Dallas Council Vents About Philip Kingston, Then Reprimands Him Over Ethics Violation

Dallas City Council member Philip Kingston's colleagues officially reprimanded him Wednesday for making a political campaign ad in his City Hall office, but not before spending more than an hour pouring over the way Kingston bugs them.And before he left to allow the council to deliberate, Kingston, for the first time, offered a public apology in a two-sentence statement: "This is a stupid mistake, and I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you. I'll see you after lunch."What followed was an hour-and-a-half long discussion that resembled a group therapy session or a Festivus airing of the grievances about Kingston, whose brash style has made him a divisive figure in local politics. Kingston's friends and allies on the council talked about how much they didn't like him at times. Others vented about the way Kingston dresses down city staff or what they called his hypocritical statements and votes.It was the first test of the city's new ethics rules, which the council, including Kingston, approved earlier this year. Retired lawyer Barry Jacobs, a supporter of Kingston's last election opponent Matt Wood, filed the ethics complaint in August after seeing a video posted to Kingston's Facebook account advertising a fundraiser. In the video, Kingston talks straight into a camera while sitting behind his relatively nondescript City Hall office.  Continue reading...