Below is a column by James Ragland of the Dallas Morning News. He is a columnist on the Metro Section, covering local issues, government, etc. He is African-American is generally considered a liberal voice in the paper.
I guess this is just more food for thought in trying to discover just who Harriet Miers is.
James Ragland:
Judging by tenure on council, Miers often a voice of reason
07:25 AM CDT on Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Harriet Miers is a puzzle whose pieces don't come together so easily. She's shrewd, smart and hard to pigeonhole.
My hunch is that she would be a conciliatory swing vote on the Supreme Court, an icy bridge between the court's more conservative and liberal factions. At least that's how she functioned as a Dallas City Council member a decade and a half ago.
Given how Washington works, that X factor may very well work for and against her confirmation.
But unless the Southern Methodist University law graduate has changed over the last 15 years, one thing is clear: Ms. Miers is definitely not a stone-throwing ideologue.
She's more of a legal eagle, a nerdy bookworm who thoroughly researches an issue and even seeks out conflicting viewpoints before making up her mind. I caught glimpses of that when I covered her 1989-91 term on the Dallas City Council.
One of the more telling moments came in July 1990, when Ms. Miers flip-flopped on a controversial issue before the council.
In the fall of 1989, she was part of a council majority that urged Congress to repeal the Wright amendment, the federal law that restricts flights from Dallas Love Field.
Ten months later, she changed her mind. Armed with two studies suggesting that letting more planes fly out of Love would lead to congestion at the inner-city airport and tarnish the region's gem, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Ms. Miers sponsored a resolution supporting the Wright amendment.
She called the reversal "a triumph of reason over rhetoric."
Former Dallas City Council member Max Wells, who sat next to Ms. Miers on the dais, said that was typical of his colleague.
"She likes to get all the facts," he said. "She's ... unusually bright, always well-prepared."
A lifelong Republican, Mr. Wells said he had no insights into Ms. Miers' personal political views on major issues that may come before the Supreme Court. "She's certainly a conservative," he said, "and that's a pretty broad term. She's a strong person of faith."
If foes are "looking for dirt," be it political or personal, he said, "I don't think they're going to find much. She's a classy lady."
Another former council colleague, Diane Ragsdale, a liberal politician who represented a predominantly black and poor section of town, recalled how Ms. Miers quickly established a bond with her.
"She asked me, 'What can I do to help you improve the conditions of your district and your constituents?' " Ms. Ragsdale said. "And most of my constituents were African-American and low-income. That indicated to me her strong desire to reach out and help."
Ms. Miers got caught up in some heated political battles, but some of her colleagues say she was always trying to do what she thought was fair and just.
For example, she initially backed a controversial, voter-approved redistricting plan that most black and some Hispanic leaders said would dilute their voting power. Once it became clear that the plan would not prevail in the courts, however, she got behind a plan that the black plaintiffs favored rather than another alternative that some civic leaders were pushing.
Ms. Ragsdale said that was indicative of how Ms. Miers approaches issues.
"She's highly intelligent, very thorough and very analytical," Ms. Ragsdale said. "As a Supreme Court justice, she's going to follow the law. She's not going to be a legislator."
Mike Daniel, a Democrat and a lawyer who represented plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuit, as well as black plaintiffs in a 1985 public-housing lawsuit brought against Dallas, recalls Ms. Miers serving as the chairwoman of the council's housing-settlement committee.
He said he was impressed with how she balanced her sensitivity toward his clients and her effort to protect the city's interests.
"She was certainly no supporter of the status quo," he said, "but she didn't want to hand over the keys to the city."
He also took note of her ability to see and respect different sides of issues.
"She's got a very good, far-reaching view of all parts of society that I don't think people like Judge [John] Roberts have," Mr. Daniel said, adding that he thinks Ms. Miers would be "a good choice" for the Supreme Court.
Ms. Miers now finds herself in an odd position, one that she has long despised: a pawn in a high-stakes game of politics.
"I want to be respected, and I want to be viewed as being true to my convictions," Ms. Miers said in 1991, toward the end of her council term. "But I don't much care what people think. I can't afford to."
Today, her hopes of becoming a Supreme Court justice may very well ride on what people think.
E-mail jragland@dallasnews.com