Follow the money

I've met Jim Rowland before, because he is tall and white I automatically assume that he is not only better than me but also that he has integrity and the ability to lead. However, recently Rowland has been hopping around like a little girl from one career path to another. Last month he wanted to be County Executive and now he is under consideration to become the next executive director of the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority.

The possibility of hiring Rowland surfaced as Jackson County nears the end of long-running negotiations with the teams for new leases and repairs at Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums. The talks include the possibility of hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers to pay for upgrades.

The fallout from Rowland's career change? Mayor Kay (read: Steve Glorioso) will have to choose a new Council member and Mike Sanders (read: Dieter from Sprokets) won't look like such a wimp by comparison in his race for County Executive.

However, what this really means is that all the political action in this town revolves around the money that KC taxpayers are going to be swindled into giving to the stadiums. Rowland could easily run for Mayor. But who needs the heartache? Not when there is so much money and so many contacts to be made from taking this city to the cleaners on behalf of billionaire sports franchise owners and perennially mediocre sports teams.

Like I said, I once really respected Rowland but his current career hopping makes it seem as if he's obviously looking out for himself far more than the people of KC.