Posted on 06/17/2007 8:36:17 AM PDT by devane617
DALLAS -- In the most expensive mayoral race in Dallas history, wealthy retired businessman Tom Leppert was elected Dallas mayor by a sound margin in Saturday's runoff election to lead the nation's ninth-largest city.
Voters chose Leppert -- an admitted outsider to Dallas politics -- over openly gay City Councilman Ed Oakley, a political insider.
Capping a swift rise from political unknown to the city's top office, Leppert received about 58 percent of the vote in complete but unofficial results in the runoff, winning by more than 13,000 votes.
"I understand the trust and confidence they've placed in me," said Leppert, 53. "I am eager to fulfill that trust and confidence."
Oakley, a three-time city councilman, fell short of making Dallas the largest city in the country to elect an openly gay mayor.
"I can't tell you what it's been like ... to serve Dallas, change Dallas and put Dallas on a path of greatness," said Oakley, who received 42 percent of the vote. "I truly believe I've been part of that."
Leppert, the former chief executive of construction giant Turner Corp., had never run for elected office and never voted in a Dallas mayoral election until this year.
He acknowledges that he had scant name recognition when he decided last year to enter the race to replace Mayor Laura Miller, who was not seeking re-election.
The runoff ends the most expensive political race in Dallas history. Oakley and Leppert were the top fundraisers before the May 12 election.
Oakley had raised about $685,000 from early May to early June. Leppert raised $855,000 and spent about $1.1 million in that period, compared with about $833,000 for Oakley.
What was that woman’s name that was on the council w/ Lipscomb? Every time she lost a vote, or the council rejected a request for some kind of zoning she’d scream “RACIST, RACIST, RACIST!!!”
Everything was racist.
Cream in your coffee? “RACIST, RACIST, RACIST!!!”
Meeting running late? “RACIST, RACIST, RACIST!!!”
TV camera on? “RACIST, RACIST, RACIST!!!”
" It looks as if criticism of voodoo and black magic may no longer be ideologically correct. At a Dallas City Hall meeting this September (1989), a speaker from a city worker's union was objecting to the city's pay proposal as a "voodoo pay raise." Councilwoman Diane Ragsdale said that voodoo was a religion practiced by many black people and took the speaker to task for making a racist slur. Of course, Ragsdale is not the first person to claim that a belief is exempt from criticism if it originates in a particular culture."
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