Tom Leppert
Encyclopedia
Tom Leppert is an American politician who served as mayor
of Dallas, Texas
from 2007 to 2011, and who worked as CEO
of the Turner Corporation. Leppert announced in February 2011 that he would run for the United States Senate election in Texas, 2012
.
, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree
in economics
with cum laude
honors in 1977 and served as Student Body President. He then went on to attend Harvard Business School
, where he received a M.B.A.
with Distinction in 1979.
Leppert served as a White House Fellow
in the Reagan Administration in 1984 and 1985. He was one of 13 fellows chosen from 1,247 applicants by President Ronald Reagan
in 1984. During his fellowship, Leppert worked for the secretary of the Treasury and on the White House staff.
On May 17, 2008, Leppert received an honorary doctorate from his undergraduate alma mater
, Claremont McKenna College, for which he serves as a trustee. Leppert told graduates to "know your principles" and encouraged them to write them down. "This may sound simple and obvious, but over the course of a lifetime, it may be one of the most difficult promises you ever keep. I know I am confronted by this each and every day. Simply stated, using generic terms like honesty and integrity are not near enough[...] People rarely get in trouble or lose their compass in one fell swoop... it is a series of small compromises, missteps that lead to a landslide... and a lost sense of self." In the same speech, Leppert called his visit to Auschwitz a "single day [that] changed the way I looked at the world."
Leppert is a member of First Baptist Church Dallas and was formerly a member of the Dallas Country Club (prior to resigning in December 2006 due to his concern that the club’s tradition of refusing membership to black applicants could become an issue during the mayoral campaign). He and his wife Laura have two sons and a daughter. Leppert grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. Leppert was a member of the youth leadership organization DeMolay International
and rose up the ranks of Arizona DeMolay to become State Master Councilor (State President) in 1972-1973. He was inducted into the DeMolay International Hall of Fame in 2010. He attended college at Harvard University, where upon graduation in 1979, worked in Los Angeles
, Washington, DC, and New York
before moving to Dallas between 1986 and 1989; in 1989, he moved to Honolulu, where he resided until 1999 (when he became CEO of the Turner Corporation). Upon joining Turner, he relocated to the Park Cities (an affluent suburb of Dallas) and moved the holding company's headquarters to Dallas.
He moved to Dallas in 2003.
AG) prior to being elected mayor of Dallas. Turner Construction Company
(a subsidiary of Turner Corp.) is currently the largest commercial builder in the United States. Leppert credits himself with earning more profits for the company during his seven year tenure than in the company's previous 97 years combined, and moving a related holding company headquarters (employing 15 people, including Leppert) from New York City to Dallas; Turner Construction continues to be headquartered in New York.
During his career, Leppert also held positions at McKinsey & Co.
, Trammell Crow Company
, Bank of Hawaii
, and Castle & Cooke Properties, Inc
.
Leppert was elected to the Board of Directors of Washington Mutual
(at the time, the largest savings and loan association in the United States) in 2005; as part of his election, he was also named to the Board of Directors' Governance and Audit committees. During Leppert's seat on the Board of Directors' Washington Mutual Bank had became the largest bank failure in American financial history.
in 2006, the Russell H. Perry Free Enterprise Award from Dallas Baptist University for achievement in free enterprise and service to the community in 2009, and the Distinguished Business Leader award from the Dallas chapter of the Texas Association of Business in 2010. He was also named a 2007 "Business Person of the Year" finalist by the Dallas Business Journal, and "CEO Of The Year" by D Magazine in 2008.
man Ed Oakley
in a runoff election June 16, 2007, winning with 58 percent of the vote. Some attribute his win to unexpected support from leaders within the African American
community of the traditionally Democratic
southern section of the city and his appeal to Republicans.
While the office of mayor is officially non-partisan, like all municipal offices in Texas
, Leppert is a Republican
who participates in party fundraising events.
