Council Member Carolyn King Arnold (District 4) threatened to stop citizen-led reforms that would boost the Dallas police department and empower residents to hold City leaders accountable.
Nonprofit Dallas HERO successfully led citizen petitions to add three proposed City charter amendments to November’s ballot. One amendment would require the City to hire roughly 1,000 police officers, increase police pay, and secure the fire and police pension system. Another proposal would allow citizens to sue City leaders who refuse to follow local ordinances. The last proposal would establish a resident survey to determine an incentivized bonus for the city manager.
Arnold spoke at an August Dallas City Council meeting, opposing each Dallas HERO proposed charter amendment. She asked the City attorney’s office about the legality of City council members advocating against ballot measures.
“If five council members took out an ad with their names on it that’s not taken from the funds or not from the city to take a position publicly outside of this, these chambers against these articles, would we be in order?” Arnold asked.
Several Dallas City Council members opposed the Dallas HERO proposed amendments. However, state law requires the council to add charter amendments to the ballot once they receive a valid number of resident signatures, which Dallas HERO successfully rallied.
“I’m just trying to make sure because we have to put it on, but where we’re saying no, we don’t vote for, we don’t support it public, we don’t support it, but we are doing our duties, then that means we are taking a position against it,” Arnold said.
Arnold also reportedly spread disinformation about the impact of the Dallas HERO proposals, per DX.
“I wanna make sure that my voters know exactly what I’m saying today because it can if you have the media picking up parts of it, and they may be watching us online, and they get bits and pieces. I wanna be very clear, aware of where I stand on this, uh, conversation,” Arnold explained.
The Dallas City Council added three charter amendments to the ballot at the last minute that directly contradicted Dallas HERO’s proposals, as previously reported by DX.
The local nonprofit filed lawsuits in response, per DX, stating, “This case is about the right of Texans to direct popular participation in lawmaking…. This case is also about the right of Texans to vote on citizen-placed city charter amendments without governmental actors manipulating their ballots in ways designed to mislead and cause confusion.”