Would-Be Mayors Overplay Their Hands

Early in the Richardson mayoral election campaign, Amir Omar overplayed his hand by accusing Laura Maczka of "leading the charge" against direct election of the mayor. Instead of having to defend her votes to kill talk of direct election of the mayor for the rest of the council term, she was able to change the conversation to whether or not she was the "leader" of the anti-change majority on the council. Arguably, she was not. Inattentive voters might have dismissed the whole flap as a "he said, she said" argument. Omar might have scored points, but Maczka kept the damage to a minimum.

Now, it's Laura Maczka and the Richardson Coalition PAC who have overplayed their hand. After the jump, opening the books on Amir Omar.

Head Games (2012)

IMDB

Head Games (2012): Exposé of concussions in sport: football, hockey, even soccer. Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to play football. A-

Mayoral Race to the Bottom

Yesterday, I deplored that the Richardson mayor's race is turning into a race to the bottom. Both of the candidates' closing remarks at the Mohawk Elementary forum turned personal and negative.

Omar accused Maczka of accomplishing nothing during her term on council, of putting her service on city council "on cruise control" for two years waiting to become mayor.

Maczka accused Omar of having his eye on the mayor's seat for at least two years; of being "beholden to unions and special interests"; of being more a "community organizer" than a president, er, mayor; of having an approach to governing of "ready, fire, aim."

So much for running positive, uplifting campaigns. After the jump, other examples of both candidates and their supporters trying to ruin their opponents' reputations, and as a result, risking ruin of their own.

#@!% Comments

I've switched The Wheel over to the newly available Google+ commenting system. There are some advantages, but there are disadvantages as well. For one, the "Recent Comments" widget is broken. For another, the comment count at the bottom of blog posts is broken. For a third, you have to have a Google+ account to comment (but if you have a Google account, adding Google+ is easy). I'm sticking with the new system, in expectation that Google will eventually get these shortcomings worked out. But in the meantime, beware.

Update: I've switched back. See the comments for why.

Mayoral Forums: Stay To The Bitter End

There was another Richardson mayoral forum on Thursday, April 18, 2013. This one was at Mohawk Elementary. The forum was sponsored by the JJ Pearce & Reservation HOA and the Greenwood Hills NA.

They were both impressive. Either one will be good for the city.

Those were the first words spoken by a stranger sitting in front of me after the forum. I used to think so, too, but my confidence in both candidates is beginning to flag. The forum started on an upbeat note. The candidates were asked to "say something nice about your opponent." The forum ended with closing statements that reflected none of the good cheer displayed at the start. It's hard to say exactly how the candidates ended up where they did, as they agreed more often than they disagreed in between. Much is going on under the surface. Stress levels are rising. Chinks are beginning to appear in the armor of both candidates.

After the jump, the play by play.