Here's the deal . . . I had a radio appearance and it went awesomely. Not only did I get a kickass free lunch but I also had a lot of my friends call up to say hi along with some other community radio listeners who kind of scared me.
Last night, Gloria Squitiro's friends, supporters and sycophants (mostly from out of town) dialed into Darla Jaye's show to offer some quizzical remarks which gave the very accurate impression that people at home alone on a Friday Night like Kansas City's shoeless Co-Mayor.
For the record, I thought Darla Jaye did a FANTASTIC JOB and once again proved that her radio program is at the center of Kansas City's political and cultural discourse.
However, as always, her callers freaked me out.
I'm guessing that the Mayor's people flooded the phone lines with crazy observations . . . But I'm willing to accept that Gloria has some fans . . . Hell, if I do then it's not that hard. I did notice that of the 3 or 4 callers from Kansas City - Despite some introductory and cursory support noted their frustration with City Services in this cowtown. Gloria's answers about the Mayor raising citizen satisfaction were simply incorrect.
Furthermore . . . The Jeff Roe rhetoric is pretty pronounced and easy to detect at this point.
The Co-Mayors are touting their "many victories" with the Council. What they don't say is that these simple "yes" votes had no opposition. It's almost tragic that the Mayor is counting meaningless proclamations and bureaucracy as political victories. Remember that is was only last week that the entire City Council rebuked Mayor Funkhouser's irresponsible, unplanned and off-the-cuff support of the E-Tax. Still the line was typical Jeff Roe-esque obfuscation that had little or no substance.
Other than that Gloria repeating the Mayor's catch phrases was captivating but not really persuasive. For close KC political watchers the most important part of the conversation was:
GLORIA SQUITIRO SAID THAT TROY SHULTE IS "THE MAYOR'S CITY MANAGER" AND PRETTY MUCH PUT HER STAMP ON THE GUY IN PUBLIC!!!
This is important because Gloria Squitiro runs Mayor Funky and if the Co-Mayors claim ownership of Schulte it puts his actions in a different perspective. To wit, Troy Schulte is now politically aligned with Mayor Funky and will have to share his political fate. Sorry dude.
Some of the biggest complaints that I'm hearing have to do with the lack of talk about the really juicy aspects of Gloria Squitiro's reign. No, they didn't mention Gloria Squitiro's smudge stick. But I didn't expect that, the fact is that it's so much easier to be nasty anonymously on a blog and even on the radio the public aspect and potential identification lends people (especially Kansas Citians) to try and be nice.
While TKC friends and supporters happen to be some of the most influential, smart and awesome people in Kansas City . . . Gloria Squitiro's supporters struck me as lonely crackpots.
Most importantly, what most people missed is that Gloria's return to the limelight and the public fascination with her along with the unspoken popular conception of her as Kansas City Co-Mayor gives her a great deal of power despite the fact that nobody ever cast their ballot for the lady.
I think Gloria put her scent on him more than her stamp.
ReplyDeleteThe Darla Jaye interview was lame and pathetic. She has dropped off the center of thee political universe with this interview. Even you, apparently a mindless and blinded supporter of Mistress Jaye, pointed out that while Gloria was chortling away about the Mayor and his friendly council buddies Darla forgot or chose not to point that even this week the council was adamantly against the Feckless Not Smart With The Money Funk when he suggested that KCMO could do away with the earnings tax which, according to most people and the council, generates 40% of the revenue in the general fund.
ReplyDeleteOh well, we all have our disappointments in life. And life will go on even after having to listen to the Squid babble away unchallenged on what amounted to a 2 hour campaign infomercial. And you will remain Tony Botello, King of All Blogs. Sadly for at least you, Darla will have at least one fewer listeners although after last evenings show, probably a few more drop outs that just me.
