Yet another Dallas political leader has gone down in flames…again a self-inflicted blaze…fueled by greed and corruption.
To some Dwaine Caraway was the ideal politician. On occasion, he charted his own course, opposing the NRA convention in Dallas, but he rarely upset the power structure in demanding for change…an acceptable political antidote, some whispered, to the more vocal, direct John Wiley Price.
Sadly, corruption is no stranger to Dallas. More than two decades ago, DISD Superintendent Yvonne Gonzalez went to prison. So have others...Former City Councilman Paul Fielding…State Senator Terri Hodge…The late Don Hill.
Now, documents released with the Caraway admission warn others could be in jeopardy. Caraway’s guilty plea makes a mockery of some of his more sincere efforts: Demolishing drug houses, restricting the use of plastic bags, demanding people pull up their sagging pants.
The saddest part of all of this: his corruption surrounded a phony effort to make school children safer on their buses.
Kids’ safety apparently didn’t matter as much as the money, neither did the decades of sacrifice by countless people demanding the place at a more inclusive City Council table Dwaine Caraway held.
He led us all to believe he understood that… when he said some time ago: “We sit here on behalf of you. We’re supposed to represent you and we’re supposed to protect you, and not be run over like a train behind money relationships.”
Thursday, we learned the truth: the money train had already left the station.