Tom Leppert doesn't make it pretty.
But for the most part, all he does is win.
Last week, he scored a major victory by getting an increasingly skeptical council to tentatively agree on a series of ethics reforms.
Yes, the corruption trial of former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill was the backdrop to the effort.
Leppert, however, achieved something that mayors before him were not able to accomplish.
Now he can circle ethics reform on the accomplishments list he's probably preparing for a special election campaign for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat.
Despite the daunting odds, Leppert appears poised to run for the seat if Hutchison indeed resigns to focus solely on campaigning for governor.
Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Neerman has softened his stand on the election of ultra-conservative Cathie Adams as leader of the Texas GOP.
Last week Neerman told The Dallas Observer that the election of Adams as chairwoman by the party's state executive committee set Texas Republicans back five years.
After receiving calls from activists urging him to follow Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment – "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican" – Neerman was a little more diplomatic.
He said that after the 2010 elections are over, "I hope to stand up next to Cathie and say, 'I was wrong.' "
Neerman worries that Adams is too extreme and could cost Republicans contests by alienating an electorate increasing turned off by social issues. And he says he doesn't like her tactics, which included sending out a mass e-mail that said President Barack Obama's September speech to schoolchildren was reminiscent of Hitler's youth movement.
But Adams, who replaces Tina Benkiser as chairmwoman, won the race for the position by a large margin, which suggests she's in tune with the grassroots GOP activists.
"But is that the prevailing view of Republicans in Texas?" Neerman asked. "That's the question."
Adams isn't holding any grudges. She exchanged e-mails with Neerman to discuss local House races.
Adams could not be reached for comment Monday.
Heh. Dallas County really can't talk about setting the party back. I mean, they are the county that failed to turn out enough Republican voters in 2006 in judicial races, which led to the Democrat judge ruling against Texas' same-sex marriage law just weeks ago.
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