After his first year in office, Leppert's runnoff election opponent (Oakley) praised him for his leadership and for delivering on his campaign promises: "There's no question: Tom's done an excellent job. He's delivered on his priorities." Shortly before Leppert’s resignation, however, Oakley had second thoughts and publicly wondered whether Leppert was more interested in his own advancement than the city’s.
Two years into his term, Leppert had won support from a core coalition of Dallas City Council members (Dwaine Caraway
, Dave Neumann, and Ron Natinsky), who voted with Leppert more than 92 percent of the time, a rate roughly equal to his record of being on the winning side of council roll call votes. Indeed, Caraway even went so far as to declare that he "would take a bullet" for the Mayor during a heated debate over the Trinity River Project
.
Leppert donated his mayoral salary to a scholarship fund for students from low-income families.
, Mexico, to promote Dallas's medical, educational, and corporate institutions. Another part of the trip's agenda was to lobby on behalf of an inland seaport in the Dallas area. Leppert was joined by more than a dozen officials from city government, the Dallas Independent School District
and various health care and commercial institutions in the largest mission of its kind in years. One of the agreements reached on the trip include a plan for an MD/PhD program in Mexico provided by UT Southwestern Medical School. Leppert also stated that Mexican President Felipe Calderón
would be visiting Dallas on his next visit to the United States.
Following his trip to Mexico, Leppert led a trade mission to China and signed "friendship city" agreements with major industrial cities such as Dalian
and Qingdao
. Leppert also oversaw the negotiation of business deals with Chinese officials, such as advocacy of investment in the Dallas Inland Port and the placement of a Chinese telecommunication firm's U.S. headquarters in Dallas.
Leppert is also credited with persuading AT&T
to relocate to Dallas as well as encouraging the start-up of a new $15 million call center that plans to ultimately employ 300 workers.
funds to be awarded by the federal government for the purpose of building a new convention center hotel in downtown Dallas (a project that had been on Dallas' drawing board for nearly two decades), stating: "Let's use this as an opportunity. Most of the economy in the country is in metro areas. Let's make sure we use this (stimulus) money much as we did back in the 1930s, so that when we come out we have a much stronger economy and we’re in a much better position.”
Following the federal government's failure to approve Leppert's request for stimulus funds, in February 2008 he announced plans to seek an alternate form of financing. He argued that if Dallas didn't build the hotel, it would fall further behind other cities in the competition for convention and tourism business, and that larger conventions wouldn't even consider Dallas because it doesn't have a hotel attached to its convention center. He also argued that, because it would attract more visitors to Dallas, the building of the hotel would lead to a broadening of Dallas' tax base and an increase in jobs and sales tax revenue to the city. In May 2008, he successfully lobbied the City Council to approve spending $42 million to purchase land on which the proposed hotel would be located.
The project was financed with $388.2 million in federally-subsidized revenue bond
s issued under the Obama administration's Build America Bonds
program (which means that the federal government reimburses the city 35% of the interest associated with the issue) and $91.7 million in conventional hotel revenue bonds ($479.9 million total). Repayment is anticipated to come from a combination of $249.1 million in direct subsidies from the federal government (associated with the Build America Bonds
), $212.9 million in pledged state and city occupancy and sales taxes associated with the property's operation, and the remainder from hotel net operating income. In addition, the bonds are further backed by a “Moral Obligation Pledge” from the City of Dallas to cover any shortfalls. The hotel broke ground in 2009 and is projected to open in 2012.
In an effort to reinforce the success of the hotel, Leppert led the City Council to lobby Dallas Area Rapid Transit
(DART) to change the alignment of a proposed light rail line through downtown; under Leppert’s plan, the line would be diverted from the center of downtown to stop at the hotel and would include a subway segment that would travel beneath the convention center to an underground station at City Hall before rejoining the original alignment. DART staff, however, reported that, at $824 million, the proposed realignment would be more expensive than all other options being considered, exceeding the cost of the cheapest alignment by $315 million. They also pointed out that the Federal Transit Administration makes the final call on where the route should go, and the hotel alignment had been shown to attract fewer riders, at higher costs, than other options. Nevertheless, Leppert continued to serve as a strong advocate for the realignment, stating: “The hotel alignment serves downtown's transportation needs and supports the public and private investment in our city's core.”
