| Hunt Calls Out Leppert and Suhm |
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| by Sam Merten | Fri, Sep 28, 2007, 08:02 PM |
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Hunt made her accusations based on emails that included three drafts of a phone poll on the toll road referendum. CBS named “activists fighting against the plan” as receiving emails from City of What CBS didn’t tell you is that those “activists” were consultants Carol and Laura Reed and Mari Woodlief, president of Allyn & Co. Jim Burton, a vice president with Public Opinion Strategies (POS), and Glen Bolger, a partner with POS, were also included in the emails and developed the poll. 
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Comments (15)
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written by Matt Anderson , September 29, 2007 Even Suhm's defense of her actions -- that she was merely "fact checking" the poll on behalf of the "activists" and at the specific instruction of Tom Leppert -- appears to be just the sort of thing that she shouldn't be doing. That's using city resources to aid their political agenda.
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written by Mike , September 29, 2007 Suhm is a tool of the dark side...only a fool would ever think otherwise. She's a second-rate bureaucrat who obviously has no regard for the people who actually live in Dallas.
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written by Gehrig Saldana , September 29, 2007 With just over a month to go before the Trinity River toll road referendum, how many ways can the proponents of the toll road shoot themselves in the foot? Think Dallas' voters are impressed with the media attention already centered on the impending FBI indictments surrounding Dallas City Hall? I don't think so. Big mistake here my friends. You'd think Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm would be smart enough to have warned Mayor Leppert on his specific instructions. And here I thought Dumb at DISD did not have a companion. Guess Dumber exists at Dallas City Hall. Carol and Laura Reed and Mari Woodlief are better described as professional activists, these individuals carry a big price for their services.
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written by Branden Helms , September 29, 2007 Follow the money. When the uber-rich folks at the Citizens Council want anything, they have been able to get it for the last 60 years. They have hand-picked puppets like Tom Leppert who do their bidding for them. and, this is proof that they have control over those who are appointed as well. Suhm should have no beef in this one way or the other. But the fact that she even admits she was helping by fact checking is disturbing. And likely she is even lieing there and did much more. Suhm should be fired or impeached. She is the actual person who runs this city.
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written by David , September 29, 2007 Sam, thanks for reminding us all what this vote is really all about. It's not about Leppert's latest scare tactic: traffic relief. And it's not about Angela Hunt. The city has acted with no regard or respect for the voters. They misled us in 1998, and they're trying to do it again. The real issue is whether or not the city can get away with deceiving the people of Dallas. A "Yes" vote is a vote for honesty and openness at City Hall. And it's high time we were able to vote on something like that.
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written by City watcher , September 29, 2007 How is it possible, or ethical, for Rebecca Dugger (a city employee) to be using a power point presentation that was presumably prepared by city staff, using city equipment, on behalf of the pro-toll road folks? Isn't that what the memo from the city attorney was all about? Who will stop this, and who will discipline all staff members who participate in electioneering? Since the city manager is involved, it looks like it is up to the city attorney, but we know he won't do anything. A formal complaint needs to be filed to cover all this activity by staff.
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written by Branden Helms , September 30, 2007 Interesting. I found these open records requests made by the Trinity Vote folks. http://www.trinityvote.com/openrecords/ After reviewing them, several things pop out to me. First, it shows a clear relation that Tom Leppert and Mary Suhm are working for the pro-tollroad folks. Leppert can lend his voice, but he can not use city money or resources. Mary Suhm, on the other hand, in her capacity can't lend her support. Clearly she has, and is using her influence to lend support for the no crew. There was an e-mail defining the role a council member and city employees role in the open records, and clearly, both violated these rules. There were also requests from various council members asking for help with their town hall meetings. Again, seems to be a violation of the rules. Second, members of the Trinity Commons have big buisness e-mails, ex. Gina Norris has an e-mail at Crow Holdings, one of the biggest buisness entities in the city and Marcus Wood, is a buisness consultant. This hammers home to me that this is a citizen vs big buisness issue. Third, it is apparent that, like Suhm, Rebecca Dugger has also become really comfortable with the Vote No folks too. There is an email from Craig Holcomb to Dugger with a subject line of Congressman Sessions and in the body, it states "Any help would greatly be appreciated." This was dated July 27, or a month before Leppert's "question" to Mr. Sessions asking if the road removal would endanger federal funds. She should also be fired. Fourth, the vote no side sent out a mass e-mail telling people to show up showing support for the tollroad at the council meeting in August calling for the vote. They said a strong showing would send a strong message. Funny, Trinity Vote folks were 70% to 80% of the people there, proving that more people care about a park than a tollroad. Fifth, Craig Holcomb is proving to be a bigger douche than he has been so far. It seems funny to me for him to call a big breakfast with the Vote No folks when he says they need to do it to recollect the good ole days before AH. You mean when government in Dallas didn't have to be accountable? He also states that the lakes are the biggest hurdle to getting the parkway designed. Seems to me that it should be the other way around. As mentioned, he worked to get Mr. Sessions involved. He sent an e-mail to the North Texas Council of Government's head Michael Morris informing him that they are "briefing" him. This, too, happened before Leppert's "question" on fed funds. Sixth, Gail Thomas is buying property in the suburbs. Sure would help her if traffic is "relieved" though it won't. Seventh, all throughout, there is talk that various groups and chamber of commerces want visuals of the project. If those visuals were accurate, I wouldn't mind the project either. But as we have recently noted with the NTTA's visual, those things aren't accurate. And this is where Angela's leadership and work ethic come in. She has dug beneath the pictures and looked at the facts.
