EDITOR’S PAGE

Hello, Ms. Strauss? Hey, congratulations! You did it! You made history- the first woman to be elected mayor in the history of Dallas. No, no, we didn’t make a big fuss over it. That would be a little reactionary, don’t you think? We don’t want to sound like a bunch of bozos who don’t even know that Margaret Thatcher runs one of the most powerful nations in the free world. Do you think we were born yesterday?

Hey, we take this kind of thing in stride. Well, maybe in semi-stride. Get it? But just for the record, you know, just in case the “Today Show” should call you again, we thought you might like to know how some of us feel now that you’re running things over at City Hall. Hello? Annette? By the way, is it Annette, or Annette?

Anyway, I guess you know that the election left some people kind of upset. I know, I know, you won fair and square, and there are winners and losers in every political race. But this one just kind of ripped the city right through the gut. I mean it’s not like when it was Starke Taylor against Max Gold-blatt. What kind of contest was that? Either you were a Max Man or a consenting adult with two eyes, two ears, and a minimal amount of gray matter in between.

But the point is, here we were, already in a pretty lousy mood about the economy’s being down and all, and then this election comes along and just stirs things up even more. Of course, it’s not really your fault or anything, but all of a sudden we’re having to walk around asking ourselves things like, gosh, am I for women getting ahead, or am I not? And gee, should a mayor be a Democrat or a Republican? Now I know you’re about as tied in to the establishment as your opponent Fred Meyer is, so it’s pretty silly for anyone to run around acting as if we’ve just elected Jane Fonda, circa 1972. But these just aren’t things that we normally think about when we think about city politics, Hey, before you came along, we just wanted to make sure that the mayor had the key to that old back room and that he didn’t smoke.

But everything’s all different now. Here we were, all used to white, male mayors who tended to be of, by, and for the business community, and then you come along and bring all these other folks to the table-minorities, women, blue-collar types, even Democrats, for gosh sakes. And all of a sudden, there’s fights breakin’ out over Sunday dinner all around town. ’Course, you and I know that it’s a bunch o’ malarkey, and that a woman can run things around here just as well as a man, but that doesn’t stop half the population from wondering how you’re gonna act in a crisis and all, should one happen around here, of course. And well, you’re a really nice person and all, but are you sure you can stare down Al Lipscomb? Should it come to that, of course.

You know I happened to hear one of your campaign advisers, Sandy Kress, on the television after the runoff, and he said something about getting the party politics out of the process-not that you started that one. Fred Meyer had a little something to do with it, of course. But anyway, some of us are afraid that that’s a little like putting a new door on the barn after the old one got tram-tied in the stampede. But I think he’s right. We don’t really want party labels to muck up politics at the city level, and frankly, some of us think your side needs to make the first move. Let’s get your people and their people to the table, and let’s do it soon. I know you don’t want to go down in the history books as the mayor whose election started unraveling the system that built Dallas into the strong city it is. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that the end of that line is the end of the way we do things around here, with a volunteer mayor, and a professional manager and all.

Hey, you’ll get a kick out of this. The other day I overheard a man and his wife in a big fight over whether or not you could pull this thing off. He was sure that you were just too… (I’m gonna put this nicely so it won’t hurt your feelings), too ladylike to really make the tough decisions. Like, he sat there insisting that you were the type who didn’t want to make people mad or anything. And that you probably went around promising all those people who voted for you that you’d be their very best friend. And she just up and slammed him, right where it stings. She said, “So what’s new about that? Politicians have owed their souls to their campaign slaves since the first cent was plinked into a political kitty!”

Then he says, “Well, dumplin, what is HERRRRONNER gonna do when all those people at city council start clamorin’ in front of the news cameras and all, calling for bigwigs from Washington to poke their noses into our affairs? And how is she gonna handle those angry homeowners and even angrier developers once the city starts rezon-ing each and every plot of land in this town? And, tell me this, sweet pea, how is she gonna be the mayor for ’all the people’ when there ain’t enough cash in the coffers for even some of them?”

And the wife sat back and smiled, and she said, “She’s going to listen, dear. And then all eleven people on the city council will vote. Remember how a democracy works? We don’t need a tough leader right now, we need a healer.”

You know, Annette, I hope she’s right. You can’t lead all the horses to water, but sooner or later, they all have to drink. You know what I mean?

Well, good talkin’ to you. Bye, now.