In November 2009, the city council passed a series of four ethics reforms championed by Leppert that:
Leppert ignited a controversy when he opposed no-bid
concessions contract
extensions with current Love Field food vendor Star Concessions Ltd. and newspaper and book vendor Hudson Retail Dallas during a March 3, 2010, city council meeting. Leppert insisted that the contracts should be opened to public bidding
instead. Leppert demanded that city staff—who backed the extensions—appear before the full council and explain why the concessions contracts weren't opened to public bidding.
On February 22, 2010, the city council's Transportation and Environment Committee had previously voted to extend contracts with the existing concessions for through 2026 with an additional 3-year option and exclusive rights to 54 percent of vending space in a new terminal scheduled to open in 2014, instead of opening the contract up to public bidding
In an April 26, 2010, editorial
, The Dallas Morning News
called the lack of transparency and fiduciary responsibility "troubling". The Dallas Morning News noted that the situation was complicated by the fact that the concessions operators were partially owned by two elected officials—State Representative
Helen Giddings
and U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson
.
On May 21, 2010, The Dallas Morning News reported that Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez said that city staff recommended in June 2007 that all concession space in the renovated airport be opened up for competitive bids, but that plan was opposed by city council members. On June 9, 2010, The Dallas Morning News reported that airport consultants said that the no-bid plan was unusual and could result in an inferior deal for the city. According to a June 17, 2010 article in the Dallas Observer
, Gilbert Aranza—owner of Star Concessions Ltd.—accused Leppert of hypocrisy given his support for similar no-bid contract extensions during his tenure on the D/FW Airport Board.
In an apparent victory for Leppert, the city council voted on August 18, 2010, to open all concessions space in the new terminal for public bidding; city staff would attempt to reach a deal with Star and Hudson to operate existing concessions space from 2011 to 2014, otherwise it would also be opened for public bidding.
In subsequent years, however, Leppert opposed property tax rate increases in the city of Dallas and proposed spending cuts to balance the budget.
In 2008, despite early calls for another property tax rate increase, Leppert successfully led opposition to prevent another rate increase. Leppert also successfully led opposition to another proposal to increase property tax rates in 2009.
In 2010, once again, Leppert led the opposition of yet another property tax rate increase proposal. In response to the estimated $130 million shortfall in the city's $2 billion budget, Leppert crafted a new budget proposal to close the budget gap without increasing taxes. Despite Leppert's strong objections, the city council voted by a 8-7 majority to pass a 6.5% property tax rate increase anyway—the largest in 20 years.
. Leppert was victorious in the runoff election.
's United States Senate
seat, which she was widely expected to vacate during her run for Texas governor; in a December newspaper interview, Leppert denied he had started to campaign, but he refused to entirely rule out the possibility. However, Hutchison retained her Senate seat, and her gubernatorial campaign ended when she lost the 2010 Texas Republican primary to incumbent Rick Perry
.
Rumors soon circulated that Leppert was considering a Senate run directly against Hutchison in 2012, a possibility he did not refute during an April 2010, interview.
In January 2011, Leppert announced that he would not seek re-election to the office of mayor in May. This further fueled speculation that he was planning a run for the now open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Hutchison.
On February 22, 2011, it was reported that Leppert would announce his resignation from the office of mayor the next day. The Washington Post
noted that this is a necessary first step for his expected run for Senate because Dallas law prohibits the mayor from running for another office while still serving as mayor.
Leppert resigned his seat as mayor effective at midnight on February 25, 2011. He told The Dallas Morning News that his campaign for the U.S. Senate would begin immediately, with Mike Slanker, former director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
, acting as his chief campaign consultant.
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
from 2007 to 2011, and who worked as CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of the Turner Corporation. Leppert announced in February 2011 that he would run for the United States Senate election in Texas, 2012
United States Senate election in Texas, 2012
The 2012 United States Senate election in Texas will be held on November 6, 2012 along other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives. Incumbent Republican U.S...
