Frank White faces losing his house to foreclosure for the third time since 2016
Jackson County Executive Frank White’s house is once again in foreclosure proceedings and set for auction next month on the courthouse steps.
This is the third time that has happened since the former Kansas City Royals player and broadcaster was appointed by the county legislature in 2016 to fill the vacancy left by Mike Sanders’ resignation. Later that year, voters elected White to complete the rest of Sanders’ term and he is now seeking re-election to a full four-year term.
The sale is set for 10 a.m. on May 16.
Twice before, White and his wife, Teresa, avoided losing their Lee’s Summit house by bringing the mortgage up to date ahead of the foreclosure auction. The circumstances surrounding the first of those two transactions is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Jackson County prosecutor’s office prompted by a Dec. 22 article posted on The Star’s website.
White declined comment.
“As I have stated before, I will not comment any further on issues related to personal matters,” he said in a prepared statement that the county spokeswoman emailed to The Star on Tuesday afternoon.
Until now, his financial difficulties had not become an issue in what has so far been a low-key election campaign. He faces two challengers in the Democratic primary, of whom only Matthew T. Merryman has launched an active campaign so far.
Merryman, a former criminal defense attorney who now specializes in environmental law, said Tuesday that he has been waging an issues-oriented campaign and has avoided attacking the incumbent personally.
But upon being informed of this latest foreclosure, Merryman said he finds White’s personal financial difficulties “concerning.”
“There is a leadership issue here,” he said. “When you can’t take care of these issues at home, how does that reflect on how you handle those issues with the county.”
White fashions himself as a good steward of taxpayer funds while acknowledging that he has had financial difficulties, including past liens for unpaid taxes.
The eight-time Gold Glove winner traces his troubles to 2011, when he quit his front-office job with the Royals rather than accept a pay cut, which the club said was justified because his broadcasting work was cutting into the time available for team duties.
Later that year, he lost the TV job, too, when Fox Sports Kansas City announced it would not renew his contract.
He still hasn’t recovered from that loss of income, despite making $145,000 a year as county executive and receiving a pension from Major League Baseball that could amount up to $9,351 a month for someone who played as long as he did.
White averted foreclosure in the spring and fall of 2016. The county prosecutor is investigating how he came to avoid losing his house that first time, as The Star first reported.
Quoting unnamed sources who are friends or have close ties to White, the article described the panic that arose in Jackson County political circles when his supporters alerted White that he was about to lose his house on Northeast Parks Edge Drive in the Oak Ridge subdivision. One of those sources with direct knowledge described a private meeting at Sanders’ Independence law office in which the Whites’ mortgage deficit was erased with the help of a benefactor.
Sanders’ then-law partner Ken McClain provided an unknown amount of money for the loan, according to the source. But the funds were funneled to the Whites through a third, unidentified attorney from another law firm to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, the source said.
McClain rents office space to the county and has other dealings.
White, Sanders and McClain have declined to comment on the meeting or any financial agreement regarding White’s house, which the county appraiser says has a market value of $289,739.
This story was originally published April 17, 2018 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Frank White faces losing his house to foreclosure for the third time since 2016."