This morning, Laura Miller’s voicemail box was full. No surprise. After D Magazine broke the news last night that the former Dallas mayor was running to unseat District 13’s representative, Jennifer Gates, more than a few people were calling to get comment.
Miller hasn’t spoken to any media until now, here, in this post. Unless that’s not true, which it might not be. It’s Friday night. I just finished coaching seventh-grade basketball. I have no patience for googling around to back up my claim.
Anyway, in a super exclusive scoop that you’ll find only on FrontBurner, Miller deeply confided that her decision to run against Gates is nothing personal. “I do not hate Jennifer Gates,” she said when I asked if she hated Jennifer Gates. “I like her.” Though she did say: “I’ve spent thousands of hours trying to figure out why our council member does what she does, and no one can figure it out.”
Part of Miller’s motivation is certainly the direction of Preston Center, she said. But she’s focused on smart development all across the district. She has worked with her campaign treasurer Doug Deason, she said, for three years on the St. Michael’s zoning case.
Miller said she didn’t broach the subject of running for Council to her kids — ages 28, 26, 23 — until last weekend. Her daughters (the two eldest) laughed. Miller said she didn’t decide to make the move until yesterday at noon, when she was at her hair salon.
I asked Miller how, if she is elected, she would get along with certain members of Council, like, oh, say, Philip Kingston. “I am a very mellow 60-year-old,” she said. “I have a narrow focus. It is on neighborhoods.”
People in neighborhoods, get your popcorn ready.
