I am fortunate enough to be a member of the Dallas Convention & Visitor's Bureau board of directors, courtesy of an appointment by the Dallas Northeast Chamber of Commerce. And at today's quarterly board meeting, we had the interesting vantage point of watching Laura Miller take her final bow as mayor (she claimed the meeting was her "final act" as mayor) and watching Tom Leppert introduce himself. As always, Miller was a tantalizing speaker, funny and relevant and knowledgeable all at the same time. Every time I hear her speak, I always wonder why she isn't running for senator or president or something really big; then I start looking at what she's doing and what people she deals with every day think about her, and I can't wait for her to get out of office.
Anyway, Miller rattled on for about 6-7 minutes and was gracious about her role in bringing more tourism and business to Dallas, thanking DCVB president Phillip Jones and his staff for their work, and then she left the meeting, leaving a late-arriving Leppert behind. And Leppert, when given a chance to say whatever he wanted to say for as long as he wanted to say it, took 30 seconds and basically said: Thanks for the good work, let me know what I can do to help. And with that, he stayed quiet for the rest of the meeting, paid attention to what was being discussed about the group's financials and seemed interested in soaking up knowledge. Two different styles, which is good for us right now. I'm sick of confrontation, and I'll be very surprised based on what I've seen of Leppert if he's going to stirring things up publicly the way Miller seemed to enjoy doing.
Or maybe, like his pal George W. Bush, his only interest was in winning the election and, now that he's won it, he isn't interested in the work of actual governance.
Posted by: Farinata X | Jun 22, 2007 at 09:01 AM