votes were taken; and that for the most part, former District 5 Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Tom Martin led the choir with a “verbal whip” instead of a baton; figuratively speaking of course. In one instance in early 2006, council action even resulted in allegations that some council members had violated the Texas Open Meetings Laws.

The majority of the voting public, sensing that things were not quite right and not willing to take a chance on Tom Martin’s leadership style, decided to go in a different direction and selected an outsider as Mayor. Thrown into the mix was a new face on the council, John Leonard, and most people shared a sense of optimism about the future of city politics.

Yet here we are, 9 months removed from the election and it seems that the “disjointedness” on this city council has not only not given birth to a model city but rather to a series of public spats between various council members; a loss of public confidence in the mayor by some of the very people who voted for him, and a sense that the promise of open government has given way to a secretive way of doing business that would make even VP Dick Cheney jealous.

One recent issue stands out as an example of the kinds of things that have led us to where we are today. The red light cameras situation has demonstrated that the people’s business, the issues that really matter to people, continues to be conducted out of the public view; behind closed doors. And it confirms the old adage that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”; or if you’d rather, old habits are hard to break.

Otherwise; why would City Manager Lee Ann Dumbauld budget for some city positions in the final city budget based on the potential revenue that the installation of red light cameras would generate; months before the council approved the installation of the cameras? Answer: Because way back then she was pretty confident that the red light cameras were a done deal.

If so, then why go through the charade of holding public hearings and meetings for the public to voice their opinions when the deal had already been closed? Why try to deceive the public into believing that red light cameras are a public safety issue when it’s really the revenue

you want from the thousands of citations that you plan to issue?

Most recently, City Manager Dumbauld has continued the charade by instituting a hiring freeze; which according to local media means “the city can’t hire new police officers”. Apparently Dumbauld is attempting to place blame for her not being able to hire new police officers, (once again using the public safety angle), on the delayed installation of red light cameras. By extension she seems to be pointing the finger at Councilman Boren and Leonard who have voiced legitimate concerns relating to the cameras. Unfortunately her action only contributes to the divisiveness that exists on the council already.

In a rare display of truthfulness from an elected official, District 5 Councilman John Leonard, who has been opposed to the cameras all along, confirmed what most of us already know. Leonard was recently quoted in the local media as saying: “It is all about money, from the first week in office between the new mayor and myself discussions were initiated on well, how much revenue red light cameras would bring…it wasn't until we tried to sell the idea to the public that we started talking about public safety."

Add to this the Chippendale dancer’s fiasco, and I think most people would agree that that only added to the controversy over how this city is being run and whether the Mayor, city council and LPD overstepped the boundaries of common sense. The fact that absolutely nothing resulted from the whole “Chippendale sexcapade”, other than the LPD overreacting and wasting taxpayer resources, has only added to a feeling of skepticism about whether this mayor is right for this city and if he is in fact the kind of mayor the majority of voters had hoped he would be.

But by all indications, it seems the knight’s shining armor has dulled considerably…and the chink in the armor has become a large gaping hole.



Email: acruztsc@aol.com