Mayor Miller deserves the credit – or the blame – for this $85 million and counting "pork barrel" project.

Mayor Laura MillerDespite the Dallas Morning News Herculean efforts to portray Mayor Laura Miller as a hardworking mayor who just wants what is best for the city, deal after deal involving millions of taxpayer dollars continue to receive sharp criticism from people in a position to know the difference between media-generated hype and fiscal reality. The latest blemish on Mayor Miller’s media created fiscal acumen is the Mercantile project. Her mishandling of this multi-million dollar project brings into question the very foundation of Mayor Miller’s political existence. For it was this mayor who campaigned on fiscal responsibility and saying no to big ticket, costly developments that ultimately rip off the tax payer. That was certainly her very public reason for sending the Cowboys to Arlington. She violently waved the fiscal reasonability flag when she attempted to stop the Hunt headquarters’ development project downtown. So, why would this same mayor who so opposed fiscal misbehavior be championing one of the most reckless spending projects in this city’s history?

Here is how Mayor Laura Miller took what many at city hall say was a $40 million dollar project to spur redevelopment of downtown Dallas and turned it into an $85 million and counting ‘pork barrel’ like project that has placed the city’s downtown and Uptown redevelopment programs in serious jeopardy.

Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill is one of the very few courageous city leaders willing to go on record about the Mayor’s activities. According to Hill, this deal started out at $40 million a few years ago. Then Mayor Miller took the project and maintained sole responsibility for the negotiations regarding the project. It is a shame that the Morning News allows Miller to paint Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans as the bad guy in this when Hill says Evans had little or nothing to do with the Mercantile project as long as Mayor Miller had sole control of the project. According to Hill, Evans and other City Councilmembers were only called into the project to attempt to save something for the city after Miller had entered into deals with Forrest City, the developer, which could not be changed. These same Miller negotiated deals gave Forrest City unparalleled control of the Mercantile project while forcing the city to spend millions of dollars like it has never been forced to do in Dallas fiscal history. Don Hill is adamant about this point, "Any positives or negatives regarding the Mercantile project are the sole province of Mayor Laura Miller and nobody else. This was her deal."

Now you might wonder how the mayor could get away with this kind of fiscal nonsense. You might also wonder why other city council members did not speak up before now. The answer is simple. The perception at city hall is that Mayor Miller has the Morning News and Ch.8 in her hip pocket. Anyone who speaks out against her will be savaged by the mass media. Here is an example: after 3 city council members came out last week criticizing Miller’s handling of the Cotton Bowl negotiations, those 3 council members were mercilessly lampooned in a Morning News column the following day. The message is clear to those who dare to defy Mayor Miller. You will be hounded by the mass media and maybe even investigated by the FBI if you dare to question Laura Miller or her activities. Meanwhile, big ticket items the Mayor does not like are lambasted in the media as being fiscally irresponsible or even slightly crooked while Miller’s own baby, the Mercantile deal, has the smell of everything Mayor Miller is supposed to be against. At least that’s how we see it from South of the Trinity.

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