Politics & Government

Sunday morning, the clock on your smart phone, as it does once a year, is going to roll straight from 1:59 a.m. to 3:00 a.m., costing you an hour’s sleep and causing a small to moderate amount of pain as you struggle through Sunday and the beginning of the week…

From the outside, it’s hard to know what Texas Secretary of State David Whitley was thinking when he made his quixotic attempt to purge thousands of voters from the state’s rolls late last month. Rather than just doing his job and making sure Texas’ election machinery runs smoothly, Whitley chose…

Voting in Dallas County is going to be a lot easier this November. Tuesday afternoon, the Commissioners Court voted to switch the county from its present Election Day system, which requires voters to show up to their home precincts to cast ballots, to one that allows Dallas County residents to…

The Dallas Morning News on its editorial page last week repeated again a flagrant and malicious lie about Dallas City Council member and mayoral candidate Scott Griggs. The lie is a window on how the old-guard leadership in the city really operates and the depths to which it is willing…

Longtime Fair Park and South Dallas City Council member Carolyn Davis accepted more than $40,000 in bribes in exchange for her support of a low-income housing project. According to a federal plea agreement unsealed Friday morning, prosecutors and Davis’ legal team have agreed to a three-year prison term. Without a…

Turns out, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke was playing a little game when he told Oprah on Feb. 5 that he’d decide whether he’d run for Senate or president “before the end of the month.” Though the El Paso native has made his decision, according to multiple reports, he isn’t…

Dallas’ youth curfew is going back into effect March 4 following a lengthy back-and-forth at City Hall about balancing kids’ and neighborhoods’ safety — perceived or otherwise — with equitable policing. Fines for curfew violations will be lowered from $500 to $50 and the city will give Dallas parks $500,000…

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered Texas to tell all 254 counties in the state not to take any action, for the time being, on the list of registered voters sent to them in late January by Texas Secretary of State David Whitley’s Office for citizenship verification. Counties can attempt…

The other night I attended a public forum where nine candidates for mayor of Dallas fielded questions from a moderator. I think I’m beginning to get the picture. But first, let’s clear the decks. From here on out, I can’t really promise you that I’m going to be objective. I…

Tuesday afternoon, Dallas City Council member Kevin Felder turned himself in on charges that he left the scene of South Dallas accident that injured an 18-year-old scooter rider. Tuesday night, following Felder’s being released on a $2,500 personal recognizance, local TV stations got their hands on the affidavit Dallas Police…

This will be my second what-I-did-on-my-vacation column, and all I did was go down to the Rio Grande Valley for a week, so maybe that means I ought to go on more, better vacations? When I was down there, I swore I would tell somebody about one part of it…

Dallas police issued an arrest warrant for Fair Park City Council member Kevin Felder late Monday morning, almost two weeks after the council member allegedly hit an 18-year-old scooter rider in South Dallas. District Judge Tammy Kemp’s office confirmed to the Observer that the judge signed the warrant, but couldn’t provide…

After New York, that brazen tart, deserted poor Amazon at the altar, the brokenhearted Amazon said nobly it was done with love and would never seek a new headquarters again. But we all know how long that sort of thing lasts. The tingle returns. What we must fear in Dallas,…

Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio might have flown under the radar into Arlington if it weren’t for social media. But now? Not a chance. The controversial 86-year-old was slated for Arlington Music Hall in April, and Jambo’s Barbeque Shack restaurant owner Ashton Stauffer, who’s running for mayor, was ecstatic. “A…

The favorite to replace outgoing East Dallas City Council member Mark Clayton is out of the race. Paul Sims, a former member of the Dallas Park Board and former council member Angela Hunt’s husband, announced  on Facebook Friday afternoon that he is no longer a candidate, just before the city’s…

Barring a couple of changes of heart or a couple of absences, acting Texas Secretary of State David Whitley is not be confirmed, thanks to united opposition from Texas Senate Democrats. Whitley has been under fire for the last month, following his questioning the citizenship of nearly 100,000 Texas voters…

Texas Secretary of State David Whitley may have finally found the limit on just how far a Republican official in the state can go and still keep his job. Thursday, after weeks of public debate, hearings and lawsuits, the surest signs yet that Whitley’s nomination was in real trouble emerged…

There are two possible takeaways from Collin County state Sen. Angela Paxton’s recently filed Senate Bill 860: The senator is either staggeringly unethical or incredibly politically naive. SB 860 would allow the Texas Attorney General’s Office — the same one run by her husband, Ken Paxton — to oversee a…

VisitDallas CEO Phillip Jones’ long-awaited appearance before the City Council’s Government Performance & Financial Management Committee ended up seeming a lot like a mock trial. There was evidence, plenty of pleas and admonitions from both sides and some political theater, but no real stakes. Jones and his organization remain, for now…

The calendar has finally crept past February’s midpoint, and that means a bit of Dallas 2019 election-related news. The announcements — and the “she’s running, he’s running, who exactly is running” drama — are over. Across 15 races, for 14 City Council district seats and mayor office, 65 candidates will…

By the time I got there Monday afternoon, a city crew with a big power-wash truck had washed away most of the paint vandals had sprayed on the Confederate memorial outside City Hall on Sunday night or early Sunday morning. Cops on the scene told me they had no suspects…