.
Early Life, Education, and Early Career
Leppert is a graduate of Claremont McKenna CollegeClaremont McKenna College
Claremont McKenna College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college and a member of the Claremont Colleges located in Claremont, California. The campus is located east of Downtown Los Angeles...
, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
with cum laude
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
honors in 1977 and served as Student Body President. He then went on to attend Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
, where he received a M.B.A.
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
with Distinction in 1979.
Leppert served as a White House Fellow
White House Fellows
The White House Fellows program was established by President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson in October 1964. President Johnson articulated that the mission of the program was "to give the Fellows first hand, high-level experience with the workings of the federal government and to increase...
in the Reagan Administration in 1984 and 1985. He was one of 13 fellows chosen from 1,247 applicants by President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in 1984. During his fellowship, Leppert worked for the secretary of the Treasury and on the White House staff.
On May 17, 2008, Leppert received an honorary doctorate from his undergraduate alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
, Claremont McKenna College, for which he serves as a trustee. Leppert told graduates to "know your principles" and encouraged them to write them down. "This may sound simple and obvious, but over the course of a lifetime, it may be one of the most difficult promises you ever keep. I know I am confronted by this each and every day. Simply stated, using generic terms like honesty and integrity are not near enough[...] People rarely get in trouble or lose their compass in one fell swoop... it is a series of small compromises, missteps that lead to a landslide... and a lost sense of self." In the same speech, Leppert called his visit to Auschwitz a "single day [that] changed the way I looked at the world."
Leppert is a member of First Baptist Church Dallas and was formerly a member of the Dallas Country Club (prior to resigning in December 2006 due to his concern that the club’s tradition of refusing membership to black applicants could become an issue during the mayoral campaign). He and his wife Laura have two sons and a daughter. Leppert grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. Leppert was a member of the youth leadership organization DeMolay International
DeMolay International
DeMolay International , founded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1919, is an international organization for young men ages 12–21. DeMolay derives its name from Jacques DeMolay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar...
and rose up the ranks of Arizona DeMolay to become State Master Councilor (State President) in 1972-1973. He was inducted into the DeMolay International Hall of Fame in 2010. He attended college at Harvard University, where upon graduation in 1979, worked in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Washington, DC, and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
before moving to Dallas between 1986 and 1989; in 1989, he moved to Honolulu, where he resided until 1999 (when he became CEO of the Turner Corporation). Upon joining Turner, he relocated to the Park Cities (an affluent suburb of Dallas) and moved the holding company's headquarters to Dallas.
He moved to Dallas in 2003.
Business career
Leppert was chairman and CEO of the Turner Corporation (a subsidiary of German construction company HochtiefHochtief
Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft is Germany's largest construction company. It is based in Essen but operates globally, ranking as the top general builder in the United States through its Turner Corporation subsidiary, and in Australia through the Leighton Group. In 2010 it employed more than 70,000...
AG) prior to being elected mayor of Dallas. Turner Construction Company
Turner Construction
Turner Construction Company is one of the largest construction management companies in the United States with a construction volume of $8 billion in 2010. It is a subsidiary of HOCHTIEF Germany.-The early years:...
(a subsidiary of Turner Corp.) is currently the largest commercial builder in the United States. Leppert credits himself with earning more profits for the company during his seven year tenure than in the company's previous 97 years combined, and moving a related holding company headquarters (employing 15 people, including Leppert) from New York City to Dallas; Turner Construction continues to be headquartered in New York.
During his career, Leppert also held positions at McKinsey & Co.
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...
, Trammell Crow Company
Trammell Crow Company
Trammell Crow Company is a Dallas-based real estate development, investment and operations company founded by the late Trammell Crow, and operated as an independent subsidiary of CB Richard Ellis. It was founded by Trammell Crow in 1948 and purchased in late 2006...
, Bank of Hawaii
Bank of Hawaii
The Bank of Hawaii Corporation is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is Hawaii's second oldest bank and its largest locally owned bank in that majority of the voting stockholders reside within the state...
