Conflicts of interest muzzle outspoken Dallas City Council member Mitchell Rasansky

Nov 04, 2008 (The Dallas Morning News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- C | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Calling Mitchell Rasansky outspoken is sort of like deeming Luciano Pavarotti a vocalist.

No Dallas City Council member dresses down municipal officials -- from the lowliest staffer to the mayor -- with more vigor.

He recently described Mayor Tom Leppert's handling of a budget meeting as "a travesty," council member Ron Natinsky's spending habits as "obscene" and Park and Recreation Department Director Paul Dyer as "wrong, wrong, wrong" about a construction project.

All the while, many of Mr. Rasansky's constituents in northwest and North Dallas love him. The four-term council member is District 13's personal tax-axing budget hawk, routinely re-elected by astronomical margins, who is never shy about tongue-lashing someone he's convinced deserves it.

So a layer of irony glazes a revealing statistic about him: Mr. Rasansky is six times more likely than any of his City Council colleagues to be silenced -- by city law -- on an official matter before the council, according to city records.

From June 2007 through mid-October, Mr. Rasansky's various financial conflicts of interest have forced him to abstain 102 times from discussing and voting on council agenda items, the records indicate.

Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia, who through mid-October has recused herself 17 times because of conflicts of interest, runs a distant second, with all other council members reporting eight or fewer conflict recusals this term.

For Mr. Rasansky, his 102 recusals come on a fraction of the thousands of agenda items the council has considered this term. A majority of these recusals pertains to zoning cases outside of his home district where he owns property.

But ownership of Citigroup stock has forced him to Dallas City Hall's sidelines each time the council considers an often contentious agenda item involving development of a publicly owned Dallas Convention Center hotel. (Citigroup is a hotel project financial consultant and underwriter.)

Away from the council horseshoe, where he's free to say whatever he pleases, Mr. Rasansky ranks among the project's harshest critics.

His latest annual personal financial disclosure filed with Dallas City Hall indicates he owns at least 10,000 shares -- but possibly many more, since the forms only require disclosures within broad ranges -- of Citigroup stock. He also listed stakes in 39 pieces of real property and 25 business entities.

So why won't Mr. Rasansky just sell the stock and buy back his ability to speak and vote on the convention center hotel issue?

"If I thought that I could change anything, I might reconsider. But my one vote isn't going to make a difference on this issue," explained Mr. Rasansky, who primarily made his fortune in the banking and real estate industries. "Selling it would put me in a financial bind. I'm not going to spend almost $100,000 in taxes for a vote that won't be worth a hill of beans."

Sharon Boyd, an outspoken Rasansky supporter who edits the political Web site Dallas arena.com, says Mr. Rasansky's voice is being unnecessarily squelched.

"We shouldn't muzzle people because they might own some stock in a company that may or may not be involved in the finances of a project that may or may not happen," Ms. Boyd said. "The city stretches it as far as they can to look for conflicts of interest."

Dr. Garcia says that while she's "open to reviewing the process," she believes current conflict-of-interest laws are adequate. She suggests that perhaps council members should be allowed to speak during a council meeting on an issue, even if they can't vote on it.

As it is, Dallas' Code of Ethics is clear that council members should recuse themselves from debate and voting, and file an official conflict of interest disclosure form, if they have a financial interest in an issue before the council, City Attorney Tom Perkins said.

Mr. Rasansky, meanwhile, says he feels as if he represents his district "extremely well," even if he's forced to miss many more votes than his fellow council members.

"These conflicts," he said, "they haven't stymied my work. They haven't stopped me from doing my job."

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