2007 Dallas Mayoral Election Interview: Zac Crain

by Alan Cohen

Zac Crain stopped by the Pegasus News offices earlier this week to discuss how he would approach being the Dallas Mayor if elected. During the conversation we discussed:

Interview with Zac Crain

-The continued perception by some that Zac is not a serious candidate

-How committed Zac is to giving Dallas police officers a raise

-How big of a raise does he intend to give

Dallas mayoral interviews

-Whether Zac would commit to doubling the number of officers on the street

-How he intends to pay for potential new officers and pay raises

-How he intends to improve DISD when the district is controlled by only the superintendent and the school board

-Whether or not he'll be able to have a working relationship with Michael Hinajosa after antagonizing him on his campaign website

-How he intends to tackle the $14.1 billion in improvements needed for Dallas' infrastructure

-Why Zac feels we need to maintain our current approach with the homeless

-How he will be able to relate to the business community

-How quickly Zac will be able to fix problems with the current bus routes

We're inviting all local candidates in the May election to come in for interviews. If you want to take us up on that, drop us a line.

Staff
Verified User
Anonymous

Chad Jones, says:

While in his mind he might be sincere about wanting to run for mayor, he isn't taking a sincere approach. Throughout the interview he is slouched and disengaged, and his responses, instead of being the typical political equivocation, are just lazy and overly-conversational. Case in point:
 Alan: "Unlike the other candidates, on your website there is no Spanish translation. I wonder how you're going to relate to the Latino community when you're not even speaking their language." Zac: "(Laughs) I'm trying. I've tried to learn Spanish. I'm a bit slow on . . . (Laughs again) we won't even get into that. But, I mean, I think in a lot of instances, absolutely, it's very important to relate to them on a level they're comfortable with. You can't just take the attitude that 'we're in America so you have to speak English.' It's true to an extent, but, I mean, a lot of people--they're not gonna be able to relate to--if they have to speak a language they're not familiar with. I mean, there's lots of little nuances in any language that can trip you up. And, so, y'know . . . I'm trying to learn Spanish. It's a tough process." Come on.
 The way he carries himself--as opposed to his lack of experience in public office or even the infamous mix-tape--is the reason people aren't taking him seriously.