, and Castle & Cooke Properties, Inc
Castle & Cooke
Castle & Cooke, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company at one time did most of its business in agriculture...
.
Leppert was elected to the Board of Directors of Washington Mutual
Washington Mutual
Washington Mutual, Inc. , abbreviated to WaMu, was a savings bank holding company and the former owner of Washington Mutual Bank, which was the United States' largest savings and loan association until its collapse in 2008....
(at the time, the largest savings and loan association in the United States) in 2005; as part of his election, he was also named to the Board of Directors' Governance and Audit committees. During Leppert's seat on the Board of Directors' Washington Mutual Bank had became the largest bank failure in American financial history.
Awards
Leppert received the Torch of Conscience award from the Dallas-based Southwest region of the American Jewish CongressAmerican Jewish Congress
The American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts....
in 2006, the Russell H. Perry Free Enterprise Award from Dallas Baptist University for achievement in free enterprise and service to the community in 2009, and the Distinguished Business Leader award from the Dallas chapter of the Texas Association of Business in 2010. He was also named a 2007 "Business Person of the Year" finalist by the Dallas Business Journal, and "CEO Of The Year" by D Magazine in 2008.
Mayor of Dallas
Leppert defeated city councilCity council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
man Ed Oakley
Ed Oakley
Ed Oakley is a municipal politician from Dallas, Texas. He served on the city council from 2001 to 2007, and was a candidate for Mayor of Dallas in the runoff election held on June 16, 2007. If he had won, he would have been the first openly-gay mayor of a top ten U.S. city.In the runoff election,...
in a runoff election June 16, 2007, winning with 58 percent of the vote. Some attribute his win to unexpected support from leaders within the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
community of the traditionally Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
southern section of the city and his appeal to Republicans.
While the office of mayor is officially non-partisan, like all municipal offices in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Leppert is a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
who participates in party fundraising events.
After his first year in office, Leppert's runnoff election opponent (Oakley) praised him for his leadership and for delivering on his campaign promises: "There's no question: Tom's done an excellent job. He's delivered on his priorities." Shortly before Leppert’s resignation, however, Oakley had second thoughts and publicly wondered whether Leppert was more interested in his own advancement than the city’s.
Political positions and actions
In his inaugural address, Leppert stated that his first order of business would be to “reach out to everybody [and] include everybody from everywhere" and he emphasized a need to change the City Council’s tone, stating: “rather than punishing business, City Hall needs to start promoting business.” As he did during the mayoral campaign, Mr. Leppert made education a theme of his inaugural address, proclaiming: “when a big issue like underperforming schools is holding back an entire city and hindering our growth, then it is everyone's problem." With respect to crime, he said the council must use two objectives by which to judge its crime-fighting performance: lowering Dallas' typically high crime-rate ranking among the nation's largest cities, and building confidence and trust in all Dallas neighborhoods for police and fire personnel. Finally, he firmly restated his commitment to enact the Trinity River Corridor plan, calling the project "a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and it will be the catalyst that puts Dallas on the world stage, if we seize the moment and get it done."Two years into his term, Leppert had won support from a core coalition of Dallas City Council members (Dwaine Caraway
Dwaine Caraway
Dwaine Caraway is the former Mayor of Dallas after previous mayor Tom Leppert resigned to campaign for a US Senate seat. Caraway's first meeting with the Dallas city council was on March 2. He served as interim mayor until June 26, 2011 He was succeeded by Mike Rawlings.- References :...
, Dave Neumann, and Ron Natinsky), who voted with Leppert more than 92 percent of the time, a rate roughly equal to his record of being on the winning side of council roll call votes. Indeed, Caraway even went so far as to declare that he "would take a bullet" for the Mayor during a heated debate over the Trinity River Project
Trinity River Project
The Trinity River Project is a public works project undertaken in the 2000s in the city of Dallas, Texas, USA. Its goal is to redevelop the Trinity River. The project aims to turn the river's path into a collection of sports fields, trails, nature centers, and recreational opportunities...
.
