Big Money, Small Turnout Wins Another Election

We were hoping it would turn out differently this time, but at the end of the day big money won another Dallas election. The percentages look remarkably similar to other elections where big money was a factor, like the 2007 Trinity Toll Road vote. Big money candidate Mike Rawlings, who outspent David Kunkle 10-1, raising an estimated 2.2 million, won 55 percent of the vote to Kunkle's 44.

Part of the money, apparently, went toward putting up signs in every vacant lot in the city. Looks like that strategy worked.

Of the 543,458 registered voters in the city of Dallas, only 55,694 cast votes, just a little better than 10 percent. Compared to Dallas County, that's good news--at least we polled in double-digits. Countywide, there are 742,434 registered voters and only 71,981 voted, a voter turnout percentage of 9.70%.

We're always on the 44% end of the 55-44 split, so naturally we have a theory about it. We think 44 percent of voters get their news from Dallas Observer and actually think everything through about how certain issues and candidates will affect life in our city. The 55 percenters, in our opinion, are impressed by big shiny things, follow the recommendations of Dallas Morning News, and pretty much follow the crowd. Our theory was proved by comments about the candidates in this Dallas Morning News article (subscription required): Dallas voters list menu of reasons for favorites in mayoral runoff:

"Kunkle is largely responsible for Dallas being a safer city," said Karen Newton, a retiree who ate breakfast recently at Barbec's near White Rock Lake. "A safe city will attract businesses. There will be economic growth and people will want to live in Dallas..."

...Lynne Gauss, A DISD substitute teacher agreed...Gauss' son, Steven, who is also a teacher, agreed..."Kunkle wants to focus on the basics."

The Rawlings supporters mostly parroted what they'd read in Dallas Morning News about Rawlings being good for business, and were strangely personality-driven:

"He's a bright businessman, and that's what the city of Dallas needs right now," retired Lakewood resident Lyle Noah said. "He wants to put people back to work. If you put people back to work, you won't have the problems we're having in Dallas."

What th--? We've had a "bright businessman," Tom Leppert, in the mayor's office since 2007! Just about every mayor we've had was supported by the big business community. If we're having problems in Dallas, maybe it's time to go in a different direction, right? Nope. Not according to these folks. And, it seems, personal associations trump ideas, anyway:

Mike Hartnett, a salesman from Dallas, said Rawlings is not a politician..."Plus, he's supported by Roger Staubach."...Roger Hubbard [said] "I never liked Laura Miller. She helped us lose the Cowboys; now she supports Kunkle."

So we predict more of the same from our new mayor, a continuation of the Leppert years, big-business as usual.

We predict that within the next year, our mayor will be mentioned in the national news, but not in a good way and that he'll back off from supporting the Trinity Toll Road after finally finding the facts he's been looking for.

We really do wish him all the best, and we hope he'll make good on his campaign promise to support neighborhood projects as well as big-ticket items. We live here, after all, and it's no fun at all to see mayor after mayor make the same expensive mistakes while we stand by on the sidelines yelling, "We tried to warn y'all!"

And, we hope the first order of business for our mayor-elect is picking up all those damned signs!