Wednesday Diane Ragsdale, a former Dallas City Council member, announced her endorsement of Adam Bazaldua in the District 7 runoff. The question is why is this necessary and is the endorsement of an insider who profited off her career on Dallas City Council a net positive.
Ragsdale’s endorsement mentions Bazaldua shutting down drug and gambling houses, but Bazaldua is neither a police officer, nor friendly with the Dallas Police Department after leading the Defund DPD effort in summer 2020. At one point it was possible that $77M might be pulled from the Dallas Police Department budget.
Diane Ragsdale: Personal Economic Development?
Ragsdale is also known as one of the architects of the South Dallas-Fair Park Opportunity Fund which has had numerous trust issues since its inception decades ago. As a member of city council she helped create the fund itself, but more recently her Innercity Community Development Corporation was the only entity to receive loan dollars from the economic opportunity fund.
In the meantime, crime in D7 continues to be a problem and Baz is now caught between seeking the Dallas Police Association endorsment and openly working to cut their overtime.