TKC ULTIMATUM!!! MAYOR FUNKY MUST DROP THE VOLUNTEER ORDINANCE LAWSUIT IF HE WANTS TO MOVE FORWARD WITH KANSAS CITY!!!

During 2008 Mayor Mark Funkhouser lost every last shred of his credibility because of his wife's unprecedented influence in his administration.

Mayor Funky promised that he would be "smart with the money" and would look after local interests related to infrastructure. Instead he has wasted time with a lawsuit due to his wife's inappropriate behavior in the mayor's office and cost this City thousands of dollars. Close political watchers have noted that Mayor Funky and his wife have adopted a "bunker mentality" and alienated nearly all of their former friends and advisers. The most recent insults to the voters of Kansas City reveal that Mayor Funky has not only abandoned his post at City Hall in order to hold meetings at home with his spouse but also he is working a second job while spouting propaganda regarding his day and night devotion to this town.

Nearly every bad decision in Mayor Funky's troubled tenure can be traced to his wife Gloria Squitiro. Still, the Mayor has vowed to fight for her return to City Hall and has even conducted a nationwide media blitz that ultimately backfired when residents of this town expressed almost universal embarrassment over the Mayor's misplaced priorities and criticism of his constituents along with their elected representatives. The real tragedy is that the Mayor has blamed everyone but himself and his wife for his inability to form a consensus, his lack of success as a leader and his many failed initiatives including but not limited to the search for a new City Manager, His Honda Sponsorship deal gone wrong, the many failed defenses of his wife AND his failed light rail plan. The last remaining supporters of the Co-Mayors can only cling to tired campaign rhetoric and cite conspiracy theories about the "powers that be" opposing the "change" proposed by Mayor Funky . . . These conspiracy theories don't make sense given the fact that the only significant change that Funkhouser has brought to the Mayor's office is the unprecedented role of his wife and their dangerous adoption of a working relationship that obviously employs nepotism.

All of these factors and many more have worked to destroy Mayor Funky's career and could force him out off office by the end of the year.

But the New Year and the merciful spirit of the Holidays have inspired TKC.

To wit . . .

TKC DEMANDS THAT THE MAYOR DROP HIS LAWSUIT AGAINST KANSAS CITY IF HIS CLAIMS OF "MOVING FORWARD" ARE TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY!!! IF NOT, FUNKHOUSER DEMONSTRATES THAT HE LACKS THE GOOD JUDGMENT TO SERVE AS MAYOR!!!

Already, Mayor Funky is so unpopular that even the most modest recall effort against him could probably find a great deal of support. The Mayor has squandered all of his political capital and has very few friends left in this town. He is politically vulnerable and only the fact that Kansas City hates open political confrontation accounts for him holding onto his job for this long.

But everyone has a breaking point and if Mayor Funky continues down this road, continues with his lawsuit than he is very clearly asking, begging for a political challenge to his current role as Mayor.

Mark Funkhouser can't move forward with his current course of action, his lawsuit against Kansas City and remain the Mayor. We're at a Crossroads: Mayor Funky can either keep his job as Mayor and abandon his crusade to put Gloria Squitiro back at City Hall or he can continue on his current path and face an unprecedented political backlash. What Mayor Funky can't do is expect the vast majority of voters in Kansas City to endorse nepotism based only on the dictates of his media sound bytes.

Like the rest of us, Mayor Funky has a choice to make to start the New Year. Sadly, the Mayor's talk of "moving forward" seems just as empty and doomed to failure as every other resolution I've ever heard.