| Todd J. Gillman: Get ready to hail – or yell – to the chief 01/16/2001 By Todd J. Gillman / The Dallas Morning News Tuxedo shops in the Park Cities are doing a land-office business. One has 150 suits going out this week for the inauguration. And just as they did for George W. Bush's campaign, Texans are providing a hefty portion of the funds for the swearing-in festivities.
But Bush backers aren't the only folks heading to Washington this weekend.
At least one busload of protesters will join the fun from the Dallas area. Watch the crowd shots for hand-painted signs that read "Hail to the Thief" and such.
"People need to know that they have a voice, and it can be heard," said Paula Little, a Plano Democrat and Texas coordinator for the Inaugural Voter March (www.votermarch.org), one of several groups expecting to draw tens of thousands of people to Washington this weekend – the most inaugural protesters since anti-Vietnam forces converged to see Richard Nixon sworn in for a second term.
At least four are coming from Fort Worth. There's an older couple from Belton, some families from Dallas, a high school teacher from Garland. The bus will pick up some folks in Texarkana en route Friday morning.
"We want everyone to know that all Texans don't believe he'll be the president legitimately," said Ms. Little, a longtime supporter of the about-to-be-former vice president, Al Gore. "We elected Gore, and Bush is being inaugurated, and it's not right. When you have to shut down vote-counting to make sure he wins, everyone knows what's going on."
Alice Riggins, a Dallas tour operator whose All In One Tours is providing the luxury coach for the marchers, has put her heart into the effort to fill it. "Being an African-American person," she said, "I can't tell my children their votes count. I have to be honest with them. It depends on how rich you are and where you live."
But the Texas contingent will be vastly outnumbered, even in the anti-Bush ranks, where organizers expect more than 2,000 people from Palm Beach County, Fla., alone. And their bitterness will be shadowed by the revelry of thousands of Texans descending on Washington for either the weekend or a four-year stint in power.
Having been denied an Election Night celebration, they're ready to party.
The hottest ticket by far is Friday night's Black Tie & Boots Ball, hosted by the Texas State Society. More than 9,000 people are expected at the festivities, featuring entertainment from Clint Black, Lisa Hartman-Black, Lee Greenwood, Tanya Tucker, Mark Chestnutt, Asleep at the Wheel and Gary P. Nunn.
Tickets on eBay, the online auction site, have fetched $1,700 or more, what with George W. and Laura Bush expected to drop by. That means security, of course, and the society, co-chaired by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, warns of long waits at the metal detectors: "Too much metal or unconcealed metal will cause this process to be lengthy. Please plan your evening attire accordingly."
(Presumably this refers to glittery clothing, since the District of Columbia, unlike Texas, doesn't allow concealed handguns.)
And the Bush-Cheney Inaugural Committee, run by Dallasite Jeanne Johnson Phillips, has raised nearly $20 million, mostly from $100,000 donors, many of them from Texas.
Dallas entrepreneur Sam Wyly and his brother Charles Wyly each anted up $100,000. (Sam bought the $2.5 million ad blitz attacking Sen. John McCain's environmental record during the GOP primaries.)
Other notable Dallas-area $100,000 donors include Dennis Berman, founder of Denitech Corp., an office automation company, and W. Ray Wallace, retired chief of Trinity Industries. Oilman Ray Hunt and his company each gave $100,000. So did American Airlines; Tandy Corp.; snack food maker Frito-Lay and its parent, PepsiCo, and PepsiCo chairman Roger Enrico.
Todd J. Gillman can be reached at 214-977-8027.
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