Extortion Convictions in Dallas -- A Fascinating Story

Yesterday, according to an article in the Dallas Observer, Don Hill, a former Dallas council member, and four of his associates were found guilty of participating in an incredible extortion plot relating to affordable housing in South Dallas. The story, as produced by the prosecution with the help of a major participant who pled guilty and a developer who was an FBI informant, is told at length in another Observer article. It's a must read.

The cynicism behind the scheme is astounding. Two of the participants set up an organization called the Black State Employees Association of Texas (BSEAT). The organization had no members, not to mention state employees of any race. Its primary reason for existing (besides some supposed scholarships) was apparently to let developers know that the only way they could get the district council member's support for an affordable housing project was to work with BSEAT and its recommended minority subcontractors. BSEAT also played developers off against each other, and upped the ante every stage of the way, while the council turned down applications, keeping the screws on a developer until the developer paid enormous sums of money and/or the project became, effectively, BSEAT's. The participants would profit from payment for services, through a percentage of the developer's fees, through subcontractor kickbacks, and through out-and-out payoffs.

As I wrote in a recent blog post, as in Chicago, Dallas's district council members have power over development and other matters in their districts, allowing them, if they so choose, to create fiefdoms. BSEAT was simply an especially creative way to extort developers without the council member's direct involvement. No one should be given this sort of power. In this and many other instances, the opportunity to profit personally is the mother of invention.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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