By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Mayor Mark Funkhouser is locked in a battle with the City Council over who’s going to control City Hall’s agenda.
For the long run, I’ll put my money on Funkhouser.
Mind you, that’s not because he’s the world’s greatest politician. In an interview Tuesday, the mayor said he’d give himself a “C-minus, D-plus on the political side” of his 16-month tenure.
Too many snafus have nipped away at his credibility with his City Council colleagues (led by the controversy over wife Gloria Squitiro’s volunteering in his office) to give him a higher grade.
But there’s a simple reason Funkhouser has the best shot at controlling the agenda: He’s a strong-willed mayor who eventually could earn support from a council majority.
That counts for a lot in Kansas City, as history shows.
Former mayors Emanuel Cleaver and Kay Barnes had some difficulties getting their councils to follow them in their first terms. But both had far more successful second terms, with usually obedient council members.
Barnes in her first term had a council that, as I wrote in 2001, was composed of “12 lone rangers” who had “contributed to the general malaise that now grips City Hall.” But her second term included a strong and effective push to rejuvenate downtown.
Now along comes Funkhouser, who has had a positive start to his term when it comes to the policy side — the things that actually matter to residents.
A quick list:
Voters passed a capital improvements sales tax and renewed a tax for better buses.
The City Council backed Funkhouser on a new, stricter policy on handing out economic development subsidies as well as a new policy to rein in city debt. And the council approved a more realistic, belt-tightening city budget.
Funkhouser on Tuesday gave himself an “A-minus, B-plus grade” on following through with his campaign’s priorities.
With caveats — the development policy could have been tougher, the city budget leaner — I’d pretty much agree with his assessment.
Now let’s look at the council.
The 12 members held an unusual news conference last week. Stung by Funkhouser’s criticism over trying to push Squitiro out of his office, the elected officials sounded defensive, saying they were still working on the public’s business. True, this council has been active, if not always productive.
The worst mistake: Rashly and without much public debate extending the contract of City Manager Wayne Cauthen to spite Funkhouser, who had clumsily tried to oust him.
Another council mistake: Passing a weak smoking ban, which voters overrode with a tougher law in Apri.
The council does have some hard workers. On substantive issues that have received lots of public attention:
Russ Johnson led placement of a light-rail initiative on the November ballot, correctly putting off a regional transit plan backed by Funkhouser.
Jan Marcason has been a tireless advocate of better sewers and finding a good way to pay for them. She helped Deb Hermann promote good budget changes this year, with Funkhouser’s backing.
Cindy Circo worked with Johnson to help put together a reasonable capital improvements campaign, backed enthusiastically by Funkhouser.
Cathy Jolly promoted the smoking ordinance (with little help from the mayor).
Sure, Funkhouser’s relationships with council members could be better.
While he has staunch allies in Hermann and Bill Skaggs, he’s irritated others such as Marcason and Johnson in recent days. And he must work on building other alliances.
The mayor has a policy-wonk approach to government. He still has many attractive ideas — on a slimmer budget, economic development, better infrastructure — that would make him a valuable leader.
Funkhouser has the biggest bully pulpit and easily gets the most public attention. To make the most progress for Kansas Citians, though, he’ll need cooperation from a council majority.
It’s something he needs to earn in the future.
Editorial Board member Yael T. Abouhalkah can be reached at 816-234-4887 or at abouhalkah@kcstar.com. Read his blog postings at voices.kansascity.com
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what are you really thinking LT'er
then this type of pettiness is acceptable
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You cannot possibly believe that a public rebuke of a sitting Mayor by the council is petty. It is historic. Not because I believe tha Council People are great people or good legislators but because the amount of humiliation, bad government, innapropriate actions and ill will it must have taken to get these normally ineffective baboons to do something this controversial must have been gigantic. Certainly not petty...
Tell me how this repairs our budget problems and provides better service to our citizens?
