Whatever happened to Leo Chaney?

The Dallas Morning News' City Hall Blog has an item that, in the headline, poses the question "Which Dallas City Council incumbent is the most vulnerable this election season?" and then has an entry that never answers the question. (OK, I am going to admit right up front I have no idea where Leo Chaney is this minute, but that's not the point of all this.)

I am going to tell you which incumbent is the most vulnerable. It's Carolyn Davis, but only because she is the weakest city council person this city has seen in decades, not because there is somebody strong lined up to run against her. So far her opponents are bus driver Gary Wayne Springer and Jeff Lipscomb, who claims to be a cousin of legendary politico Al Lipscomb. I understand DISD trustee Ron Price is considering running and his entry could make the race interesting. Price is a paradox -- while not all that popular in his DISD district, he does manage to get just enough votes to win elections.

Which brings me back to the question I posed in this headline because I really want to know where Leo Chaney is, what he is doing, why he has been so silent for the last two years and why, in heaven's name, he isn't positioning himself to take back his old District 7 seat. Chaney could defeat Davis in his sleep and I, for one, would like to see him bring intelligence back to that City Council seat.

As for the rest of the city council, I thought Dave Neumann would be toast in District 3 if former council member Ed Oakley wanted his old seat back, but apparently he doesn't, so I'm now convinced Neumann is absolutely safe. The District 8 race could be interesting. Personally, I think incumbent Tennell Atkins is doing a reasonably good job, but he might have to go against the Lipscomb machine and if that machine is still as strong as it once was (which is questionable) than Atkins could be in trouble. For some reason, District 4's Dwayne Carraway has decided to take on District 5's Vonciel Jones Hill and if Carraway's hand-picked candidate, former Park Board member Tiffany Young, can raise sufficient cash, she could at least force Hill into a runoff.

One final thing. There are going to be two open seats available. One is District 13's Mitchell Rasansky, a man who has been a flat tire on the wheels of Dallas progress for the last eight years, and the other is Dr. Elba Garcia, who proved herself to be a passionate and able leader during her eight years on the council. When she first ran I thought she would be little more than a stooge for her husband Domingo, but that hasn't been the case. She leaves behind a positive legacy -- the new Dallas animal shelter on I-30. I had heard she was thinking about running for the Dallas County Commissioners Court, where she wouldn't be term-limited, and I hope she does. The area needs her sense of vision. A lot of us are going to miss her on the Dallas City Council.