Following the Money behind Dubey's Mudslinging

Source: Pro-Dubey mailer.

Bob Dubey and his supporters have unleashed a barrage of mudslinging against Amir Omar using Dubey's advantage in fundraising, largely from sources outside the City of Richardson. Dubey might portray himself as a good old boy, but he's got big money backing him, including developer money, which is often the biggest money in local elections. Funny how that works. They are not holding back on mudslinging. Because we're already into early voting, it might be too late to properly sort out the truths from the half truths and lies.

The hypocrisy in this is that the attacks carry headlines like "Ethics and Transparency," but the authors of the attack ads don't reveal their names. One is a text message from "Larry with Right 4 Richardson." The other a mailer from "R2MFR, LLC." They force you to hunt down who is behind the attacks, if you can.

"This just got dirty. Disappointed in Mayor Dubey"

Source: Reddit.

After running a generally unobjectionable campaign (read "boring") for the first two months, Mayor Bob Dubey turned negative in a mailer during the first week of open voting. Why? Maybe he always planned to go negative at this point in the election or maybe he has some new polling that suggests Amir Omar's message of positive change is resonating with voters whereas Dubey's status quo message is not.

Still Plenty of Room for More Trees

Source: Washington Post.

Amir Omar is running for Mayor of Richardson. His campaign website biography says, "Amir is most closely tied to the creation of Tree the Town, which was the largest tree-planting initiative in North Texas history powered by donations from commercial and residential community members vs the City." That program was discontinued by the City of Richardson soon after Omar left office in 2013. He later resumed his tree-planting efforts, "personally buying and planting trees across Richardson, starting with planting trees for individuals who lost countless mature trees in the tornado that damaged hundreds of homes in southeast Richardson in 2019."

That led me to wonder, just how many more trees are needed, or even possible? A lot, it turns out. Mayor Amir Omar will have plenty to do.

Charter Review: Article 4

Artist: John Trumbull.

On April 17, 2025, the Richardson Charter Review Commission continued their review of the Richardson Charter, covering Article 4 (Nomination and Election of City Council Members). The Commission had planned to review Article 3 (City Council) as well, but decided to postpone that until the May 1 meeting to give them time to study the material prepared by staff (history of Richardson's City Council turnover, and surveys of other cities and the terms of city councils, compensation, and length of terms). I still expect major changes to Richardson's form of governance to come out of that meeting. Everything from longer terms to staggered terms to, who knows, ranked-choice-voting and other unlikely, but not necessarily crazy, changes. If anyone wants a say, submit your inputs or come speak in person.

Still no video by the City to link you to. To paraphrase City policy: "Move along. There's nothing to see here."

Paradise - S01 (TV 2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Paradise - S01 (TV 2025): After an apocalyptic event causes the government to evacuate to an underground city in Colorado, the President is murdered. His bodyguard has to solve the murder while trying to rescue his own wife, who was left behind and may be dead. The episode 7 flashback is thrilling and answers so many questions. B+

Hulu

Trust: Mayor's Race Inspires Charter Change

I published my Voters Guide yesterday covering the City Council election. I've also been publishing accounts of the ongoing work of the Charter Review Commission. The two topics have kept themselves separate. Today, they collide.

The Wheel's Voter's Guide (May, 2025)

Source: ImgFlip.

Early voting for the 2025 local elections in Texas starts Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Election Day is Saturday, May 3, 2025. On the ballot will be two contested places on the City of Richardson City Council and two contested districts of the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees. Find more election information at the League of Women Voters of Richardson. Find your personalized ballot and the candidates' answers to the LWV-Richardson questionnaire at Vote411.org.

Here's the executive summary of The Wheel's recommendations:

For City of Richardson Mayor, I recommend Amir Omar.
For City of Richardson Place 6, I recommend Lisa Marie Kupfer.
City of Richardson Places 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are uncontested.

For RISD District 2, I recommend Vanessa Pacheco.
For RISD District 5, I recommend Rachel McGowan.
RISD District 4 is uncontested.
The other RISD Districts and Places are not up for election this year. To vote in either of these districts that are on the ballot, you must live within the district.

Read on for the reasons I make these recommendations.

LWV Forum for Richardson City Council

On April 16, 2025, the League of Women Voters of Richardson hosted a forum of Richardson mayoral candidates at the Eisemann Center, moderated by Lanet Greenhaw. Mayoral candidates Mayor Bob Dubey and former Councilmember Amir Omar participated. Alan C. North was unable to participate because of a scheduling conflict. Mayor Pro-tem Arefin Shamsul and Lisa Marie Kupfer, candidates for Place 6, also participated. About 150 persons were in the audience. The forum was live-streamed by the City and video on demand is available on the LWV website.

I was pleased with the forum, with the questions asked by the LWV and members of the public, by the earnestness shown by the candidates, by the decorum on stage and in the audience. I recap the highlights here, excerpts that I feel best show the distinctions between the candidates. I will be stripping out a lot of words, maybe at the risk of losing important context, but that's what the video is for. If a snippet of an answer here makes you want to hear more, then watch the video on the LWV website.

Einen Veritablen Shitstorm, Exhumed

Today I exhume a post buried deep in the archives. Why? Because someone is trying to rewrite this disgraceful history from Scott Dunn's time on the Richardson City Council. Why? To invent a false narrative that paints Amir Omar as the bad guy in this episode. Who is doing that? I won't name them here. I will say it's not Scott Dunn. I hope I won't have to name names. I hope that they will see that bringing this back up hurts their own candidate, Bob Dubey. The truth actually helps Amir Omar. What's the disgraceful episode this person wants to relitigate?

The Dubey Way: Breaking the Street Grid

Head shot from City of Richardson. CGI by Adobe Firefly.

February 10, 2025: Despite a City plan to redevelop downtown Richardson in a way that not only preserves the compact street grid, but extends it, Mayor Bob Dubey voted to approve a 580-foot-long apartment building in the heart of downtown that will create a superblock that cuts the downtown street grid, disconnecting business development on Polk Street from that on Kaufman Street.

The Richardson Way: Plan the Work, Work the Plan.

The Dubey Way: Plan the Work, Wreck the Plan.