Darla Jaye, we hardly knew ye :(
If I didn't know any better, Darla was looking for a taste of the Funk's balls which the way she acted last evening, she probably got... from the Squid.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, my job last night wasn't to beat Gloria up, as people have been doing for months. I asked her tough questions, about being reponsible for the $500,000 city payout to Ruth Bates, and she said of course she felt responsible. I asked her about her demeanor in the office, about Joe Miller, about the new lawsuit, about how Funk's staff felt about her, why she felt she HAD to work in his office, and all the things I thought people wanted to know.
ReplyDeleteDid you expect me to scream at her and call her a liar?
I took every call that came in for her, and was quite surprised that people didn't go after her more.
If you expected me to yell at her, back her into a corner or talk about rumors of smudge sticks, bare feet and bathrooms, those weren't things I wanted to know.
Hate her if you will, but I give her credit for doing the interview at all.
Get back to yer bitchin now.
Darla
Hey Lame Darla if this is really you... whereas you didn't need to scream at her, an interview that would have been informative to the listening audience would have included challenging Gloria (no name calling needed) when she either lied or chanted her usual delusional rhetoric (like inviting Ruth Bate's children over to her house). YOU DID NOTHING OF THE KIND. So what we got was a two hour Squitiro/Funk/Big Jeff Roe infomercial.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, you had two hours to do something newsworthy and boost your reputation and you punted. Oh well, the person I feel saddest for is Tony who has unabashedly touted and shilled for you.
P.S. If you respond, I will get even more specific. If you don't or otherwise choose not to respond, have a nice day.
I think it is very "stand-up" of you to post here.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Mr. & Mrs. Squitiro have a dysfunctional relationship. After the death of our father, Mr. Squitiro seems to have re-focused his co-dependency on his wife.
As you say, it was not your job to beat her up.
Troy Schulte is his own man, well-educated and experience. If the co-mayors are claiming ownership, it's only because they are grabbing on to his coat tails in a feeble attempt to make themselves appear normal and relevant. Troy will succeed, in spite of Gloria's weak comments, because of his skills, and not because of anything the co-mayors are saying and doing.
ReplyDeleteTony this is a good observation about Troy. I don't think he would have liked the "Shout Out" as you call it. You should ask him. If he's his own man then he will distance himself from the Mayor and his horrible wife.
ReplyDeleteLet Schulte begin the distancing process by shaving off his gruesome looking goatee! Not that he would ever be confused with the Bearded ghoul but it would be a unique message to send across the political spectrum.
ReplyDeleteI didn't vote for Squid for Mayor. I resent her being invited to talk about mayoral concerns.
ReplyDeleteHas Darla invited Dianne Cleaver or Georgia Sanders to speak about their husband's official concerns?
NO, I didn't think so. I don't recall either of those publicly elected official needing their wives to be constantly with them in their office "to be their heart..." Gloria's words
What he really needs is a brain! Maybe the WIZ (Jeff Roe) will hook him up with one next.
Yes, apparently Troy is part of the mayors "oh my gosh, we need to give the police department more money" plan.
ReplyDeleteDarla Jaye, why would we give her credit for doing an interview on a Friday night when no one with a life listens?
ReplyDeleteShe didn't want this to be a major deal, that's why she agreed to that time. If she had a backbone she would of done it on a Tuesday and not Friday.
The interview was a infomercial for the worst mayor in the Midwest and shame on you for not doing your job.
All she did was blame the city council, Kay Barnes and Cleaver for all of Funks problems.
Funny, you bash the national press and Obama for doing the same thing Squid and Funk did last night.
Giving softball questions and planted callers made me lose respect for you.
You are now officially Funk and Squids Chris Matthews. Does Funk give you chills going up your leg too???
I second I heard Darla say that Bigfoot was a babe, I knew the interview was a complete waste of time.
ReplyDeleteI saw Valerie Bertinelli on the Joy Behar show the other day and she said that your waist should be half as big around as you are tall.
ReplyDeleteSo if Fat Glo's waist is 60 inches around, does that mean that she's 10 feet tall?
I'm just sayin'