Jan. 17--Chris Luna resigned Thursday as chairman of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, forced out by a mayor who he says has been reckless with the city's convention and hotel business. 

Mr. Luna announced his decision to quit at a meeting of the bureau's executive committee. His resignation followed two months of media reports about questionable expenditures by the bureau's staff, which Mayor Laura Miller said caused her to lose confidence in her chairman's ability to reform the organization. 

"It became clear in the last few days that my resignation was what was needed to move the organization to the next stage and to begin that healing process," Mr. Luna said. 

But he did not go quietly. He said the mayor had often over-reacted to the media reports and imposed her authority on an independent organization designed to market the city and its convention center. 

"The mayor has done a disservice to the hospitality industry, the hotel community and to this board," Mr. Luna said. 

The bureau is a private corporation with a contract to market the Dallas Convention Center. Most of its $12 million annual budget comes from the city's hotel-occupancy tax. 

Ms. Miller appointed Mr. Luna to his position, which is unpaid, last summer. In the past, the two clashed when he was a City Council member and she was a columnist for The Dallas Observer writing stinging stories about him. 

She would not respond to Mr. Luna's accusations other than to note that she lobbied the state Legislature this week for a law that would allow financing for a convention center hotel. 

"My No. 1 goal is to get the Convention and Visitors Bureau back focused on its work to bring conventions to Dallas," she said. 

Mr. Luna will remain a board member of the bureau. Ms. Miller has told the board she would like to see hotel developer Robert E. Woolley become chairman. 

WFAA-TV (Channel 8) and The Dallas Morning News began reporting in November that bureau president David Whitney spent thousands of dollars on car service to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and on liquor that he took home to entertain clients. Some of his top executives expensed visits to topless clubs -- outings that the bureau said were requested by clients. 

The investigation also found that Mr. Whitney approved paying his wife's law firm to do legal work for the bureau. Ms. Miller and many council members called that a conflict of interest. 

Mr. Luna said he never excused the bureau's missteps and reacted quickly to change the things it did wrong. For example, he initiated an audit of the bureau's business expenses and changed the bureau's legal counsel. 

He said the mayor's demands had disrupted the bureau and shaken its focus. 

"We have a new convention center that, if we are not careful, will be the largest column-free bowling alley in America," he said. 

Ms. Miller agreed that the bureau had lost its focus, saying that was why she asked Mr. Luna to step aside. 

Neither Mr. Luna nor other committee members would discuss Mr. Whitney's fate. He is the bureau's top paid official, with a salary of more than $200,000 annually, and has ably led the bureau for 12 years, board members said. 

The bureau's board would have to vote to remove Mr. Whitney. But many board members have indicated that his job is safe unless he gives it up voluntarily. 

"I think for the foreseeable future, he will be the president," Mr. Luna said. 

Other committee members left after Thursday's meeting without commenting. None could be reached for comment later. 

Mr. Whitney will undergo a performance review once a new chairman is installed. 

In one of his final actions as chairman, Mr. Luna authorized an up-or-down vote on Mr. Woolley's joining the board -- a tactic that board members have said is rare. The results of the vote are due Friday. 

"This is unfortunate that the outgoing chairman would do something unprecedented, apparently to try to block his successor from coming in," Ms. Miller said. 

Many board members think Ms. Miller flouted their bylaws by nominating a candidate who does not serve on the board. 

Some board members have a similar reaction to the idea of approving a chairman with no previous involvement in the bureau. 

"Voting to accept anyone into a leadership position ... whom not one of us have ever met -- nor will have the opportunity to meet -- is unprecedented," wrote Sandi Bailey, the executive director of the Hotel Association of Greater Dallas, in an e-mail to fellow committee members. "I encourage you to decline the nomination of Mr. Woolley." 

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(c) 2003, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.