Scott Griggs

Jason Villalba says he is just like you, and that makes him a different kind of mayoral candidate.

Let the rallies continue.

Gary Thomas really got grilled.

Early voting has begun for the May 7 joint elections, which feature many ISD races. As I wrote about in my May column in D Magazine, this is an especially crucial vote for Dallas ISD, with four seats up for grabs. I point out that, contrary to popular opinion, the school board has overcome status quo efforts to maintain the status quo, putting in place important reforms that will help poor kids throughout the district. (Which, in turn, will help the city at large.) Since I wrote that column about six weeks ago, one race has become awash in nastiness. Which happens, right? It's local politics. Except this time, that nastiness includes not just political operatives but also City Council members. In fact, the council members have become political operatives in these ISD races in ways that make me very queasy, in part because the folks doing this include people I admire and consider friends. Which means this is not going to be fun. Let's do a little FAQ to get you caught up:

UPDATE (4:47 pm) Someone just pointed out to me the whole deal about the forensic trace on Councilman Scott Griggs that Lawson paid for. I was ignorant of that. So yeah. Now I totally get why Lawson resigned. Better to resign than be fired. Original item: Gary Lawson, a Strasburger lawyer, has represented the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System for more than 25 years. Today he delivered a letter (PDF link) to the pension's chairman, informing him that he is resigning. It's a curious letter. Lawson says that he's resigning because his representation "has become a distraction as the board and management deal with issues unrelated to the legal services we provided." He refers to the whole Mike Snyder sock puppet affair. But that was more than two years ago. Why resign now? Then he brings up Museum Tower, but it's hard to see how that would be a distraction, because the pension board voted in August to drop that matter altogether and walk away from the problem. No distraction there. Notice the pivot he makes in his penultimate paragraph. After vaguely alluding to the old sock puppet business, then bringing up the now dead Museum Tower problem, he says, essentially, "I've worked for the pension for a long time. I had hoped to keep working for the pension." Then he says he can't. See if you can make sense of the letter: