Dallas zoning proposal would make lobbyists register, limit donations

 Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said Monday he will propose sweeping changes to the way City Hall handles zoning cases and the players involved in them.

His proposed overhaul includes:

 •Requiring paid lobbyists to register with the city.

•Prohibiting people with zoning cases before the city from giving campaign contributions to council members for 60 days before and 60 days after their case is considered.

•Requiring a zoning case to have the signatures of three council members before the full council can consider it.

"We're putting it all together now, and that's what I'm going to put on the table," Leppert said.

The mayor said he's been working on the proposal since entering office in 2007. He said it will complement an ethics overhaul enacted by the council earlier in his term, including the establishment of an electronic-filing system for campaign-disclosure reports and restrictions on gifts to council members and travel by city officials.

He said he will present the overhaul package to the council within the next month.

Leppert's proposal comes as the federal corruption trial of former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and his allies has focused public attention on how City Hall is lobbied by special interests.

Currently, the city does not require the registration of lobbyists and consultants who are paid to persuade council members, city staff and plan commissioners to support their clients' projects.

Leppert's proposal will meet with a receptive audience in some quarters.

On Monday, District 14 council member Angela Hunt sent a memo to City Attorney Tom Perkins directing him to brief the council on how it might implement a lobbyist registration system.

"I've asked the city attorney to investigate a system that we could use that would provide more transparency," Hunt said. "I want a briefing that will give us an overview of what the state system requires."

Fellow council members Jerry Allen, Pauline Medrano, Ann Margolin and Linda Koop signed Hunt's memo.

Hill, former Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee and others are being tried on bribery and extortion charges. They are accused of targeting two affordable-housing developers, James R. "Bill" Fisher and Brian Potashnik.

The developers testified that Hill and Lee threatened to pull their political support if the businessmen didn't hire the right consultants and contractors.

Two defendants in the case, Hill's wife, Sheila Farrington Hill, and Darren Reagan, worked as consultants for the developers. Their fees, prosecutors say, were actually bribe and extortion payments that benefited Hill and Lee.

Defense attorneys have spent much of the trial arguing that their clients had legitimate contracts for real work and engaged in normal Dallas politics.

It's the politics-as-usual argument by defense lawyers that's troubling some Dallas officials.

Leppert's proposals would illuminate who is hiring lobbyists and would prevent developers from trying to influence council members with campaign contributions.

As for requiring signatures from three council members before a zoning case can be heard, that might encourage individual council members to pay more attention to projects outside their districts.

Council members now exercise almost total control over the fates of projects within their districts. By custom, their colleagues almost always follow their lead in approving or denying those projects.

Hunt, whose district includes hot development areas that generate a lot of zoning cases and new construction projects, says it's time to change the system.

"Recent court cases have pointed out some flaws," she said Monday. "We want to reduce the appearance of any impropriety."

Hunt said public speakers at council meetings, the most basic form of lobbying in Dallas, must first give their names and addresses.

That's more than paid lobbyists are required to produce, she said.