I can't imagine anyone arguing in good faith that Dallas city government isn't better off than it was two decades ago.

And by better, I mean more reflective of the folks who pay taxes and dodge potholes.

Then again, it really depends on how you look at it: whether you saw the old 8-3 election system as a well-oiled machine in need of recalibration or as an old jalopy that needed to be driven off the cliff.

Thanks to a milestone lawsuit filed 20 years ago, Dallas ended up with a brand-new test car – a 14-1 election system that drove a record number of minorities to the council dais in the fall of 1991.

It hasn't been the smoothest ride, to be sure. But it's not like the rubber's peeling away from the rims, either.

If we've learned one thing, it's this: Minorities can elect lousy City Council members as well as their white counterparts!

OK, and good ones, too.

Let's take a step back in time. When plaintiffs Marvin Crenshaw and Roy Williams filed their lawsuit in 1988 – two of the most unlikely heroes you'll find – Dallas elected eight council members from single-member districts and the mayor and two more reps at large.

Mr. Williams and Mr. Crenshaw said the old system diluted minority voting strength by requiring three members to run in citywide races.

They sued.

The city countered by devising a new plan of its own, a 10-4-1 system that created more minority districts, but also more of those controversial at-large seats. A majority of voters said, hey, we can live with that.

Most minority voters shook their heads, saying, "Oh no, here we go again."

So that plan got stuck in the mud. And when U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer threw it out, the council came up with yet another plan, which minorities also rejected.

A weary city finally climbed aboard the plaintiffs' 14-1 bandwagon, which they said would bring more Hispanics and blacks to the horseshoe.

So here we are, 20 years later, trying to sort out whether this thing is working.

Again, I think it largely depends on how you look at it.

You certainly can't argue that 14-1 hasn't delivered on its promise of getting more blacks and Hispanics into the mix. Half the 14 council members are ethnic minorities – a far cry from the two or three that used to sit at the table.

The city also elected its first black mayor in history less than four years after 14-1 was adopted, a move that helped ease racial tensions that had been mounting for years.

Keep in mind that a north-south split also was beginning to develop at City Hall, with some well-heeled Oak Cliff leaders complaining that Dallas' southern sector was being sold down the river. They even threatened to secede!

Fast-forward 20 years later, and city leaders are aggressively marketing the southern sector as one of Dallas' diamonds in the rough. City Hall's also paying more than lip service to grievances coming from folks south of the Trinity River.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't a perfect system. Far from it.

FBI officials haven't been snooping around City Hall because they like the reflecting pool. They're sniffing at corruption. And the latest investigation has given 14-1 critics more reason to say, "See, told you so."

But that's hardly evidence that the system isn't working; it's only proof that every system needs proper checks and balances, which this one is still sorely lacking.

The current council can and should help stave off more corruption by embracing tougher ethics reforms, demanding better accountability and providing more internal oversight.

It may not be the best system in the world but, by golly, we ought to make the best of what we have.