TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! CITY ATTORNEY MEMO ON POLITICAL ACTIVITY GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN KANSAS CITY!!!
Kansas City's Mayor has already been under fire for his behavior and his use of City resources during the election to promote light rail.
There have been some consistent allegations that he ignored warnings form the City Attorney about the way local politicos are legally required to conduct themselves and their offices during the election.
NOW TKC READERS CAN JUDGE FOR THEMSELVES ACCORDING TO LOCAL GUIDELINES DISTRIBUTED BY THE CITY ATTORNEY!!!
Be sure to read the guidelines carefully and compare the behavior of Mayor Funky and his cronies.
I'm seeing a ton of violations of these guidelines already from Mayor Funky's people but thousands of folks who subscribe to the Mayor's e-mail have already noted the following. The guideline state:
SO FAR THE MAYOR HAS SENT OUT NEARLY HALF A DOZEN E-MAIL ALERTS USING A CITY HALL E-MAIL ACCOUNT TO NOTIFY CONSTITUENTS ABOUT HIS APPEARANCES PROMOTING LIGHT RAIL!!!
It gets worse:
MAYOR FUNKY MAKING CHANNEL 2 EMPLOYEES SET UP HIS PRESS CONFERENCES SEEMS TO DIRECTLY CONFLICT WITH THIS GUIDELINE!!!
Mayor Funky and his incompetent PR team are playing fast and loose with City Hall rules . . . Maybe because his new office is in Brookside the Mayor doesn't feel he has to obey campaign guidelines set forth by legal experts.
TKC readers are encouraged to do their own comparisons.
A SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO TKC TIPSTERS (STAND UP!!!) WHO HAVE OFFERED THIS INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC SO WE CAN MAKE MORE INFORMED DECISIONS ABOUT THE ETHICAL BEHAVIOR (OR LACK THEREOF) FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS!!!
posted by Tony Permalink
recall.
amazing how a few sharp comments in a blog can get something out of city hall. File a sunshine law request and you get delays or ignored. Start to name a few coucnil persons or attack them and you get some results.
Thanks Tony.
lame... very lame.... get a life
And were is the Kansas City Star???
Busy promoting light rail.
Once the light rail election is over, they will tell the public what they have been holding back.
Ten percent cuts in basic services. Hugh revenue short falls for the City. Power & Light District not performing. Kansas City is clearly in a recession. Star will go on to report the information that you should have had in print before you voted.
In this case, "better late than never" is an insult to the free press and the dignity of the 1st amendment. You have been reduced by the Star to something that can be manipulated by selective reporting.
Please note that there may be a specific city attorney letter directed to elected officials. That would be the mayor and city council. Internal memos may be even more revealing.
Excuse me, I have my thumb up my ass.
FYI-Bill Griffen (sp?), the former Missouri Speaker of the House, was convicted and did time for simply uisng a government fax machine to conduct political activity. Funky's conduct seems MUCH worse than what he did. Perhaps this is also a matter for the feds/prosecutors as well.
Funk better hope light rail passes. If it doesn't he's screwed.
When you work for an elected official at ANY level of government, lesson #1 is KEEP CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES SEPARATE. If you're working on an election, you do it on your own time, with your own cell phone, at your home computer. Been there - done that. Not a problem. Inconvenient at times, yes, but it can be done. And as a paid city staffer, YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO DO THAT.
(Lessons #2 and #3 are - keep your travel and cell phone records pure as the driven snow - those are easy records to access and easy to check out by reporters who do that story at least once a year.)
The worst abuses are never e-mails, cell phones etc. The actual marginal cost of those items is almost nothing. The abuses are the mailings and advertisements at taxpayer expense, the employees spending their days working on the campaign. All under the "informational" banner.
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