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Mind sharing with us Mayor Smart With Nothinghousers contribution to the advancement of municipal solvency? He recommended a budget that runs at a deficit, knocked out the 20 promised cops, pushed TIF projects which even he said were in the best of circumstances due to lose money, is involved in a lawsuit (Bates) that is costing the City plenty of legal time and bills and looks like a few extra hundred thousand dollars to settle up, and took a raise for himself. Has he done anything that stands out as "smart with the money?" What has he done?
Tell me how this action addresses the fact that people died last night in the urban core?
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Do you think that referring to East of Troost as the "black part of town" has been helpful? Driving to visit groups in the Northland without police protection and then going to the aforementioned "black part of town" armed to the teeth with police at his side is helpful? Do you think stating that he couldn't abandon Semler because he didn't want to irritate his bigoted supporters in the Northland helped with this? Taake to us...
We have serious issues to address and that requires serious people...
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Would a serious person write a Christmas Card like the card sent by the Funkhousers last year? End of story.
They simply joined forces for an hour to defeat the Mayor.
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They didn't join forces to defeat the Mayor. They voted to eradicate a disease which Funk permitted to stay on much too long. A Disease that he was unable to put down by himself. A disease that he wasn't man enough to handle by himself. They voted together to remove Gloria because she caused to much of too many bad things that affected to many people and she didn't seem like she was ever going to stop.
Taking notes?
"Tell me how we are better off as a city because Gloria will no longer send thank you notes or take notes for Funkhouser? "
Well, gee, if that was all she was doing, it wouldn't be too bad.
But, according to our Mayor, a good portion of the accomplishments of this administration, whatever they may be, Gloria has been a part of.
That sounds a lot more like taking notes and sending out thank you notes....
strong-willed mayor could earn eventual council majority support
Unfortunately the source of your hope, Yael, for the Mayor's potential for future success is the reason for my own pessimism that the remainder of his term will show substantial improvement over the rockiest of beginnings.
I do hope you're right but the public wallowing in grief we're now forced to witness over the impending "loss" of Gloria at his side isn't an encouraging sign.
kcfella, if not this, what?
What would rise to the level of being called petty? Twelve people tasked with making the city a better place for all took their issues with the Mayor public and by their faces, took great joy in kicking his wife out. This is stuff for the PTA or Homes Association meetings not a government body. When people get so locked in to a goal that they can not see each issue for what it is then this type of pettiness is acceptable.
Tell me how this action addresses the fact that people died last night in the urban core? Tell me how this will build more houses or restore our failed housing program? Tell me how this action will address Light Rail? Tell me how this action will create jobs and attract new business to Kansas City? Tell me how this repairs our budget problems and provides better service to our citizens? Tell me how we are better off as a city because Gloria will no longer send thank you notes or take notes for Funkhouser?
We have serious issues to address and that requires serious people who can weed out the voices in their ear who have personal agendas and know what is deserving of their time. They are not the Mayor's keeper and he alone will be held accountable for the actions of his office and his wife's presense there. This was not for them to address. They simply created another show for us to watch at city hall and gave the media something to write about.
There is nothing united about this council. They simply joined forces for an hour to defeat the Mayor. That is the only time they are together. You praise them for this? Your bar is set way too low. But for his leadership in delegating responsibility and allowing them to serve to their highest potential, they would not have the list of accomplishments stated in this post. They had these opportunities because he gave them to them.
Abouhalkah's column: Don't count Funkhouser out, yet
Can we count him out now, Yael? Is this another Funkhouser win?
What say ye Yael T Abouhalkah?????
P.S. You know I am surprised you don't have the betzim to defend yourself. Maybe you don't care what your readers have to say, maybe you are worried about holding on to your job and maybe you don't like having to defend what you write about. Oh well... just an idle musing :) Still, my remark stands... no betzim.
What does unity mean? - re-posted from a post by cdm2p
Submitted by cdm2p on September 11, 2008 - 10:41pm.