Leppert donated his mayoral salary to a scholarship fund for students from low-income families.
Crime reduction
Leppert ran on the pledge of reducing crime and increasing the number of police officers in the city of Dallas. He helped add 200 new police officers to the city's ranks, which resulted in a drop in crime rates each year Leppert was in office—including a 10% reduction in 2010.Economic development and jobs
In January 2008, Mayor Leppert embarked on a trade mission to MonterreyMonterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
, Mexico, to promote Dallas's medical, educational, and corporate institutions. Another part of the trip's agenda was to lobby on behalf of an inland seaport in the Dallas area. Leppert was joined by more than a dozen officials from city government, the Dallas Independent School District
Dallas Independent School District
The Dallas Independent School District is a school district based in Dallas, Texas . Dallas ISD, which operates schools in much of Dallas County, is the second largest school district in Texas and the twelfth largest in the United States.In 2009, the school district was rated "academically...
and various health care and commercial institutions in the largest mission of its kind in years. One of the agreements reached on the trip include a plan for an MD/PhD program in Mexico provided by UT Southwestern Medical School. Leppert also stated that Mexican President Felipe Calderón
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...
would be visiting Dallas on his next visit to the United States.
Following his trip to Mexico, Leppert led a trade mission to China and signed "friendship city" agreements with major industrial cities such as Dalian
Dalian
Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...
and Qingdao
Qingdao
' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...
. Leppert also oversaw the negotiation of business deals with Chinese officials, such as advocacy of investment in the Dallas Inland Port and the placement of a Chinese telecommunication firm's U.S. headquarters in Dallas.
Leppert is also credited with persuading AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
to relocate to Dallas as well as encouraging the start-up of a new $15 million call center that plans to ultimately employ 300 workers.
Convention center hotel
In December 2007, Leppert began lobbying the Obama administration for $386 million in Community Development Block GrantCommunity Development Block Grant
The Community Development Block Grant , one of the longest-running programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, funds local community development activities such as affordable housing, anti-poverty programs, and infrastructure development...
funds to be awarded by the federal government for the purpose of building a new convention center hotel in downtown Dallas (a project that had been on Dallas' drawing board for nearly two decades), stating: "Let's use this as an opportunity. Most of the economy in the country is in metro areas. Let's make sure we use this (stimulus) money much as we did back in the 1930s, so that when we come out we have a much stronger economy and we’re in a much better position.”
Following the federal government's failure to approve Leppert's request for stimulus funds, in February 2008 he announced plans to seek an alternate form of financing. He argued that if Dallas didn't build the hotel, it would fall further behind other cities in the competition for convention and tourism business, and that larger conventions wouldn't even consider Dallas because it doesn't have a hotel attached to its convention center. He also argued that, because it would attract more visitors to Dallas, the building of the hotel would lead to a broadening of Dallas' tax base and an increase in jobs and sales tax revenue to the city. In May 2008, he successfully lobbied the City Council to approve spending $42 million to purchase land on which the proposed hotel would be located.
The project was financed with $388.2 million in federally-subsidized revenue bond
Revenue bond
A revenue bond is a special type of municipal bond distinguished by its guarantee of repayment solely from revenues generated by a specified revenue-generating entity associated with the purpose of the bonds, rather than from a tax...
s issued under the Obama administration's Build America Bonds
Build America Bonds
Build America Bonds are taxable municipal bonds that carry special tax credits and federal subsidies for either the bond issuer or the bondholder. Build America Bonds were created under Section 1531 of Title I of Division B of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that U.S. President Barack...
program (which means that the federal government reimburses the city 35% of the interest associated with the issue) and $91.7 million in conventional hotel revenue bonds ($479.9 million total). Repayment is anticipated to come from a combination of $249.1 million in direct subsidies from the federal government (associated with the Build America Bonds
Build America Bonds
Build America Bonds are taxable municipal bonds that carry special tax credits and federal subsidies for either the bond issuer or the bondholder. Build America Bonds were created under Section 1531 of Title I of Division B of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that U.S. President Barack...
