Jim McMillan didn’t think twice about penning his name to three petitions outside of a Trader Joe’s in the Knox-Henderson area earlier this year.
Three people were at a table outside McMillan’s neighborhood grocery store. He recalled one saying they were gathering signatures to get three proposals on the Dallas ballot in November that would change the city’s charter to increase the municipal government’s transparency.
“He asked me, ‘Do you support open government?’ That was essentially the entire pitch,” McMillan, 78, told The Dallas Morning News. “I thought it sounded reasonable and a good idea at the time. Who wouldn’t support having more say in their government?”
McMillan said he “felt buyer’s remorse” when he got a flier in the mail on Oct. 1 from Dallas Hero, the group that organized the signature drive to get the propositions on the Nov. 5 ballot. He said he was never told anything about charter amendments involving the police department, its pension or the city manager.
It wasn’t until this fall that McMillan found out what he backed: three propositions that would change the city’s charter to allow Dallas residents to sue the city if they believed officials were not following local or state laws; tie the city manager’s job status and bonuses to results of an annual community survey; and require the city spend yearly extra revenue to fund the police and fire pension, hire 900 more officers and increase police starting pay and benefits.
“I feel stupid that I ever signed the thing, honestly, because I thought I knew what I was signing and I didn’t,” McMillan said. “I’m just not clear on what the ramifications of all these are. And I can’t help but think I’m not the only one.”
The three Dallas Hero charter amendment proposals are the most debated issue for the city in the November election. The ballot includes 15 other propositions, including decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana, but Dallas Hero’s possible charter updates are the only ones with organized support and opposition.
Supporters say the proposals are needed to better address public safety and give city residents more tools to hold public officials accountable.
“Voters will support Propositions S, T, and U because they reflect the voices and real concerns of Dallas residents, demanding action on public safety and greater accountability at City Hall,” said Stefani Carter, a former state representative and Dallas Hero’s honorary chair. “These propositions will bring much-needed resources to our police department, ensure public safety is prioritized, and finally hold our leaders accountable.”
But the propositions have been met with opposition from a chorus of current and former city leaders and others who fear they will undermine elected Dallas officials, be detrimental to city services and spending in the name of boosting public safety.
“These propositions are bad news,” Laura Miller, who served as Dallas mayor from 2002 to 2007, told The Dallas Morning News earlier this month. “I’m sure these things sound great to some people on paper, but when you look at the details, it’s anything but that.”
At least 50 current and former city, county and state elected officials have either publicly told voters to reject propositions S, T and U or endorsed campaigns against the proposals. They’ve also received the backing of many civic and business groups including the Dallas Citizens Council, The Real Estate Council, Downtown Dallas Inc., the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce and the Dallas Regional Chamber.
The city’s largest police and fire associations have also oppose the trio of propositions. Dallas Police Association President Jaime Castro described the proposals as “contrived by a small group of people who do not live in Dallas, with no open dialogue, no experience on the subject matter and no communications with police association leaders that would be impacted by these amendments.”
“It’s easy to look at this amendment and think more police officers is a good idea,” Castro said in an Oct. 21 statement urging voters to reject the proposals, “but the truth is that this amendment could result in lowering the current standards for our recruits and making it more difficult to keep our good officers because we lose the ability to control our salaries and benefits for the officers we want to keep and incentivize.”
The charter is a powerful instrument because it defines the powers, functions and structure of Dallas’ government. It is typically reviewed once every 10 years, and any changes need voter approval. If any of the propositions to amend the charter pass, new proposals can’t be changed again by voters for at least two years.
Early voting started Oct. 21 and runs through Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 5.
A ‘grassroots’ organization
Little has been said about the genesis of the three Dallas Hero charter amendments. The full scope of how Dallas Hero was formed and who is funding it also are unclear.
Dallas Hero is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, which means it isn’t legally required to disclose its donors. Records with the Texas Secretary of State show the group registered in August 2023.
Carter described Dallas Hero as a “grassroots nonpartisan organization” that was “formed out of frustration with years of inaction and complacency at Dallas City Hall.”
“Its mission is to advocate for changes that prioritize public safety and hold city leaders accountable, regardless of political affiliation,” said Carter, who served as a Republican state representative from 2010 to 2014. “Dallas Hero was created by the people, for the people, with a commitment to improving the city they love and ensuring its future success.”
She declined to name the group’s founding members.
Pete Marocco, executive director of Dallas Hero, has also repeatedly declined to identify anyone who has donated to Dallas Hero except to say they are “supported by many generous people across Dallas.” Monty Bennett, a Dallas hotel mogul and publisher of the online news outlet The Dallas Express, identified himself to WFAA as a backer of the campaign, saying he gave cash and office space to the group.
Marocco on Oct. 20 told The News the group has “spent less than $40,000 on media and advertising.” He has repeatedly declined to say how much Dallas Hero has spent in total as well as how much it has raised.
Though the group touts bipartisan support, its most prominent backers have ties to the Republican Party.
Carter was the first Black Republican woman elected to the Texas House. The Dallas County Republican Party and its chair Allen West, a former Texas GOP chairman and a former Florida congressman, have also endorsed the trio of proposals. The county GOP promoted Dallas Hero’s signature drives on social media.
“Come sign our petition to increase officers salaries and staffing” read a flier posted on the local GOP group’s Facebook page May 30. “Quick signature, and you’ll be on your way!”
Kardal Coleman, chair of the Dallas County Democratic Party, told The News earlier this month that his group opposes the Dallas Hero proposals.
