Anthony Skinner returns to the Duncanville City Council

by Brian Allen of Best Southwest Citizen

The most controversial councilman in the Best Southwest lost his re-election bid Saturday to Anthony Skinner, the man Paul Ford ousted two years ago.

In a campaign that earned national attention after Ford was arrested for disrupting a public meeting, District 3 voters opted for the much more low-key Skinner. Skinner’s 211-181 victory ends one of the most contentious council runs in recent memory.

Ford accused his colleagues of corruption, backroom deals and strengthening a “good ol’ boy” network at Duncanville City Hall. The majority of voters May 9 disagreed. Skinner’s election also deals a crushing blow to the faction of what Ford termed “independent voices” during the 2008 campaign.

The boisterous councilman had proclaimed that he, Deborah Hodge and Johnette Jameson would bring reform to Duncanville government by tightening up the purse strings.

They had hoped 2008 mayoral candidate Rose Renfroe could defeat David Green to shake up the voting dynamic. But Green made good on a pre-election guarantee and soundly defeated Renfroe. Hodge lost her 2008 re-election bid to the man she had defeated two years before, Grady Smithey.

Now only Jameson, who won her District 5 re-election bid, remains from the group. Duncanville voters tried the reform that Ford touted, but have ultimately decided they were happy with the council they had several years ago.