), $212.9 million in pledged state and city occupancy and sales taxes associated with the property's operation, and the remainder from hotel net operating income. In addition, the bonds are further backed by a “Moral Obligation Pledge” from the City of Dallas to cover any shortfalls. The hotel broke ground in 2009 and is projected to open in 2012.
In an effort to reinforce the success of the hotel, Leppert led the City Council to lobby Dallas Area Rapid Transit
Dallas Area Rapid Transit
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority is a transit agency based in Dallas, Texas . It operates buses, light rail, commuter rail, and high-occupancy vehicle lanes in Dallas and 12 of its suburbs...
(DART) to change the alignment of a proposed light rail line through downtown; under Leppert’s plan, the line would be diverted from the center of downtown to stop at the hotel and would include a subway segment that would travel beneath the convention center to an underground station at City Hall before rejoining the original alignment. DART staff, however, reported that, at $824 million, the proposed realignment would be more expensive than all other options being considered, exceeding the cost of the cheapest alignment by $315 million. They also pointed out that the Federal Transit Administration makes the final call on where the route should go, and the hotel alignment had been shown to attract fewer riders, at higher costs, than other options. Nevertheless, Leppert continued to serve as a strong advocate for the realignment, stating: “The hotel alignment serves downtown's transportation needs and supports the public and private investment in our city's core.”
Education
On February 21, 2008, Leppert unveiled The Every Child Ready to Read @ Dallas program. This program was part of Leppert's larger plan to improve Dallas's education system which was unveiled in 2007.Ethics and open government
In December 2007, Leppert released his ethics plan that would ban city council members from accepting free tickets to events, and modernize the city's campaign finance disclosure system by creating a searchable, online campaign finance database and requiring electronic filing of campaign finance reports for political candidates in the city. In March 2008, the city council approved Leppert's electronic electronic campaign finance filing system proposal.In November 2009, the city council passed a series of four ethics reforms championed by Leppert that:
- Required lobbyists to register with the city
- Limited campaign contributions from developers
- Required disclosure of gifts to council members over $50
- Required two city council members to "second" major zoning cases and certify they have reviewed the details of the zoning case before the matter can be voted on
Love Field no-bid concessions contract extensions
Leppert ignited a controversy when he opposed no-bid
No-bid contract
The term "no-bid contract" is a popular phrase for what is officially known as a "sole source contract". A sole source contract implies that there is only one person or company that can provide the contractual services needed, and any attempt to obtain bids would only result in one person or...
concessions contract
Concession (contract)
A concession is a business operated under a contract or license associated with a degree of exclusivity in business within a certain geographical area. For example, sports arenas or public parks may have concession stands. Many department stores contain numerous concessions operated by other...
extensions with current Love Field food vendor Star Concessions Ltd. and newspaper and book vendor Hudson Retail Dallas during a March 3, 2010, city council meeting. Leppert insisted that the contracts should be opened to public bidding
Bidding
Bidding is an offer of setting a price one is willing to pay for something. A price offer is called a bid. The term may be used in context of auctions, stock exchange, card games, or real estate transactions....
instead. Leppert demanded that city staff—who backed the extensions—appear before the full council and explain why the concessions contracts weren't opened to public bidding.
On February 22, 2010, the city council's Transportation and Environment Committee had previously voted to extend contracts with the existing concessions for through 2026 with an additional 3-year option and exclusive rights to 54 percent of vending space in a new terminal scheduled to open in 2014, instead of opening the contract up to public bidding
In an April 26, 2010, editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
, The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
called the lack of transparency and fiduciary responsibility "troubling". The Dallas Morning News noted that the situation was complicated by the fact that the concessions operators were partially owned by two elected officials—State Representative
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...
Helen Giddings
Helen Giddings
Helen Giddings is a lifelong resident of Dallas County, and believes that public service identifies her. She is a community leader, successful entrepreneur, and is currently serving an eighth-term as a member of the Texas State House of Representatives. Rep...
and U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Eddie Bernice Johnson is a politician from the state of Texas, currently representing the state's in the United States House of Representatives. She is the first registered nurse elected to the US Congress....
