The Texas Monitor picks up where we left off on how one current and one former Dallas City Council member used VisitDallas’ American Airlines Center suite. As you’ll remember, the city finally sent us a list of people who’ve used the suite. As we reported, the only active City Council member to use it was southern Dallas representative Casey Thomas. The Monitor points out Thomas wasn’t exactly first in line to rip into VisitDallas leadership when we all found out how the shop was run a few months back.
But the scoop is this: the Monitor got their hands on Thomas’ last three years of annual gift disclosures. The tickets aren’t on them.
Tickets for each of those events exceeded the $50 minimum required for disclosure. Mars, for example, charged $591 for a top seat during his 2018 tour.
Although the annual gift disclosure filed by Thomas did not mention the American Airlines Center events, it did include other perks he received from VisitDallas. He reported receiving two tickets to the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament from VisitDallas in May 2018, worth $300 each, and an $85 polo shirt in 2017.
Thomas did not respond to a phone message or text requesting comment. His office did not respond to an email.
He hasn’t responded here, either. We’ll update if he does. Former Councilwoman Monica Alonzo, she of West Dallas, used the suite twice during her time in office.
