Quit your whining and do your job.

By Mark Forsythe The Kansas City Post I've resisted writing anything about our dysfunctional co-mayors until now. I figured why write about the obvious? Besides, there is so much to write about! I wouldn't know where to begin. But two consecutive mornings of national news shows giving our co-mayors a platform on which to espouse their delusional ideals is too much for me to stomach. I grew up in a blue collar, Scotch-Irish Catholic family. We weren't poor, but we certainly weren't upper middle class either. What we did have were the values our parents taught us. A cardinal rule was "keep it in the family". Whatever disputes that may have arisen, money troubles, bad behavior, whatever; it was family business and never to be shared with outsiders. When you heard Barack Obama talking about being raised with "Kansas values" I can assure you that loyalty to your family was one of those values. Keeping it in the family also applies in the business world. Every quarter my company's legal department sends out an email reminding us not to discuss internal business with outsiders. Not with competitors, not with financial analysts, not with anyone. Sharing information could put my employer at a disadvantage in the cutthroat world of high tech. By taking their pathetic little show on the road, the co-mayors are definitely not keeping Kansas City business in Kansas City. They are embarrassing our community on a national stage. Even if Mark and Gloria are completely in the right, they have no business airing our city's internal conflicts in front of the world. But no, Mark Funkhouser chooses to show his leadership skills by going on national news shows and complaining about the mean old city council and how they're doing this and they're doing that and everybody's out to get him because they fear change and boo hoo poor me poor me. Nothing says "leader" like whining on national television because you can't have your wife with you. There is precedent I guess, if you look at history through the skewed vision of the co-mayors I believe you will find it was Patrick Henry that said "Give me liberty, or give me death". Few people realize he was talking about his wife, Liberty Henry. Our nation was founded on great leaders putting all aside for the sake of having their spouse by their side. Thus spake Glorathustra. With this latest very public tantrum Mark Funkhouser has left no doubt where his priorities lie. His priorities do not include upholding the dignity of his office and they're certainly not with protecting and promoting the image of Kansas City. No, Mark Funkhouser's priorities lie with his wife and his shrinking inner circle of sycophants who are still deluding themselves into believing that our co-mayors give a damn about anyone but themselves.