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And wouldn’t you know it, the report card he’s getting from me is strikingly similar to the houser helped push through two tax elections. Passed a somewhat responsible first budget. Revised the TIF policy.
It’s amazing Funkhouser has done as well as he has, considering the self-inflicted PR disasters that dominated the first seven or eight months of his administration, as well as his continued klutziness.
A recent example: Funkhouser’s response to critics of that automatic pay raise bestowed by the previous council upon him and the current council.
When asked what he would say to those who questioned his $4,000 raise at a time of fiscal duress, a wiser politician would have said something diplomatic.
What came out of Funkhouser’s mouth instead was:
“People have to make a living. The mayor has to make a living. I would say to those people, I took a substantial pay cut to be mayor, so I’ll take the $4,000.”
Well, that’s just plain bogus. He most certainly did not take a pay cut to be mayor. In fact, Funkhouser was minus a full-time job when he ran for office. True, he’d retired as city auditor before announcing his candidacy, but there was no guarantee that he’d secure the job or its six-figure salary.
The bigger issue, though, is that those remarks were another example of where humility (and a little more class) would serve him better, if he hopes to accomplish his goals. Which leads us to the good part. Despite all the distractions — Frances Semler, the free car foul-up, the crude Christmas letter, the trouble sorting out his campaign finances, Mammygate (it goes on and on) — Funkhouser has remained true to the agenda he set out in the campaign.
And it’s a good one. Fiscal sanity. A focus on basic services. Improved lines of communication with the electorate.
Better than some of his predecessors, Funkhouser understands the frustrations of the people who live in KC — and those who would like to. If only there were better streets and sidewalks, they say. If only there was a better transit system. If only there was less crime. If only (fill in the blank).
Funkhouser has made a habit of attending neighborhood meetings almost weekly. I went to the one Wednesday night at Central Presbyterian Church, 3501 Campbell St.
In what was something of a preview of Thursday’s address, Funkhouser told those in the pews that Kansas Citians are rightfully proud of the improvements seen downtown and elsewhere in recent years. But glitz doesn’t keep you from snapping an axle in the many potholes.
“We’re happy with the Sprint Center, we’re happy with Power and Light,” he said. “But we’re not happy with much else.”
Soon after, a half-dozen folks lined up to tell him their grievances. None of them had to do with the PR missteps that the bloggers seize on.
By the way, that’s my theory why he feels free to put his foot in his mouth so often. He knows that he has his priorities straight. What’s more, he knows that we know it.
Anyone who has lived in this area for any length of time understands the need for the bad-tasting medicine the dour Doctor Funk prescribes when he calls for fiscal discipline.
For me, that also makes it easier to take the naivete of his plans for an education summit, or his hope that he can start rebuilding the inner city with a symposium planned for next month.
Anyway, that’s the state of Mark Funkhouser as I see it. He’s not the civic savior some hoped. But KC could do worse.
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