Everyone’s hackles are up over Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway’s giving a key to the city to Michael Vick. Now Mayor Tom Leppert wants to put tighter restrictions on how they get handed out. Ahem, well. Yes. Your humble servant tackled this story back in 2004, when Councilman Leo Chaney gave out a key to Spike Lee. As I reported then:
As it turns out, there are two stashes of keys to the city. One is maintained by Dallas Protocol. Most of these keys, via the mayor, find their way into the hands of people with unpronounceable names. But the other stash of keys is maintained by the city manager’s office. These keys are available to any council member who asks for one. That’s how Spike Lee got his. It’s also how the blue men, of the Blue Man Group, got theirs in 2003. And Star Jones, of The View, got hers in 1999. I think we can all agree that if Star Jones has a key, we need to change the locks.