Funkhouser asked the Council to work together. When the votes are called, 12 members of the Council vote one way and he votes the other way. Funkhouser, being the last one to cast a vote, had a chance to show that the he can cooperate after he saw 12 of his colleagues send him a clear message. Instead, he chose to be stubborn and go his own way, ignoring his own pleas for togetherness and cooperation. This defines who he is. Stubborn and unable to understand the concept of unity, even when unity stares him right in the face.
In the end, I think this is the best thing that could have happened to his office. He just doesn't know it.
Disappointment --- re-posted from a post by DRP
Submitted by DRP on September 11, 2008 - 10:30pm.
I read this with feelings of disappointment in a man who could have done better. Feelings of opportunity squandered.
Funkhouser brought a promise of openness and transparency to city government. I supported that. I believed in that.
Funkhouser brought a promise of making decisions based entirely upon best available information, and not just what a mayor wanted to do at the moment.
I expected the same principles which the former City Auditor applied to departments which came under his scrutiny. I supported that. I believed in that.
Once elected, it was as though none of the promises had ever been made.
For example, appointments were made in total secret. A particularly peculiar appointment was made to the city Parks board seemingly without any examination of the qualifications or background of the appointee.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Mayor can make any appointments he pleases without any consideration of whether an appointee is qualified or not. But, that's not what Funkhouser promised. To quote Funkhouser, "we can do better."
Transparency means transparency.
What came of the Parks appointee was that Funkhouser wasted much of his first months in office defending his right to make any choice he wanted. That isn't transparency.
And, even after all of the posturing that the mayor can do anything he wants -- even though he had promised to do things differently, the appointee turned on him, anyway.
Funkhouser could have used his fresh political capital on something substantive. Instead, a year's delay cost both Funkhouser -- and the entire region -- valuable time.
I supported Funkhouser on the basis that I firmly believed that he was going to bring more substance to the office of Mayor. Standing on "principle" to do anything he wants is a cruel reminder to those of us who believed he would defend "transparency" in government.
His handling of the campaign finance fiasco was equally disappointing. It makes no difference that he signed a consent agreement with the Missouri Ethics Commission to pay a fine and promise not to do as poorly in the future -- so is somehow behind him now.
You can't just do anything you want because you win an election. Funkhouser needed to stand up and set an example of compliance with the law. He should never have gotten into that mess in the first place. Once in it, he should have stopped everything and gotten the records straight.
Instead, he took months to reconcile records that should have been corrected in just a few hours.
You don't build respect by flaunting your power to ignore laws that mere mortals as myself have to follow.
There is no doubt but what people will continue to work with Funkhouser on broadly based issues. The KCMO City Council will do so as well as concerned citizens throughout the region.
However, working with someone out of necessity is different from working with someone from a sense of enthusiasm and determination.
Sadly, Funkhouser has lost the one thing which he came into City Hall carrying -- vigorous support from people who thought he could be the next L. P. Cookingham (the man who more than any other saved Kansas City government after the Pendergasts had looted the treasury). Even if you didn't know about the Cookingham legacy, you knew that Funkhouser could have been something special.
He's not. He has no one to look to except himself.
David R. Peironnet
pettiness?
Like Yael, you seem to have lost your way as well. The ordinance and the reaction of the council titans was anything but petty. The insane, vindictive, stubborn and idiotic actions of the Co-Mayors left the Council no choice. You can't possibly believe that a bunch of compromise prone elected officials went about striking a death blow to Gloria just for the heck of it.
Face it LT'er... Gloria and Mark have performed so badly and caused so much divisiveness, bad feelings and trouble that for the second time, the council people acted like people, not politicians and looked to rid the City of this vulgar, menace woman. Isn't it ironic that it was Funk, the leader of the Orange Revolution who was supposed to be the one who acted not like a politician.
No LT'er, this day was anything but pettiness.
As an aside, I am going to re-post DRP's comments about the leader of the Orange Revolution. So of his thoughts are very incisive and some are right on the money.
