Well, well, well. Miller won’t run for re-election because she is “desperate” to be with her kids. There’s no reason to believe this is not true. But perhaps Miller is desperate to be with her kids and she read Rod’s June story explaining why she could not win re-election. The crux of Rod’s story after the jump:
For the first time since the 1991 federal court decision that gave us the 14-1 council system, the four predominantly African-American districts in the southern half of the city will hit term limits in the same election. That means no black incumbents. Goodbye to Don Hill, Leo Chaney Jr., James Fantroy, and Maxine Thornton-Reese.
No black incumbents means heavy politicking and campaign spending in South Dallas and the southern sector. Which means higher-than-usual voter turnout. If the past is prologue, those votes won’t be cast for the woman who has clashed with black interests so often in her political career that even Calatrava couldn’t build a bridge of reconciliation.
“I don’t know if Laura Miller can be beaten,” Fantroy says, “but I do believe that with Laura Miller on the ballot, there will be a big turnout.” He says the minority community “under no circumstances–under no circumstances” can tolerate her another four years.
Add to that the deep fractures in Miller’s North Dallas voter base, and the loss of support from Lake Highlands and East Dallas, and there’s only one hard-nose conclusion.
She’s gone.
