Asked If He’ll Run For the Senate, Tom Leppert Says He’s Excited About Dallas

Give this to Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert: When he’s sticking to a script, he sticks to the script. In the wake of Carol Reed’s disclosure yesterday that Leppert is indeed exploring a run for Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Senate seat, I tried today to get the mayor to confirm or deny it. During the Q&A at a Fairmont Hotel real estate symposium, I asked: “I was wondering how you–as a former CEO in the private sector–would have looked on a key employee who was said to be considering jumping ship before he’d finished the job he was hired to do?” “I’m just trying to make it through the week,” Leppert fired back, without missing a beat. “I feel really good about what we’ve done in Dallas. … I’m excited about what we’ve done and where we are. And that’s what I can tell you.” Seriously, though, how about that question, CEOs; what would your answer have been?