Current and former city leaders vow to oppose Dallas Hero's proposals on the November ballot

About four dozen current and former Dallas elected officials and local leaders called on voters Wednesday to reject three proposed changes to the city charter that they say threaten the city and the way it serves residents in the coming years would.

The group, gathered in a conference room in the basement of the Aloft Downtown Dallas hotel, said it agreed with the basic idea of ​​Proposals S, T and U – holding government accountable, hiring more police officers and paying competitive wages and benefits, but The language of the proposals would undermine the authority of elected City Council members and the city manager and impede city spending in the name of public safety.

“This is not an attack on the way we do business. “That means rolling a hand grenade into City Hall and destroying it,” said Ron Kirk, who was mayor of Dallas from 1995 to 2001. “It would impact every level of our life in the city, from public safety to our parks to our libraries and our basic services.”

The press conference was to announce the formation of a coalition backed by local leaders to oppose the three proposals from the nonprofit Dallas Hero, which successfully petitioned over the summer to put the proposals on the March 5 ballot. To be received in November. It sets up what will likely be the most significant fight in Dallas in the Nov. 5 election.

Wednesday's group included former mayors Kirk, Mike Rawlings, Laura Miller and Tom Leppert; all members of the Dallas City Council except Mayor Eric Johnson and Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn; former city manager Jan Hart Black; former police chief David Brown; about a dozen other former city council members and state legislators; and Dallas County government officials as well as representatives from the local business and nonprofit community.

Rawlings said the campaign will include a social media campaign and leaflets sent to voters. The group plans to reach out to law firms, banking organizations, nonprofits, commercial real estate groups, parks and library officials, the local arts community and downtown Dallas advocacy groups.

“This campaign is serious,” Rawlings said. “It’s well funded and very well organized.”

Real estate developer Frank Mihalopoulos, the coalition's campaign chairman, said he hoped the group would raise more than $500,000 for outreach, and that would be enough to encourage people to reject the proposals by the end of their vote.

“It was an emergency call,” Mihalopoulos said The Dallas Morning News after the press conference. “The level of people opposing this shows the level of concern that we all have and that we’re not sure the average voter is aware of.”

The proposals would require the city to hire about 900 more officers and spend at least half of its annual revenue growth on the police and fire pension systems and other public safety initiatives. tie the city manager's bonuses and job status to the results of an annual community survey of at least 1,400 residents on quality of life issues; and remove the city's sovereign immunity so anyone can file a lawsuit because officials don't follow the city charter, state laws or city ordinances.

Several city officials and council members supported the trio of amendments, Proposals S, T and U. They expect that approving all three proposals would result in drastic cuts, a greater burden on taxpayer dollars to fend off more lawsuits and a smaller pool of candidates for Dallas . Ongoing search for a permanent city manager.

“Simply put, we believe these amendments are short-sighted, misguided and would irreversibly harm Dallas,” said Arcilia Acosta, chairwoman of the Dallas Citizens Council, a nonprofit organization of Dallas-area business leaders who speak out on local policy issues.

Mihalopoulos said he didn't know why Johnson and Mendelsohn weren't present.

“We asked them to come,” he said.

Johnson and Mendelsohn did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday about why they did not appear or whether they were invited. The two elected officials did not support three other charter amendment proposals passed by the City Council majority in August that were aimed at overriding Dallas Hero's proposals.

The three counterproposals were removed from the ballot by the City Council last month after the Texas Supreme Court ordered their removal because they did not clearly convey to voters that they would have repealed the Dallas Hero amendments if passed.

Dallas Hero's proposals are among 18 proposals to amend the city charter, which also include banning police officers from arresting people accused of possession of less than four ounces of marijuana and raises for city council members. The Dallas Hero proposals are the only proposals for which an organized opposition initiative has been announced.

Dallas Hero CEO Pete Marocco called Wednesday's press conference “ridiculous” and “meaningless.” He said the counter-effort has led to an increase in donations since Tuesday.

“They made our fundraising easier,” Marocco said. “You made our message simpler.”

He wouldn't say how much Dallas Hero has raised. The group is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization that does not disclose its donors.

“I think it's funny that they claim they want accountability, but they just tried to fight it,” Marocco said.

The group received strong support from local Conservatives. The Dallas County Republican Party said last month that its executive committee unanimously supported the proposals.

“The unanimous vote by the Dallas County GOP Executive Committee demonstrates our commitment to holding government officials accountable at all levels, especially at the local level,” said Allen West, chairman of the county GOP, in a statement. “It is imperative that the arrogance of officialdom is not tolerated.”

Kardal Coleman, chairman of the Dallas County Democratic Party, said The news On Wednesday, he said his group would support counter efforts.

Dallas hotel mogul and Republican donor Monty Bennett told WFAA last week that he was helping finance the controversial trio of proposals. He said he has committed office space and cash to the effort, but declined to say how much.

Bennett is also the editor of the online outlet The Dallas Expresswhich had not told readers that the hotelier was a donor in any Dallas Hero articles as of Wednesday afternoon.

Marocco also wouldn't say how much Bennett donated.

“We have many generous donors,” Morocco said. “(Bennett) is far from the richest donor we have. We have a lot of well-known supporters who actually donated to the campaign.”

The ties to Bennett and the Dallas Hero initiatives go beyond money and office space.

Bennett told WFAA that he and Marocco were friends. Stefani Carter, a former state representative who is listed as honorary chair on Dallas Hero's website, has served on the board of Bennett's Braemar Hotels and Resorts since 2013.

A lawsuit triggered the Texas Supreme Court's order to withdraw counterpetitions and appeals in state appeals courts filed on behalf of Cathy Cortina Arvizu, the wife of a Dallas police officer who had signed petitions to keep all three proposals on the ballot available on November 5th. She is also a paralegal at Bennett's wealth management firm, Ashford Inc., according to her LinkedIn profile.

Morocco told The news that he and Bennett were “friendly,” but said they had only met twice.