During a series of town meetings about the FBI probe into Dallas City Council members, Dallas residents were asked who they thought was behind the investigation.

All of the respondents emphatically stated that Mayor Laura Miller is to blame for their problems and the probe into Council members Don Hill, James Fantroy and Planning Commissioner D’Angelo Lee.

While Miller does make herself an easy target, in this case she has nothing to do with it — and the sooner residents of South Dallas realize that, the better off they will be.

The heart of the FBI probe involves what occurred with contracts that were issued to build housing in South Dallas, tax-credits for those projects and potential kickbacks to council members.

So far, it doesn’t look good for Hill.

After the defeat of the Strong Mayor initiative in the spring, it looked like he was the frontrunner to be the new mayor. Instead, the scandal has — justifiably — tainted his record as a member of the council.

When the scandal first broke it was discovered the BMW he was driving was not his. He then refused to say who gave him the car, and infamously said, “It’s a friend’s car — a car I earned the right to drive.”

If anyone can make sense out of that statement, please let Ed Board know.

Lee probably has the most problems of anyone. He has been accused of trying to work an under-the-table land deal for housing projects in his area of South Dallas.

Miller received considerable heat when she asked Lee to resign, but ultimately, that request makes sense to Ed Board.

All of the evidence points toward his guilt, and his record is now even more tainted than Hill’s.

Ultimately though, the people who will suffer the most from this are the ones who seem to be the angriest.

South Dallas has been, and unfortunately still is, an afterthought for the leaders of the city.

Representatives of those areas should be trying to improve their constituent’s lives, not take advantage of their power and profit from others’ misfortune.

The sooner South Dallas realizes that, the sooner Hill and Lee can be gone.

Maybe then Dallas can heal from this real-life drama and work on improving the most forgotten part of the city.