TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! ACTIVIST PHILLIP KLEIN RETURNS TO KANSAS CITY POLITICS AS TOP DONOR IN GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGN AGAINST NEW AIRPORT QUESTION #1!!!



Phillip Klein earned a name for himself among Kansas City political denizens about twenty years ago as a gadfly of local government overspending.

He's the CEO of U.S. Co. and a documentary moviemaker but his struggles against Bi-State II, The P&L District and a soccer stadium in Kansas have earned him most of his notoriety.



Currently he has provided most of the funding for Citizens For Responsible Government over the past year with middle-class contributions totaling around $55K and probably just a bit more after this airport election is complete. Compared to the $1.6-MILLION donated by just about every corporation in Kansas City to the "Better KCI (KC3T)" campaign . . . The funding is peanuts . . . But CFRG has subsisted on paltry $20 & $50 dollar donations for nearly half a decade.

17-years ago, The Pitch offered the best write-up of the activist and here's the money quote from one of his fans:

"He is the underdog who never quits. Sometimes his style might rub people the wrong way. In the end, all he cares about is the city. He spends hundreds of hours, perhaps thousands, to help communities and neighborhoods and businesspeople gain an equal voice with the power brokers who can afford lawyers. He doesn't receive a dime.... The 'haves' have more resources to get things done. Phil exhausts himself to try to even the score. Every community should have a Phil Klein."

To be fair, Mr. Klein also has much harsher critics who have attacked his caustic and often abrasive style throughout the course of his activism. Our TKC blog community believes it's important to offer a quick glimpse of his involvement in this election and recent anti-tax crusades in order to offer a broader perspective on how voting really works in Kansas City and the players who really power the local discourse but mostly go unmentioned in MSM reporting.

The opposition against the upcoming new airport Question #1 vote is comprised of a disorganized collection of grassroots activists, some bloggers and more than a few social media trolls who enjoy taunting all of the paid consultants servicing their tenuous and mostly embarrassing contracts. While old money and Kansas City and establishment Conservatives have been more comfortable pushing their own made-to-order public TV movies it's noteworthy that this issue has brought Mr. Klein back into the fold of local politics in a role that's now mostly behind the scenes.

Developing . . .

Comments

  1. One of the few people to put his money where his mouth is, good for him.

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  2. Would be exceptional irony if KC3T loses this one and wastes a million dollars. At the point Sly is finished.

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  3. You heard it here FIRST11/2/17, 7:41 PM

    No on question 1 by +2 and then a recount to overturn.

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  4. Don;t be a fag. Vote YES on the NEW KCI. Only dipshits will vote against progress. You dipshits don't pay taxes anyway.

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  5. Phillip Klein is my hero. Puts his money behind so many issues--and wins. I worked for free, and he wrote the checks, and together we defeated BiState II and Big Soccer, saving the taxpayers $2.4 BILLION, rather than build stadiums for millionaires who eventually got them built another way.

    Now Phillip is financing the Vote No November 7.

    Make no mistake--the City is lying when they tell you it's now or never. Of course they will have to come back with a much better plan when this crazy one month elopement with Edgemoor fails at the altar on Nov. 7. You don't design a billion dollar building on the back of a cocktail napkin and buy off labor and Freedom and the mayor and Jolie Justus and think you can fool the 18% of Kansas Citians who even use KCI.

    There's a better way. Insist on seeing it--by voting NO on Nov. 7.

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  6. This guy is one of the very few to put up his own money for a good cause. If Kansas City had more citizens like Klein the city would see more progress and be less in debt.

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