Dallas' business elite may not have a unified voice in next spring's mayoral and council elections.

Leaders of the Dallas Citizens Council, a group of powerful business executives, will not endorse candidates in local elections for the first time in decades.

The decision means the group will no longer direct members to pour money into Dallas mayoral and council races, particularly in neighborhoods where they don't live.

"We're not going to be in the endorsement business," said Jere Thompson Jr., chairman of the Citizens Council and CEO of Ambit Energy.

He said the group's opposition to candidates who then became Dallas City Council members stifled its ability to advance an ambitious agenda.

"When you alienate people sitting around the horseshoe, it makes our role in making Dallas a better place to live, work and play very challenging," he said.

The 81-year-old Citizens Council has been involved in massive infrastructure projects like Central Expressway, the desegregation of schools, the arts community and the construction of arenas and D/FW Airport. Such goals require support from elected officials, and board members believed backing like-minded candidates would help their efforts.

But in recent years, many of the candidates they backed, including some incumbents, lost their races.

"Dallas is changing," Thompson said of the experience.

Indeed, the move reflects the changing local political tide. Groups and city leaders are trying different ways to influence a small and often finicky electorate. At the same time, they want to mollify the elected leaders they need to push various programs and initiatives.

Instead of simply picking candidates to prop up with money, the group will focus on voter engagement and finding common ground on issues that are important to its members.

"We want to spend more time on voter participation," Thompson said.

The Dallas Citizens Council, a group of business executives, hosts events around town. In 2016, CBS news anchor Scott Pelley laughed as longtime newsman Bob Schieffer showed off his custom boots at the Dallas Citizens Council luncheon held at the Omni Dallas Hotel in Dallas. (File 2016 / Staff)

Without a consensus pick to support in the mayoral election in May, money from the business elite could be divided among a field of around a dozen candidates who are lined up to succeed two-term Mayor Mike Rawlings. There are also several open council seats.

Until about five years ago, leaders of the Citizens Council denied making endorsements. But historians, political observers and critics say the group privately directed members to fund certain candidates or initiatives. Its members found a way to unify behind Rawlings, as well as former Dallas mayors Tom Leppert and Ron Kirk.

The board developed the Dallas Citizens Council Community Engagement Committee, which endorsed candidates in the 2013 local elections. In 2015 and 2017, the PAC bolstered candidates with money.

Losing influence on elections

But the days of the Citizens Council dominating local politics have been over for some time.

Dallas banker and former Mayor R.L. Thornton founded the group in 1937. It has supported numerous public projects, education initiatives (the Dallas County Community College District) and arts programs (Dallas Civic Opera, Dallas Symphony).

Backing candidates for local office was key to accomplishing the group's lofty agenda, and some of its members served in various elected and appointed roles.

"If you go back to the 1930s and until the 1970s, the Dallas Citizens Council and its predecessors were dominant," SMU political scientist Cal Jillson said. "That dominance began to break down in the 1970s and the 1980s."

Perhaps the last electoral high-water mark for the council was in 1995, when the group's members were instrumental in Kirk becoming the city's first black mayor.

Since then, the results have been mixed. In 2001, Laura Miller, the former journalist turned council member, stunned business leaders by beating Tom Dunning for mayor. She stressed basic services over big-ticket items like American Airlines Center and the Trinity River Project, which the Citizens Council wanted.

One of the City Council candidates the group endorsed in 2017's municipal elections was incumbent Erik Wilson, who lost to Tennell Atkins.

Atkins, who had previously served on the City Council, said the Citizens Council should have stayed out of his race. The group backed Wilson in the general election. When he emerged in a runoff with Atkins, the group hedged and gave money to both candidates.

"Are they really the 'Citizens' Council?" Atkins asked, emphasizing the word citizen. "They are just a small fraternity. They don't look like us. Why aren't they endorsing in races? Is it because they got walloped?"

Perhaps.

Jillson points out that North Texas' changing times and demographics negate the impact of endorsements made by groups like the Citizens Council.

"They recognize their ability to pick winners and losers has deteriorated over time," he said. "It's a good move for them."

What's more, Jillson said, minority neighborhood leaders have historically distrusted business leaders who back candidates in their districts, even though the black vote has been the staple of numerous bond and development initiatives.

The reality is that the Citizens Council can still back candidates without officially endorsing them, but Thompson insists its focus will shift from electoral politics.

On Tuesday, the group will have its annual meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas. The program will feature a discussion with former secretaries of state James Baker and Rex Tillerson, moderated by former PBS anchor Jim Lehrer. Tillerson made news last week after criticizing his former boss President Donald Trump as "undisciplined."