Most of us share his disappointment with the Funk. Maybe not as much as I do but from the obvious fact that nary a soul came to the Funk's aid during the death strike, not many people like what he and Gloria have been up to.
It is way past the time when she should have been removed. And for this you have no one to thank but the hapless Mark himself. And at the end of the day, Mr Unity for Allhouser chose to vote against the will of the people and their elected officials just for the heck of it rather than standing down and moving on. And you can bet that he isn't finished yet. Again, it's on him, not on the Council Titans.
2nd Term?
I saw that you mentioned how things get better during the second term. Let me tell you something: if you think Funkhouser is going to have a second term, you are on the same boat as those fanatical Ron Paul fans.
It is not going to happen. Funkhouser will be irrelevant by the end of 2009.
Mayor Funkhouser
From day one we have seen former Mayor Barnes and Steve Glorios's lapdogs at work to discredit the Mayor. Yes, Terry Riley and company!!
It is VERY unfortunate that all the energy has been spent on such trival issues. Where is the outrage with Councilman Riley regarding the "bloodshed" in his community? Why aren't the at Large Councilmembers outraged about the increased amount of violence in our city? Twelve small minded people voted today against a man of courage. It is time they took off their blinders and realized what a laughing stock they have made our great city. What a bunch of fools! "Throwing pearls before swine"
Funkhouser vows to rise above pettiness of Council
I tuned in to see what I believe was a defining moment for our city Government. Our Mayor, Mark Funkhouser humbled himself to apologize to the council for their less than optimal working relationship. He stated that this extraordinary effort to ban the First Lady from City Hall is a personal attack and that it takes away his authority to run his office as he pleases. I agree.
What happened next is the defining moment. Riley makes a statement to the Mayor not to punish them after rejecting his outstretched hand.
Sharp states that the amendments protect everyone but the Mayor’s wife so he feels it is ok, which for the first time reveals the true intent of the ordinance.
Johnson stands to say that he will disgrace the Mayor today but let’s be friends afterwards.
They all ask the Mayor to be a bigger person than they are today and rise above the pettiness they have demonstrated by their actions.
Marcason stands to give a long winded speech about nothing to hide her motive.
Funkhouser nails her on who is affected, just his wife. Marcason can’t answer this but tries with another long winded nothing. Finally admits that only one person is affected
Every council member rejected his offer and expects him to honor his to them anyway. I hope he doesn’t. That’s not Christian, but that is how I feel.
Funkhouser may or may not earn my vote for his reelection. That is yet to be determined
The twelve council members have lost one vote for reelection today. Big deal, it is only one but it is certain.
rebuttal
Okay, top of the morning to you Mr. A. Rebuttal time:
1) Mayor Mark Funkhouser is locked in a battle with the City Council over who’s going to control City Hall’s agenda.
This latest permutation isn't about the City Hall agenda. It is about conatining a madman and his wife (who is perhaps equally if not more insane). ANything to the contrary is pro-funk spin. And since it comes from you, it is a certainty that this is just spin.
2)For the long run, I’ll put my money on Funkhouser
We already know that you are going down on the Kansas City version of the Titanic... the USS Smart With Nothinghouser. Keep arranging the chairs Captain Abouhalkah.
3) Mind you, that’s not because he’s the world’s greatest politician. In an interview Tuesday, the mayor said he’d give himself a “C-minus, D-plus on the political side” of his 16-month tenure.
How about an F or a D minus. He has shown no political skills.
And as a decent human being? A zero... which is below an F.
He has lied, humiliated and otherwise shamed us all with all too many of his actions. He did this to himself as well but doesn't seem to care. I suppose as long as his grand adventure goes on and his bills get paid and he can continue to take more money from the development lawyers and other assorted interests that he raved against when he was running for Mayor and use those same funds to support his personal life (such as chiefs tickets, iphones ets.) he will be happy. Like Nicolae Ceauşescu from Romania, the Funk doesn't appear to have a bright future once his run as Mayor is over.
