While Price does have enemies—white and black—who would not hesitate to smear his name, a careful examination of his record reveals evidence of behavior that runs the gamut from mere bad judgment to outright unethical and even illegal acts, including blatant conflicts of interest, influence peddling, kickback demands, sexual harassment of subordinates, even sexual assault. When the facts are sifted from the rumors, the picture that emerges is that of a gifted, charismatic leader whose desire for wealth and personal power led him to squander his potential and betray those who trusted him.
That’s what someone named Laura Miller wrote in the March 1991 issue of D Magazine about one Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price. None of what she reports is necessarily related to his current troubles. But it is astonishing.
You’ll want to read the whole thing.
We’re posting the story to our site today for the first time, because of popular demand (some of you wonderful FrontBurnervians asked for it). The issue in which it appeared was one of a few that was never uploaded to our online archive. The reason? Well, it seems that we just couldn’t find a copy of it anywhere in our office. Thankfully the text was available through another source, as Miller’s article was featured in our 30 Greatest Stories book, published in 2004.
7 comments
awesome. I guess depending on how this turns out, a follow up piece from Miller might be a great read.
wow. That’s pretty incredible. You’d think he would be smart enough to lay low and not do anything illegal after people questioning him back then.
I agree that a follow up piece would be a really interesting read.
Laura Miller? The same one that became mayor of Dallas?
@Glen: Um, yup.
Glad you guys were able to find the article, good work as always. I always thought that magazines would have an Indiana Jones style warehouse/room with every edition hermetically sealed waiting to be read in the distant future by someone wearing white cotton gloves.
When I first moved to Dallas in ‘94, Miller was writing for the Observer. Reading this piece really takes me back; I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed her writing. Wish she hadn’t left doing that for whatever she did afterward.
Laura did an interesting article on how Joe Barton was a created candidate as a synthesis between big business interests and social conservatives way back in the early to mid eighties. It appeared in the Observer about the same time. She was a much better political reporter than mayor.