In Game of Thrones, the Lannister family is known to always pay their debts.
The Lannisters are one of the richest houses in the land, and control the gold mines in Westeros. When Cersei Lannister marries the new king Robert Baratheon, they have access to real power, but are threatened from all sides.
The Lannisters are especially bothered by the Martells of Dorne, who live in the southern part of Westeros and are known for their aggression and lack of decorum when dealing with the high court.
Don’t worry, this is all about to come together around the horseshoe that is the Dallas City Council.
Mayor Mike Rawlings doesn’t have gold mines, but he might as well have had one when he was CEO of Pizza Hut. People love their stuffed crust. He too has real power as the mayor of Dallas, but the number of council members who are seen as supportive of him has dwindled in the past few election cycles. He is like the Lannister family; still in control, but not as comfortable as he once was.
Philip Kingston, the rambunctious council member who represents parts of East Dallas and Uptown, could be seen as a Martell, lacking civility and respect for the established powers. He irked the powers-that-be so much that For Our Community, a local political action committee, made an attack website and numerous mailers trying to oust him in the last election.
These attacks are much like when Jamie Lannister went to Dorne to take back his niece/daughter (spoiler), and ended up punching the prince of Dorne in the face. The old money doesn’t take well to disruption from ungrateful upstarts.
Currently, City Hall is attempting to dock Kingston’s pay $8,000 for missing too many city council meetings. The bylaws state that if a councilperson misses more that 10 percent of meetings, that person will be docked a representative percentage of their $60,000 salary. It seems the Lannisters don’t just pay their debts, but collect them as well.
According to The Dallas Morning News, no one has been docked done in recent memory, and Kingston is contesting the number of total meetings and his absences. He says that City Secretary Rosa Rios, who calculates these things, is personally attacking him because he wants her out of the job.
Perhaps Rios, much like Tyrion Lannister, is realizing that one doesn’t have to be a great warrior or politician to have an outsized impact in collecting the family’s debts.
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