I guess the Dallas Police Department can call off the search for Archie and Arthur now.
After involving everyone from Dallas Police Chief David Brown, the city attorney and the state Attorney General to obstruct our public freedom to indulge in tawdry information, it took a Dallas judge to get Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway to hand over a police recording of a domestic violence call to his home on Jan. 2.
It pretty much turned out to be what everybody expected, a battle royal between Caraway and his wife, state Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway, D-Dallas, according to the tape released today and carried by NBC Dallas Fort Worth.
While pretending not to be a bit interested in the lurid circumstances of a politician pulling a knife on another politician to whom he happens to be married, what is fascinating is how much taxpayer-financed civic machinery got cranked up to keep a police blotter item secret.
Not to mention questions about what is to be done about the mayor pro tem’s original and now discredited account of what prompted him to call police in the first place, involving friends Archie and Arthur who may or may not exist.
Unlike the average citizen, the chairman of the City Council's police department oversight committee managed to be patched through directly to the police chief on that day. The chief thought it best to send the Special Investigations Unit rather than the usual two-officer squad. Remarkably, given the contents of the now-public tape, this crack unit found no evidence of violence or of a crime.
When the Dallas Morning News asked for all documents relating to the rather extravagant police call, the city attorney’s office intervened, contending the matter involving all these public figures was private. It took nearly four months, but the Attorney General respectfully disagreed.
Some people in Dallas, including reporters for reporters for KDAF-TV, are wondering today if, just maybe, Caraway and his wife, who has declined to comment on the matter, were treated differently than the average Dallas taxpayer.
Like Archie. Or Arthur.
It pretty much turned out to be what everybody expected, a battle royal between Caraway and his wife, state Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway, D-Dallas, according to the tape released today and carried by NBC Dallas Fort Worth.
While pretending not to be a bit interested in the lurid circumstances of a politician pulling a knife on another politician to whom he happens to be married, what is fascinating is how much taxpayer-financed civic machinery got cranked up to keep a police blotter item secret.
Not to mention questions about what is to be done about the mayor pro tem’s original and now discredited account of what prompted him to call police in the first place, involving friends Archie and Arthur who may or may not exist.
Unlike the average citizen, the chairman of the City Council's police department oversight committee managed to be patched through directly to the police chief on that day. The chief thought it best to send the Special Investigations Unit rather than the usual two-officer squad. Remarkably, given the contents of the now-public tape, this crack unit found no evidence of violence or of a crime.
When the Dallas Morning News asked for all documents relating to the rather extravagant police call, the city attorney’s office intervened, contending the matter involving all these public figures was private. It took nearly four months, but the Attorney General respectfully disagreed.
Some people in Dallas, including reporters for reporters for KDAF-TV, are wondering today if, just maybe, Caraway and his wife, who has declined to comment on the matter, were treated differently than the average Dallas taxpayer.
Like Archie. Or Arthur.
***
Contact Mark Lisheron at 512-299-2318 or mark@texaswatchdog.org.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, NewsVine and tumblr.
Photo of tape by flickr user isamizdat, used via a Creative Commons license.
Contact Mark Lisheron at 512-299-2318 or mark@texaswatchdog.org.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, NewsVine and tumblr.
Photo of tape by flickr user isamizdat, used via a Creative Commons license.
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