Did Dallas Mayor Pay Partisan Group With Campaign Funds?

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson allegedly began making monthly payments to a Republican consulting firm run by his former chief of staff shortly after his successful re-election.

Financial records purportedly show Johnson paid $110,000 to Adept Strategies, a political consulting firm established on May 15, 2023, the same day the mayor made his first payment and just nine days after he had won re-election, reported The Dallas Morning News.

According to DMN, Adept Strategies is also connected to a group founded by Johnson in October last year called the Republican Mayors Association (RMA). The two groups list the same Dallas-area post office box as their mailing address. Johnson is the chair and president of that group.

J. Justin Riemer, an attorney with Ashby Law who represents the RMA, offered a statement on behalf of Johnson in the latter’s capacity as chair of the RMA board.

“No consultant or vendor or anyone else who has done work for the RMA has been paid from any source other than the RMA for their work,” Riemer told DX. “The RMA has never received a contribution from Mayor Johnson’s political organization, including from his mayoral campaign or officeholder funds. And no RMA board member has ever been compensated for any goods or services provided to the RMA while serving as a board member.”

Adept Strategies was set up by Mary Elbanna, Johnson’s chief of staff, during the first two years of his first term. Elbanna left the mayor’s office in November 2021. She is the president and CEO of Adept. Elbanna is also listed as a national board member of the RMA.

Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, told DMN that Texas politicians have leeway in how they spend campaign funds but suggested that large donations should be explained.

“When you get these kind of connections — shared mailboxes, a member of the board receiving large payments — that has to be explained,” Jillson said. “It’s in the mayor’s interest to explain that in a way that readers of the main newspaper in town can understand.”

A recall effort is underway against Johnson by an individual who claimed the mayor missed a number of Dallas City Council meetings and DFW Airport board meetings. The effort was launched after Johnson publicly announced he had switched parties and registered as a Republican.

“Every year since taking office in 2019, Mayor Johnson has had a greater than 90% attendance record as the presiding officer of the Dallas City Council,” the mayor’s office said in a previous statement to DX.

Records show that Johnson has attended 92% of Dallas City Council meetings since his first election in 2019, according to reporting by DX.

Davante Peters, the lead organizer of the effort, said the group had gathered around 10,000 signatures, far short of the more than 103,000 needed to recall Johnson. Peters has said that one of the reasons he was motivated to initiate a recall was due to Johnson switching to the Republican Party, per reporting by DX.

“Unfortunately, we don’t believe we’re going to pull it off this go-around, so come March 6, we’re planning to refile,” Peters told DMN.