Now that Richardson's mayoral election is over, there are a few loose ends to tie up.
When the race started, I didn't detect any negative feelings towards Laura Maczka. She was considered to be talented, accomplished, and likable. She probably could have won a positive campaign built around her own many positive attributes. But the Richardson Coalition PAC decided to make the race a referendum on Amir Omar, or at least the image of Amir Omar they could paint for the electorate.
The unadorned court documents from Omar's bankruptcy and divorce would probably have been decisive in the election, but the negative interpretations by the Richardson Coalition PAC made them devastating to Omar's chances. It's a defensible argument that court documents are a legitimate campaign issue. They are pertinent to assessing a candidate's character. But half-truths and unsupported insinuations about those documents are not defensible. In fact, no one made an attempt to defend them. The PAC just dumped their allegations about the documents out there and let them work their toxic effect on the public. Maczka stirred the pot by linking to them.
Fair or not, Laura Maczka got blamed for the PAC's voters guide and now has to live with the consequences. The consequences are not good for her reputation. She won. She won big. But at the expense of turning those universal good feelings at the start of the campaign into hostile feelings among many of the 30 percent of the electorate who favored Amir Omar, and at least feelings of disappointment among many who voted for her. If she cares about being mayor for *all* of Richardson, she's got some healing to do.
10 comments:
Exactly.
Reminder: Comments not accompanied by the commenter's full name are subject to deletion.
That Bob was not Bob Macy
So now we have two different "Bobs" commenting, neither of whom has given his full name, but one of whom seems to know something about Bob Macy. It's an example of why the rule exists.
Mr Omar doomed himself. One look at his self posted LinkedIn resume compared to his self proclaimed title of "business leader" one could easily see the the two didn't match up. He just wasn't honest about his background. His employment resume does not show the upward rise from salesman to the executive positions he claims. His employment resume shows a series of job changes in between jobs of short duration.He pointedly told the DMN editorial board and in his campaign bio he worked for AT&T for a total of four years. If one wasn't aware you'd think that was consecutive years. But no, the 3 years of that time was ten years ago.This wasn't the only instance of his mendacity.
The Texas Realtor PAC claimed he had ceated businesses and many jobs. Long on claims and short on detail. The only businesses I could find was a nearly 20 years ago, a laundry business in college and a consulting firm in a resume in 2006 that is not mentioned today in his current employment resume.
The only consistency in his narrative is the over inflated claims. He is a resume padder. A deceptive self promoter.
He used his children as props in photos that make him look like the fun bachelor father and "home town" family man. His kids don't even live in Richardson. I cannot find evidence the younger children ever attended schools in the RISD. Or that the youngest even lives in Dallas County.
These are just a few things I noticed about Omar well before the RC voter guide, or the DMN editorial board endorsement of Maczka. I had questions about his character and discovered inconsistencies in his narrative myself. It seems as if no group, the Richardson Coalition, Dallas Morning News, voters or any one else who supported him in the past did their due diligence.
It is Mr. Omar's self promoting and the behavior of tea party members, old cranks and the people he has deceived that have caused the rift in the community.
He could have made a place here for himself. After all his community thought enough of him to elect him to the council twice. He betrayed their trust.
If you truly believe he was a by stander in the whole charter change issue, there's a bridge in Brooklyn Mr. Omar will sell you.
Mr Steger, I am not concerned that you post my comments. I intended them for you. I hope Mr. Omar uses the next two years to clean up his act, work toward building an honest narrative, fix his financial troubles and concentrate on his family.
I hope that you take some time to reflect on the blame game. I had personal talks with Mrs. Maczka. I believe she needs to hone her political saavy and stay above the fray. I'll grant you that.But she is not the professional politician, he is.
If the RCA had not put out info on his background Mr Omar would have continued to use this city as a stepping stone for self promotion.
People would not have scrutinized more closely. AND HE DESERVES SCRUTINY.
I still contend that pulling the "Mayoral election" hastily out of a full charter review was the biggest problem. Reading now that our new mayor has to "bring this city back together" is a sad consequence of a hasty action. No matter how the election turned out, this city was going to lose a very good council person - and for what? So we can be like Plano or Dallas? But I'm an old timer here - I liked that, for the most part, Richardson has been non-political on the municipal level - and I always felt the folks elected by the citizens could choose well among themselves who they would like to guide them. The Mayor still only gets one vote, correct? OK, now blast me with comments showing my ignorance!!
I believe that the biggest problem with this election was pulling the "Mayoral Election" out of a full charter review. I read that our new mayor will now work to "bring the city back together" - a sad consequence of a hasty action, in my opinion. And no matter the outcome of the election, this city was going to lose one great councilperson. And for what? So we can be more like Plano, or Dallas? I'm an old timer here - I liked the way our municipality has been operated OVERALL - I believe if "it ain't broke, don't fix it." So that's my 2 cents worth - begin to blast me with comments showcasing my ignorance! Thanks! Cindy McCarthy
You worded this better than anything I've seen. The Coalition was toxic...such a good word choice in my opinion. Hoping for great things for the city with Laura's representation and for healing as well-we're all better together.
Very well stated Mark. I really didn't want to vote for either of them by the time it was over. Nobody deserves what they did to Amir on a personal level.
I couldn't agree with you more Cindy - do we really want to be more like Dallas?!?
Overall, it was a very sad chapter in the history of Richardson.
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