Video interview: Billy MacLeod, candidate for Dallas City Council District 2

by Mike Bullock , John P. Meyer

A veteran PegNews user who shall remain nameless put us on to Billy MacLeod after meeting him at a club in Deep Ellum (which is part of District 2, for which Dallas City Council seat MacLeod is running). Our correspondent referred to him (Billy) as "a pistol," if memory serves.

And a pistol Billy most certainly is, as you'll discover straightaway upon hearing him hold forth in the accompanying video interview.

As we were setting up our camera to record the interview, MacLeod fielded a call from his campaign office and proceeded to deliver instructions on the printing of promotional flyers. One could take this interlude as an indicator that he's a hands-on type of guy - a "Type A" personality, perhaps.

Billy gets in front of issues regarding his background, which includes a history of alcoholism (which he states he has now overcome) and a police record. He actually trumpets his experience on the offender side of the legal system (and the drinker's side of the bar) as the kinds of insights that his opponents cannot (or perhaps dare not) bring to the table.

He is a Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran, having served in the Navy during those U.S. military actions. He worked for the Obama campaign during the 2008 national elections. He was homeless once, and it's on the basis of this and his other experiences that MacLeod deems himself a survivor - with justification.

Note that the "this past weekend" reference (our first question in the video interview) refers to Sat. night, April 11, when Billy asserts he was assaulted by employees of a bar in Deep Ellum. The incumbent to whom he refers is Pauline Medrano.