A vote of "No Confidence"

By Mark Forsythe The Kansas City Post Mark Funkhouser has made it very clear that he is incapable of performing his duties as mayor without his wife's presence. Agree or disagree, the mayor has drawn his line in the sand. The City Council will move today to pass an ordinance barring immediate family members from volunteering in either mayor or council offices. My issue is not the ordinance itself. Of course this ordinance is directed at the mayor and his spouse. Anybody that claims otherwise is either disingenuous or a fool. While I personally think it's a good idea that immediate family members not be allowed to participate in the workplace I really have no passionate feelings either way about this ordinance. My issue is that the single biggest threat that has faced the Funkhouser administration so far has shown the mayor to be completely powerless. According to the mayor the very existence of his administration depends on the failure of this ordinance. You would think that with his back against the wall, with all hope hinging on the defeat of this ordinance, the mayor would have mustered a veritable who's who of community leaders to come together and testify at yesterday's Finance & Audit Committee meeting. The leader of a major US city should be able to provide a show of force from among his constituency that would have even the most obstinate councilperson quaking in their boots. Spare me the arguments about the committee meeting being held on a workday. That has never stopped motivated citizens from showing up. What I saw yesterday was not a display of leadership ability. It wasn't even a display of getting what should be his closest allies together. What should have been an impressive parade of former mayors, former council members, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Council members, and powerful civic leaders turned out to be a few people that no one in the room had ever heard of. My favorite was the guy who said he was the CEO of the newly formed "United Organizations Coalition." Who? No, there were no impressive leaders eloquently stating their objections to the ordinance that the mayor finds so objectionable. There were no powerful movers or shakers demanding a horrible wrong be averted. After yesterday's no-show of support, I have serious doubts about whether Mark Funkhouser can be an effective leader for Kansas City. Wednesday's dismal showing has made it evident that as the old saying goes the mayor "couldn't get a second in favor of motherhood." Indeed the blood is in the water and every mayoral candidate on the council is now moving behind the scenes to rally the check writers to their camp. There is no more respect for the office on the 29th floor. And that is the biggest tragedy in this whole sordid mess.