Bennett, a major Republican donor, declined to respond to questions about his ties to Dallas Hero unless The News promised it wouldn’t link to a 2020 article reporting how Bennett applied for $126 million in federal coronavirus small business rescue loans and received at least $69 million. Bennett owns more than 130 hotels.
The origins of Dallas Hero are unclear. Marocco told The News he became executive director of Dallas Hero because he was asked to take the position. He declined to say who asked him.
Marocco, who has served in the Marine Corps and has held several government posts, was deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs from 2019-2020 under President Donald Trump. In 2020, he was hired by the U.S. Agency for International Development to run its conflict prevention bureau. Politico reported that his hire drew criticism over claims that he had created a toxic work environment for employees he oversaw in previous roles. He took a leave of absence around three months after being hired to USAID and left the agency in 2021.
The next year, he was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to serve on the Advisory Council on Emergency Medical Services.
Neither Carter nor Marocco will be eligible to vote on any of the Dallas propositions. Voter records show Carter is registered to vote in Collin County and her permanent home address is in Richardson. Marocco is registered to vote in Dallas County with a home address in University Park. His registration was effective as of September, according to Dallas County voting records.
Dallas Hero proposals
Proposition S would require the city to waive its governmental immunity. That would allow residents to file suit against the city if they believed it was not complying with the charter, local ordinances or state law.
Proposition T would require Dallas to conduct an annual survey of at least 1,400 residents, rating the city manager’s performance on five topics. The consequences of the results would range from mandating the City Council approve a financial bonus equal to the city manager’s base salary to firing the city manager within 30 days and disqualifying that person from being reappointed as city manager for 10 years.
The survey would have to be conducted and published between Jan. 1 and March 15 each year and poll at least 100 residents from all 14 council districts about their feelings on how the city is addressing crime, homelessness, litter, panhandling and the condition of streets. Each topic would be rated on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being “a major problem” and 4 being “not a problem.”
The proposal says the impact of the survey results only applies if the city manager has been on the job for at least 18 months as of Jan. 1 in the year the poll results are published.
Proposition U would require the City Council to approve setting aside at least 50% of any excess yearly revenue for the police and fire pension system and other public safety-related initiatives.
The proposition describes excess revenue as money the city brings in that exceeds the previous year’s total revenue. Documents show the city estimated receiving $3.5 billion in all city operating revenue last fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, and around $143 million more this current fiscal year.
According to the proposal, the State Pension Review Board or the City Council sets how much of the 50 percent goes to the police and fire pension.
If there is any money left of that 50%, it would go to public safety objectives like making police officers’ starting salary and non-pension benefits within the top five of city police departments in North Texas with populations over 50,000 and increasing the total number of officers to at least 4,000 and maintaining at least that minimum of cops.
The police and fire pension system has a funding gap of around $3 billion. In September, the City Council approved a plan for Dallas to contribute $11 billion to the system over 30 years to address the shortfall. The city also has plans to hire 250 new officers in the new fiscal year, though they’ve missed trying to hit a similar mark in recent years and lost nearly as many cops due to attrition.
The City Council initially approved three other charter amendment proposals designed to cancel out the Dallas Hero proposals. The Texas Supreme Court in September ordered the council to remove the counter amendments, saying none of them clearly told voters their approval would nullify the Dallas Hero proposals.
‘The Dallas we love is slipping away’
A mailer McMillan received urges Dallas residents who are 65 or older to send in a ballot application by Oct. 25 to vote by mail and has an application attached to mail to the Dallas County Elections Department. It doesn’t mention the police and fire pension.
“The Dallas we love is slipping away from us and future generations,” the flier said. “Propositions S, T, and U will bring city government’s focus back to what matters: lowering crime, addressing homelessness and vagrancy, and cleaning up our streets.”
In a video posted on social media in December, Carter identified five Dallas Hero’s charter amendment proposals. Three are early versions of what have become propositions S, T and U: setting a minimum of 4,000 cops and offering competitive pay, ratifying a plan to hold the city manager accountable on how they address city issues, and allowing residents legal rights to make Dallas comply with its own laws.
She also said the group was backing two others: improving police policies to ensure community safety and mandating no new taxes and fees without population growth.
Local civil rights activist Dominique Alexander said he was approached by Dallas Hero in January to help gather signatures to get five charter amendment proposals on the ballot.
They included versions of the three that are on the Nov. 5 ballot and the two that have since been dropped.
One discarded proposal would have updated the charter to ban police officers from using chokeholds to subdue people accused of crimes, require all police employees to report any acts of excessive force by their colleagues and require all officers to complete 40 hours of community policing and relations training annually.
The other proposal mandated Dallas self-impose a revenue growth cap so city expenditures wouldn’t exceed city revenues received in the prior fiscal year. It also said any excess revenue “shall be refunded to taxpayers in the form of lower property taxes during the subsequent fiscal year.”
Alexander, president of the Next Generation Action Network, said he met with Carter once and then declined to help the group. He said he was concerned that people were misled into signing all of the petitions believing they were supporting police reform.
Alexander said he couldn’t support siphoning off half of city revenue solely to the police department while Dallas has other needs to address, like housing. He added he felt some of the proposals were redundant.
The police department since 2004 has banned officers from using any force intended to restrict a person’s airway or blood flow to the brain. Alexander said the only charter amendment his group backed was Proposition R, which would ban the police department from arresting or citing people suspected of possessing four ounces or less of marijuana.
Carter told The News Dallas Hero considered dozens of amendments.
“We decided to focus on the initiatives that had the most widespread support and the greatest potential for immediate impact,” she said.
