Press Contact: Andy Siegel, 214.

460-7855;
Email: asiegel@shacklaw.net

Citizens & Preachers Sue City for Unlawfully Calling Election to Wet-up Dallas
State Laws Safeguard Quality of Life in South and North Dallas Neighborhoods

A coalition of Pastors and citizens filed suit today in the Dallas Court of Appeals to ensure the City of Dallas
won’t vote on a citywide proposal to wet-up all parts of Dallas, unless and until the City verifies each signature
on the pro-alcohol petitions and the City Council preserves the historically dry areas of Dallas, including Oak
Cliff and Preston Hollow.

“If enough Dallas voters supported this issue on the petition drive, I’d be content with moving to an election,”
said Siegel. “However, the record is clear that the “wet” side simply couldn’t garner enough legitimate support
from registered voters in Dallas to earn a spot on the ballot. That being the case, my clients are challenging the
Council’s premature and unlawful decision to place this on the ballot for November.”

An independent review of the petition showed that the “Pro” coalition came up thousands of signatures short of
being able to trigger an election. The Election Group LLC, a recognized expert in more than 100 local initiative
and referenda, and local option and elections throughout the state, conducted the independent validation review
of the Petition signatures and found that, at a minimum, the Petitions fell, at a minimum, some 5,555 valid
signatures short of the number needed to order a lawful election.

“I’ve been through this before, most recently in 2008, when the Texas Supreme Court sided with my client and
stopped Dallas County JP 3 from attempting to hold a wet/dry election in a manner not authorized by our
election laws and the Alcoholic Beverage Code,” said Siegel. “This case is not much different, and I look
forward to making a case before the Dallas Court of Appeals in forcing the City Secretary and the City Council
to go back and try to call an election in the right way.”

Siegel said his clients believe that the last thing we need is to let Kroger’s try to bootstrap a defective Local
Option Petition that lacks needed signatures, into an excuse for out-of-state grocers to try to bump up their
bottom-line while putting Dallas neighborhoods at risk.”

Siegel noted that in the Mandamus Petition, a coalition of interfaith pastors and congregations, many based in
the Southern Sector, are asking the Appeals Court to ensure that basic election safeguards are satisfied by the
City before calling a vote.

Siegel explained that the Mandamus lawsuit filed Friday, alleges that the City Secretary and the City Council
each failed to perform several of its mandatory, statutory duties to properly verify each petition signature and to
order an election that respected the existing Dry votes of so many of our neighborhoods.

“In the City’s rush to call an election, fundamental safeguards designed to protect the historic dry votes of our
citizens were ignored,” Siegel noted. He believes that the Appeals Court is likely to order the City to go back
and do it right or risk wasting taxpayer dollars and precious votes on what would be both a “futile and an
unlawful election.”