Group and Minority Politics, Political Science 350, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
REPRESENTATION SYSTEM
The city of Dallas is run by the city hall and the mayor. The city is divided on 14 districts represented by one city hall council member each. The city council members are elected every two years, and the mayor every four years. They have the right of four mandates, and the mayor of only two. There are nine committees consisted of five members covering all the issues regarding the life in the city. The candidates who run for office, run as independents.
Mayor Laura Miller was elected in February 2002 when she ran against Tom Dunning, a local businessman from Dallas. She was known as a tough opposition to the previous Mayor Ron Kirk when she was a city council member for three and a half years. The campaign was successful due to her arguments that the “small things” need to have the priority over the capital projects. As expected, she managed to sustain this policy by building roads, bicycle tracks, potholes, playgrounds…. She also insisted on anti-discrimination policies and safety for the citizens of Dallas.
Being a University of Wisconsin – Madison graduate, Mayor Laura Miller was an award winning journalist and columnist working for The Dallas Observer, The Dallas Times Herald, The New York Daily News, The Dallas Morning News and The Miami Herald.
GENDER AND ETHNIC
REPRESENTATION
There are 6 women in the city council which makes a fairly good number of above 30% of female representation in the city. Moreover, the mayor of the city, who has the greatest local powers and represents the city, is a woman. Ethnically, the city council is consisted of 6 Caucasians, 4 African-Americans and 4 Hispanics. Having the last census in mind, the Hispanics are the least fortunate to have less representative percentually. On the other hand, the other 2 groups have more representatives of their origin. Finally, the women of Hispanic origin are best represented within the representatives of their origin (2 out of 4). The Caucasians are next with 2 women out of 6 representatives, and finally the African-Americans have only one woman of four representatives.
GAY AND LESBIAN MINORITIES
Dallas is considered to be one of the most tolerant cities in the country, and especially in the region. So far, two initiatives of the gay and lesbian community against discrimination have been adopted by this city council. Moreover, they have been endorsed by almost all members of the council. The two members that were openly against these policies were elderly Caucasian males. Furthermore, the main supporter of this group is the Deputy Mayor John Loza.