6 November 7 - 13, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Philip Kingston, an attorney and former council member, says the anti-HERO efforts may have started too late. (For example, op- ponents’ major “vote no” efforts kicked off a little over a month ago.) “But Mike [Rawlings] is such a good fun- draiser,” Kingston adds, “that I thought they’d raised enough money to really do something.” From the start, HERO was known for its affiliation with the far right. The effort is bankrolled by Republican mega-donor Monty Bennett, and its public face is conser- vative activist Pete Marocco. Bennett and Marocco were both reportedly present at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, and prior to his HERO affiliation, Marocco was perhaps best known for “undermining” and “mis- treating” staffers at USAID, as reported by Politico. A representative for Marocco did not re- spond to a request for comment about the Jan. 6 insurrection, but before the Nov. 5 vote, he answered a series of questions about common criticisms of HERO. For instance, some voters took issue with the fact that Marocco was lobbying for these charter changes without living in Dallas. He resides in University Park, and he previously told the Observer, “We looked at other parts of Dallas and just didn’t feel safe.” Jeff Patterson, the leader of the city’s fire- fighters association, is one of those Marocco critics. In multiple interviews with the Ob- server, the veteran firefighter stressed that he never found HERO’s efforts trustworthy, and he took special issue with the organiza- tion’s now-successful efforts to alter the pension fund. “We feel it could create a division in Pub- lic Safety,” he said shortly before the vote. “It has the potential to disrupt our Meet & Con- fer. That is what we use to negotiate our pay and keep us competitive with surrounding police and fire departments. We negotiate our salaries through Meet & Confer, not through city charter.” Despite these misgivings, Patterson says his association did not join efforts with the coalition led by former mayors. “We have too many members that are still angry with Rawlings and his handling of the pension back in 2017,” he said. Voellinger says the lack of cohesion be- tween HERO’s various critics could have played a role in its success. “Organizing has to be interwoven in a community,” she said. “It can’t just be pro- pelled from the dais. You can make a lot of show, but it falls short when you’re not orga- nizing alongside your community.” In the early hours of Nov. 6, the Rawl- ings-led group released a statement that claims the HERO propositions were “false promises.” But the somber statement also says, “these Charter election results should be a wakeup call for everyone who cares about local government.” It reads like the group may be willing to turn the page, but Kingston says the fight is far from over. Over the phone, he outlined several ways the city could combat the prop- ositions: “If a court were to try to force the hire of 900 more officers and keep staffing levels no matter what, the city could probably take advantage of Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code,” he said. “If the city declares bank- ruptcy, I don’t think the charter has any ef- fect.” Further, Kingston argues that Dallas could file a declarative action that says it is unconstitutional for a city to waive its sover- eign immunity (which it is now compelled to do as part of HERO’s lawsuit-related proposition). “There is no future universe in Dallas where there is no litigation,” he says, “and my point is, it’s always better to be the plain- tiff.” ▼ ABORTION/ELECTION ‘ON A LIMB BY OURSELVES’ REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ADVOCATES VOICE FEAR, ANGER AFTER ELECTION. BY EMMA RUBY O n Wednesday morning, Ryan Ham- ilton, an abortion access advocate who campaigned alongside Senate candidate Colin Allred and Vice President Kamala Harris, felt confused, angry and sad. Hamilton’s voice emerged in the repro- ductive rights conversation over the sum- mer, just months after the North Texas man had found his wife bleeding out on their bathroom floor after being denied care for a miscarriage because of the state’s abortion ban. As a way to cope with the trauma of los- ing a wanted pregnancy and nearly losing his wife, he started the podcast CORRECT, which explored the reproductive rights con- versation with elected officials and medical professionals who appeared as guests. When Allred and Harris’ campaigns each focused on reimplementing national protections for abortion access, Hamilton was brought along to rallies in Houston, Las Vegas and New Hampshire to tell his fami- ly’s story and warn of the impact of the Texas abortion ban. He became a “walking, talking nightmare tale,” but was happy to do the work because he felt he was “moving the needle” toward a better future for his young daughter and his wife. After witnessing the election results, he’s not sure whether his advocacy work will continue. “What’s my reason now? Is it really going to make a difference? I hate feeling like shar- ing what happened to us and being a part of this movement didn’t matter enough,” Ham- ilton told the Observer. “I feel so run down and just mentally and emotionally ex- hausted. And I didn’t get to have, none of us got to have, that moment where we went, ‘Oh thank God, it was worth it.’” Abortion access is a topic that has been especially steeped in fear in the election’s af- termath. Dr. Todd Ivey, a Houston based OB-GYN, helped author a letter signed by 110 Texas practitioners that urges lawmak- ers to reevaluate the state’s approach to abortion legislation. Colleagues from around the state and the country began whispering about the repercussions of a possible national abortion ban as the presi- dential race was called for Trump, Ivey said. (“[A national abortion ban is] not where we are right now,” Ivey told us Wednesday morning. “We don’t know that that is what’s coming.”) While the results of the election may not seem promising to reproductive rights advo- cates on the surface, Ivey believes that the number of state referendums enshrining abortion access that passed are a sign of promise. Abortion rights groups claimed victories in seven states — Arizona, Colo- rado, Maryland, Montana, New York, Ne- vada and Missouri — through state constitutional amendments and laws. Al- though Texas did not have an abortion ac- cess referendum on the ballot, Amarillo voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would have made it illegal for pregnant women to pass through the city while travel- ing for an out-of-state abortion. “I think it shows that most people really support some access to abortion care,” Ivey said. “In Texas, the ultimate decisions are going to be determined by the state legisla- ture. We’ve always said from the very begin- ning we want to work with the legislature to find some things that help protect women and help protect providers.” But the election does cause concern for Ivey, too. Last month, Manatt Health re- ported that an alarming number of Texas physicians are reevaluating their choice to practice maternal healthcare in the Lone Star State. Nearly 1 in 3 doctors surveyed said they did not have a clear understanding of Texas’ abortion law, and 60% said they are concerned they will face legal repercussions if they practice “evidence-based medicine” when treating pregnancy complications. Twenty-one percent of the OB-GYNs said they have thought about or plan to leave the state entirely. After the results of Tuesday’s election decisively favored Republicans, Ivey is con- cerned the state could continue to lose trac- tion with maternal healthcare physicians. “We’re really out there on a limb by our- selves, and so I am afraid that the chilling ef- fect will worsen,” Ivey said. “One of my biggest fears is that we’re not going to be able to attract, you know, the best and the brightest. Texas has traditionally been a great place for medical education Brian Maschino A controversial charter ammendment passed to support fire and police. Martha Dominguez de Gouveia/Unsplash Ryan Hamilton, an abortion access advocate who campaigned alongside Colin Allred and Kamala Harris, is uncertain about what his advocacy efforts will look like in the future. Unfair Park from p3 >> p8