4)But there’s a simple reason Funkhouser has the best shot at controlling the agenda: He’s a strong-willed mayor who eventually could earn support from a council majority.
He's not a team player and he thinks he knows more than any and all of them combined. Additionally, one of the reasons he ran for Mayor was to get even with any and all of the people who belittled him when he was Auditor. How is this consistence with a chance to eanr their support?
He's already tried to bully Cauthen with a disastrous result. And he's done such a good job irritating the Council Titans that they are now planning for a second time another truly historic act (the first being the Cauthen contract)... wiuping his wive off the 29th floor.
Last on this point... he is not strong willed he is just a big and now exposed to be stupid bully.
5)Now along comes Funkhouser, who has had a positive start to his term when it comes to the policy side — the things that actually matter to residents.
You just have to be kidding. The budget isn't balanced we are still running at a deficit. COnveniently, this didn't stop the Funk from getting a raise... a raise which he rubbed in all of our faces by arrogantly and stupidly telling us was needed and well earned and deserved. The streets are worse than when he started... the money promised for infrastructure repair didn't increase and accounting for inflation (a big % in this category for things like concrete and asphalt) is much lower than when he got here. Do the citizens not care about being humiliated and the City made into a laughingstock? Well, the Co-Mayors have brought that upon us. Semler, racial divisivness and the Christmas Card debacle as well as the humiliating spectacle watching the world's greatest auditor run his campaign account like a foreign dictator and actually having to pay a fine for not complying with the law.
6) Voters passed a capital improvements sales tax and renewed a tax for better buses.
And this has to do with the newly elected at that time Mayor how? And what has he done in repsonse to this.... try to put a light rail initiative, one that even he has publicly stated to be awful and one that the voters will turn down up our collective caboose.
7) The City Council backed Funkhouser on a new, stricter policy on handing out economic development subsidies as well as a new policy to rein in city debt. And the council approved a more realistic, belt-tightening city budget.
You are just out of touch with reality Yael... the City is still running in the red (didn't stop the raises to the Funk and Council though) and these new tighter rules for devlopment goodies haven't worked at all. In fact, the Funk approved the Neal Patterson Super TIF even though he conceded that the project would lose money for the City even if everything went right. Additionally he approved the Boley Building TIF giveaway for Andrews McNeil which additionally helped one of his developer contributors. A TIF that clearly increased the purchase price and was otherwise unneeded.
8) Funkhouser on Tuesday gave himself an “A-minus, B-plus grade” on following through with his campaign’s priorities.
Again... he is in la la land just like you. We can focus on initiative #7... crime. We are fast becoming the murder capital of the world. And do you give him an A- for not producing the agreed upon, promised and already taxed citizens 20 extra cops??? This is an F... and in Funkhouser or more accurately, Smart With Nothinghouser.
And the Oranage Revolution promised us an open government which used the money wisely.
The money wisely part speaks for itself. An F
Putting himself into the pocket of the development lawyers... something he ranted against and promised never to do... well he's done it (we don't need to print out a list, do we?). An F.
And the open government promise... why don't you ask the Waldo Dog Park people who at first weren't allowed a hearing, then got shut out of speaking by the new, non-elitist Parks board and were finished off at a town hall meeting when Smart With Nothinghouser told them to stop complaining about not being listened to rather than having him take their side and have the government listen and respond positively to their pleas. This is on tape and without any possibility of a doubt a big fat F.
Oh and by the way, just in case you want to respond... what ever happened to the Dog Park???? I hope I am wrong but I think the answer is a big fat ZERO.
9) as to the council... who cares? Except for their raises, they have shown the people who have elected them almost nothing.
????
You are just plain deluded. I will post a line by line rebuttal later in the evening or tomorrow. Hopefully by then, you can catch up with Bill The Banana Drummond for support.