.
On May 21, 2010, The Dallas Morning News reported that Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez said that city staff recommended in June 2007 that all concession space in the renovated airport be opened up for competitive bids, but that plan was opposed by city council members. On June 9, 2010, The Dallas Morning News reported that airport consultants said that the no-bid plan was unusual and could result in an inferior deal for the city. According to a June 17, 2010 article in the Dallas Observer
Dallas Observer
The Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas . At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover. For a time during the early years, the paper...
, Gilbert Aranza—owner of Star Concessions Ltd.—accused Leppert of hypocrisy given his support for similar no-bid contract extensions during his tenure on the D/FW Airport Board.
In an apparent victory for Leppert, the city council voted on August 18, 2010, to open all concessions space in the new terminal for public bidding; city staff would attempt to reach a deal with Star and Hudson to operate existing concessions space from 2011 to 2014, otherwise it would also be opened for public bidding.
Property tax rate increases
During candidate Leppert's 2007 mayoral campaign, he ran a television commercial featuring Dallas Cowboys legend Roger Staubach telling Dallasites, "I hope you'll say 'no' to new taxes by saying 'yes' to Tom Leppert." However, in September of that year he voted with the majority of the Dallas City Council in a successful push to raise taxes, hailing the budget as a good deal for Dallas residents, balancing a modest tax increase against a bevy of improved city services.In subsequent years, however, Leppert opposed property tax rate increases in the city of Dallas and proposed spending cuts to balance the budget.
In 2008, despite early calls for another property tax rate increase, Leppert successfully led opposition to prevent another rate increase. Leppert also successfully led opposition to another proposal to increase property tax rates in 2009.
In 2010, once again, Leppert led the opposition of yet another property tax rate increase proposal. In response to the estimated $130 million shortfall in the city's $2 billion budget, Leppert crafted a new budget proposal to close the budget gap without increasing taxes. Despite Leppert's strong objections, the city council voted by a 8-7 majority to pass a 6.5% property tax rate increase anyway—the largest in 20 years.
Electoral history
After receiving a plurality of votes among a crowded field of candidates in the 2007 Dallas Mayoral Election, Leppert won a spot in a runoff election along with Dallas City Council member Ed OakleyEd Oakley
Ed Oakley is a municipal politician from Dallas, Texas. He served on the city council from 2001 to 2007, and was a candidate for Mayor of Dallas in the runoff election held on June 16, 2007. If he had won, he would have been the first openly-gay mayor of a top ten U.S. city.In the runoff election,...
. Leppert was victorious in the runoff election.
Political future
In late 2008, it was widely rumored that Leppert would run in a potential special election for Kay Bailey HutchisonKay Bailey Hutchison
Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, known as Kay Bailey Hutchison , is the senior United States Senator from Texas.She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S....
's United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat, which she was widely expected to vacate during her run for Texas governor; in a December newspaper interview, Leppert denied he had started to campaign, but he refused to entirely rule out the possibility. However, Hutchison retained her Senate seat, and her gubernatorial campaign ended when she lost the 2010 Texas Republican primary to incumbent Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
.
Rumors soon circulated that Leppert was considering a Senate run directly against Hutchison in 2012, a possibility he did not refute during an April 2010, interview.
In January 2011, Leppert announced that he would not seek re-election to the office of mayor in May. This further fueled speculation that he was planning a run for the now open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Hutchison.
On February 22, 2011, it was reported that Leppert would announce his resignation from the office of mayor the next day. The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
noted that this is a necessary first step for his expected run for Senate because Dallas law prohibits the mayor from running for another office while still serving as mayor.
Leppert resigned his seat as mayor effective at midnight on February 25, 2011. He told The Dallas Morning News that his campaign for the U.S. Senate would begin immediately, with Mike Slanker, former director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
National Republican Senatorial Committee
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is the Republican Hill committee for the United States Senate, working to elect Republicans to that body. The NRSC was founded in 1916 as the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee...
, acting as his chief campaign consultant.