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written by tom madrzykowski , September 30, 2007 My guess on the whole Trinity thing is that the vote will be held on Nov 6th and the loser will file a lawsuit on Nov 7.My biggest concern on the Referendum is that a lot of us who don't live in Dallas who will be severly impacted do not have a voice (vote) on the issue. However the vote turns out, if it was the city of Dallas funding the project without federal, state or county funds (taxes) then I don't suppose we who live outside of Dallas would have a gripe, but that's not going to happen.
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written by Nathan , September 30, 2007 Tom Madrzykowski, TXDoT is going broke. They have to be more creative about how projects like these are funded. The NTTA, whose board is appointed, not elected, will most likely fund alot of this road by raising tolls on their existing assets. The city of Dallas is contributing '98 bond money, bonds that haven't even been sold yet to my knowledge, and a substantial amount of free land. This is why the voters of Dallas still have SOME control over this project and the rest of the region does not. TXDoT's financial woes combined with the Trinity Parkway's price tag of $130,000,000 per mile (does anybody know if this is a regional record?) should be very troubling to you. Soon you will not be able to vote, nor will your legislators, on any highway project in this state because they will be moving ever closer towards privatization. TXDoT's financial situation is no accident. I believe that the state is intentionally bankrupting itself so that it will be able to sell/lease the roads (1.) cheaply to private entities and (2.) so we will be accept it because the state and its institutions and think tanks (largely funded by oil money) will have scared us into believing anything they dish up to us by spoon feeding us visions of traffic gridlock. WE NEED MORE MASS TRANSIT AND BETTER URBAN ZONING, NOT MORE TRAFFIC INDUCING FREEWAYS IN THE CITY CENTER! BUILDING A ROAD THROUGH THE DOWNTOWN AREA WILL IRRITATE, NOT RELIEVE TRAFFIC! Finally, the state and its campaign contributing special interest's main objective is to lay down concrete in anticipation of opening the U.S. Mexican border to increased trade. Texas Loop 9 and the Trinity Toll Road are apart of the greater Trans-Texas Corridor. They will provide access to the DFW market from the southeastern portion of the metroplex where the TTC and the future logistics hub will be located. BUILDING A HIGHWAY THAT DIRECTS TRAFFIC TOWARD THE LEAST DENSELY POPULATED AREA IN THE METROPLEX IS A STUPID IDEA, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THE PRICE TAG!
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written by City watcher , September 30, 2007 There is a huge question in my mind about the location of this proposed toll road. Loop 12 was developed around the city to keep the traffic out of the center. When that became overloaded, LBJ was built to relieve it. Then Belt Line Road was improved to help relieve LBJ. Now the Geo. Bush Turnpike is growing madly to relieve all the traffic on the north side of town. How is it that the only reliever proposed goes directly into downtown, instead of around it as was done in the north? Somehow it all seems counterintuitive to me. Is there a place in the south to take the traffic AROUND downtown, not into it? Where are the traffic engineers when we need them?
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written by Mr. B , October 01, 2007 You guys are more educated about the river project. My city hall contacts tell me that Angela Hunt is on the right track--aside from what the Mayor says. I am undeceided. As a voter, I voted for parks, not a highway. Like I said, I am not as involved as you folks are, but tell me, what did I vote for? I think the Mayor is stupid, let's be clear, but is he right?
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written by Nathan , October 01, 2007 Mr. B, Neither I, the Dallas Managed News, nor anybody on this blog can tell YOU what YOU voted for.
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written by Lorlee Bartos , October 01, 2007 What I find most appalling is that Ms. Hunt had to file an FOI request to get the information. She is an elected official. She should have all information available to her. Mary Suhm needs to remember that she is an employee. In my optinion, this is pure and simple insubordination and she should be out on her can.
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written by Branden Helms , October 01, 2007 Mr. B, if you are asking what you voted for, I would repeat a line that the TVY folks have said for a while, the picture with the lakes and sailboats and green grass were the prominent item that people thought they were voting for. In that picture, there is no Dallas North Tollway type road. If I was a pro-road guy, I think that I might vote for TVY just due to the deception that the pro-road side has done throughout this campaign.
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written by john k. , October 01, 2007 The Trinity River Propossed Tollway will have to be a elevated bridge like structure for it's entire length. Lots of dollars per mile. Millions to build and Millions of dollars for tolls. There will have to be extensive exit and entrance ramps and elevations over and under the Calatrava bidges and clover leafs and possibly stop lights to prevent mid air collisons. Should Dallas obligate our citizens to the debt that they will be involved in to fund the road? Write comment
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I wasn’t the only one 
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