AN IMPORTANT ITEM FROM THE KC POST: MAYOR FUNKY'S PROPOSED IMMIGRANT AFFAIRS OFFICE COULD COST UP TO $1 MILLION DOLLARS!!!

Bloglines is frustrating, I should have been all over this IMPORTANT post from Forsythe earlier this week but it didn't come down the pipe until this morning (NO HOMO!!!).

Anyway, the important thing is that Funkhouser's half measure and lame attempt at compromise that nobody wanted (an Immigrant Affairs Office) has some major problems which start with the fact that even a crappy, one person office at City Hall could cost close to a million bucks if previous endeavors of this sort are any indication. Also, Forsythe illustrates that assigning one, single individual to deal with Kansas City's diverse immigrant community is unrealistic. He posts a mock help-wanted ad:

The successful candidate must be fluent in at least seven (preferably many more) languages. Will be an expert in cultures as diverse and far-ranging as Chinese to Somalian and everywhere in between. Must be able to move seamlessly across religious boundaries and have a background in dispute resolution amongst mono and poly-theistic, agnostic, and atheistic beliefs as well as the thousands of sub-categories of each. Will have legal expertise in the area of immigration from sovereign nations of every continent. Candidate must be a people person, consensus builder, self-starter and any other worthless buzz expression currently making the corporate circuit.

So, yeah . . . Assigning one person to this task is just silly and it's just not an office that's been clamored for by either side. Once again Mayor Funky is just demonstrating how much he doesn't know about politics while proposing to waste money and precious time simply to salvage his political reputation . . . And that kind of action is ANYTHING but the work of a reformer.