[1] D Magazine called Lipscomb, who was the first black person to run for mayor, "the Jackie Robinson of Dallas city government".
[4][5] Lipscomb was convicted of federal bribery charges in 2000, stemming from what prosecutors said were improper payments from a taxi cab company owner.
Previously, he volunteered some with projects to challenge segregation launched by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, attending protests to open up drugstore counters and other facilities to black people.
They were able to negotiate with then-Mayor J. Erik Jonsson for more favorable home buyout prices after threatening to stage a large demonstration during the nationally televised Cotton Bowl Parade.
In forcing a meeting with the mayor, the group had to endure bomb threats to the point that the police chief went to the church basement where the activists prepared for the protest and told them it wasn't safe to stay there.
U.S. District Judge Eldon Mahon's opinion, issued in January 1975, stated that the all at-large system was unconstitutional because it was "intentionally adopted and maintained to dilute the voting strength of African-Americans….
Two years later, he won another election to the council and remained until he resigned in 2000 amidst a scandal over alleged improper payments by the owner of a taxi cab company.
The indictment alleged that Lipscomb then strongly lobbied to approve city ordinances that aided Richards' businesses, effectively undercutting smaller competitors.
"The list of people and companies that have provided aid and assistance to Mr. Lipscomb would read like a who's who of Dallas," attorney Reed Prospere said.
[17] But the council-manager form led to excesses, such as charges that the mayor and council members voted on contracts and issues that benefited their companies.
[18] In addition, lower-income citizens, such as Lipscomb, who had families to support had to make substantial sacrifices if they wanted some council representation.
[11] Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, a long-time ally who Lipscomb mentored, said, "Most civil rights leaders in this city have probably always had beneficiaries in the white business community who could not afford to be identified.
For instance, Lipscomb voted to substantially increase insurance requirements in 1996, which smaller competitors of Richards' companies claimed would force them out of business.
Prosecutors made a deal with Richards to testify against Lipscomb and plead guilty to conspiring to commit bribery in return for a one-month prison sentence and nine months of home confinement.
[6] In the trial, political consultant Linda Pavlik described how she worked with Richards to give money to Dudley, who loaned funds to support Lipscomb's 1995 council race.
But in 2002, a federal appeals court reversed the verdict, ruling that Kendall erred in moving the trial to Amarillo without citing evidence that unbiased jurors could not be located in the Dallas area.
[6] But he still reserved strong criticism for journalist and politician Laura Miller, who had written about the alleged improper payments from white business people to Lipscomb and other black leaders for several years.
Miller wrote in 1996 about problems with a chemical business that Lipscomb helped run, how he allegedly voted for projects backed by his customers and benefactors as a council member.
"[11] Lipscomb voluntarily turned over bank records and other revealing business documents to Miller, who detailed numerous payments and votes in an 11,000-word article.
"For too long now, Lipscomb, the people who cynically control him, and the media who overlook it all, have made a complete mockery of our local political system," Miller charged.
"[20] Council member James Fantroy, who beat Lipscomb in a 2005 race, said that many African Americans blamed Miller for black leaders' legal troubles.
Lipscomb was "capable of passionate argument, unintentionally comic rhetoric and honeyed homilies from the Bible, but few doubt his commitment to social justice," the magazine wrote.