I'm not buying Jones's story

If Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wanted to shift the media story from his comments on former coach Bill Parcells and quarterback Tim Tebow by blaming former Mayor Laura Miller for Dallas losing Jonestown, he succeeded beyond his wildest expecations. The Dallas Morning News ran this story on its front page today and I imagine it was picked up by other news outlets.

But I'm not buying it. Even if Miller had not responded by saying "The only person I've ever patted on the knee is my husband," I can't see the former mayor acting that familiar with Jones. This simply sounds like another chapter in his autobiography in which he paints himself as an irresistible ladies' man. (On the other hand, I don't see Miller encouraging Jones either - she was never a fan of sports-related projects.)

I really don't think Jones ever really considered locating his Taj Mahal in our city. For one thing, the city was insisting the facility be located in Fair Park. There's not enough room anywhere in Fair Park to build something as large as Jones has constructed in Arlington.

For another thing, he wanted tax money and the city's sale tax rate is already at the state-allowed maximum. Arlington, because it has no public transportation system that receives sales tax revenues, could up its rate to subsidize Jonestown.

But the telling paragraph is the second-to-the-last one in the story:

"(Friends of Fair Park Executive Director Craig) Holcomb said he too was skeptical about the likelihood of bringing the Cowboys to Dallas. He said there were a couple of productive meetings with Fair Park officials, but it never seemed like it would be a smooth process. The Cowboys wanted to get the issue on the ballot by that November, which is what happened in Arlington."

Here's the story I've been told by several sources: Yes, Jones wanted the issue on the ballot by that November but Dallas County officials flatly told him it would never happen because they feared it would attract more minorities to the polls. These Republican officials saw the county trending Democrat and didn't want to hasten that evolution by bringing more potentially Democratic voters out on election day.

It's interesting that the News' story also contained these paragraphs:

"(Dallas County Commissioner Mike) Cantrell said it's an oversimplification to heap most of the blame on Miller, and he isn't convinced the outcome could have been different.

"If they [Cowboys] really wanted to be in Dallas, I think they could have worked more diligently with the city or the county in order to keep it here," Cantrell said.

So why did Jones out Miller? Name value. If he had told his audience Margaret Keliher was to blame, half the audience would have wondered "Who's she" and another one-fourth or so would be trying to figure out what a former British prime minister had to do with all of this.