TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! CORRUPT KANSAS CITY CORPORATE LAWYERS WORKING ON CHARTER CHANGE THAT COULD MAKE IT 10 TIMES HARDER FOR VOTERS TO PETITION CITY HALL!!!
Control of Kansas City's Democracy is now almost completely in the hands of the Greater KC Chamber of commerce and small cadre of top ranking law amd engineering firms who want to limit voters in upcoming elections.
Accordingly . . .
TKC INSIDERS REVEAL TOP KANSAS CITY LAWYERS WORKING TO CRAFT LEGISLATION THAT WOULD CHANGE THE CHARTER TO RAISE PETITION SIGNATURE THRESHOLDS, REQUIRE RESIDENCY AND CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS AND OTHERWISE PREVENT MORE PETITIONS!!!
Even worse . . .
THERE'S AN EFFORT TO MAKE THIS CHARTER CHANGE WITHOUT A VOTE AND UNDER EMERGENCY LEGISLATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES I.E. WITH AN ACCELERATED EFFECTIVE DATE!!!
Don't think this is possible???
It's also nowhere in the Charter that the City Legal department can make a non-binding judgement call on a voter petition and basically kill a voter initiative supported by more than 2 THOUSAND valid signatures.
Accordingly . . .
LIKE IT OR NOT THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION AT CITY HALL HAS DECLARED WAR ON THE PETITION PROCESS AND LOCAL ELITE LAWYERS ARE CLANDESTINELY SUPPLYING CITY HALL WITH HELP TO SECRETLY CHANGE THE CHARTER!!!
And here's where partisan politics comes into it . . .
They'll be using Democratic Party talking points in order to do it and deceiving people that this effort is aimed at billionaires like Rex Sinquefield when, in fact, the urban core will take a hit on this one too.
Remember the only real check to a City Hall outsourcing deal last year was a petition threat to Mayor James that still angers the politico . . . The minimum wage ordinance was also pushed forward by way of petition.
Despite politics or demographics, voter petitions strengthen Kansas City's direct Democracy and that's why corrupt, despicable and money hungry corporate lawyers want the process killed.
These corporate lawyers have been emboldened by the fact that they were able to secretly rig last election and talk every viable candidate out of a challenge against the Mayor behind the scenes . . . Rather than bribe or coerce voters, now they're working to simply push them out of the process.
KICK-ASS KANSAS CITY INSIDERS tell us that the threshold will be moved up from 5 percent of a Mayoral vote to at least 50 or as much as 10K valid signatures.
This fact always goes unmentioned in the discussion, petition thresholds are determined by voter turnout and it's only because local politicos have FAILED to bring more people to the polls that their decisions are now so vulnerable to challenges by way of citizen initiative petitions. Sadly, since politicos and their consultant and lawyer backers no longer have an overwhelming advantage . . . They want/need to change the rules of the game.
Raising the petition threshold and cracking down on petitioners would limit local grassroots democracy efforts and somewhat mirror Missouri standards of 100k signatures to get something on the ballot.
We'll have more detailed reax to this later (e-tax pressure is first and foremost) but for now what locals should realize is that TIF cash and taxpayer giveaways have become far more important than Democracy in Kansas City and the current administration and most of the council are working diligently to thwart any questions or challenges from as many voters as possible.
Developing . . .
TIF Über Alles
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty standard stuff TKC. What you don't mention is that the newspaper is on board with this too. They will write one editorial after the next complaining about petitions and using Clay Chastain as the main example while ignoring more serious efforts from the urban core or Citizens For Responsible Government.
ReplyDeleteI'm so tired of fighting this. I saw a racist white, elitist, "urbanist" tweet this shortly after the June election, and Jolie Justus said she was on board. I imagine all of the incumbent council members are on board as well. So much for representative democracy; everything this Mayor has done has been to figure out how to spend tax payer money without having to get permission from tax payers.
ReplyDeleteThe peasants are revolting!
ReplyDeleteOh, don't you know it!
"LET THEM EAT CAKE"
ReplyDelete"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"
See what happens when you put a black man in charge of something.
ReplyDeleteThey fuck it all up.
But no really all you white lazy ass people who were to busy to get out and vote are the cause of this so stop being pussys and whining about it.
Who are the dumb asses who made it so the city fathers could change the charter without a vote of the people? Oh! Nevermind. More lazy peckerwoods.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely sickening. I will support any efforts to defeat this takeover of voter involvement.
ReplyDeleteMiss Funkhouser yet? His administration may not have been glitzy or glamorous with streetcars, airports and hotels, but it was realistic and pragmatic.
ReplyDeleteFunk wins again no matter how you look at it.
ReplyDeleteJust to bad he is strapped with an idiot for a brother.
I think time to tar feather the whole council and mayor
ReplyDeleteAs the peasants ride the streetcar passed by a rigged vote and pass by the hotel approved by a bunch of lame duck clowncilpersons, let them eat cake!
ReplyDeleteAre the voters aware that these TIF payouts take money from the earnings tax collections?
ReplyDeleteThe people with jobs are too busy to fight back. The people without jobs are too desperate looking for work to be able to fight back. The people who are unemployable are generally on some form of government assistance and could not care less what the local political class are up to.
ReplyDeleteThe bills are going up. Expenses are outstripping income. Jolie Justus is a clueless hag. Sly James is a puppet who thinks he is writing his own dialogue. Scott Taylor is a mole rat. Scott Wagner is Mr. Magoo with fewer good results.
The charter will soon be written in German. There's no way out of here.
We're going to be living in a completely fascist country pretty soon. Only fitting that we live in a fascist city as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat is fascism? It is when government policy and corporate policy are the same thing. Despite what people think, jackboots and thugs are optional and unnecessary. The thuggery is in the details.
We'll need to go beat up some niggers to make this happen. who's with me? You can't have law and order, and filthy niggers too.
ReplyDeleteIncarcerate, segregate, discriminate!
Ah let me guess this is in the five-year city business plan approved Thursday by the city council.
ReplyDelete"Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner said the plan calls for the extra money for neighborhoods beginning in 2017, but that could change."
Ah yes things indeed that could change yes indeed Mr. Wagner.
The money is coming! Beginning in 2017!!!
Accounting fraud, fraud in general, in one form or another - delivered with a selfie smile and social media geeky speaky is the only tool left in this administrations playbook.
ReplyDeleteThis is typical. Power elite pricks don't want the people to have any power. Simple solution you revolt against these cock suckers. Then you duct tape these assholes to a chair and beat them to death with baseball bats. Problem solved and the world has fewer elistist dickheads to contend eith.
ReplyDeleteTony, the one thing I would dispute is that a cabal talked good candidates out of running against Sly James.
ReplyDeleteI've run or worked on campaigns for 40 years. It's VERY hard to unseat an incumbent. It costs a fortune. So it was MONEY that discouraged opposition.
Sly was the first trial lawyer to be elected, as opposed to all the development lawyers we have had. His first term opponent was Mike Burke, who was backed by the other team, development lawyers.
The smart money, now that the newspaper is virtually invisible in covering local news, and broadcast stories are 45 seconds in length, says: Save your $500,000 and just find and groom your slate of candidates and run them after the 8 years of Sly James.
The only people who might have run last year against incumbent James were egomaniacs. And they looked at their handful of sycophant supporters with shallow pockets and concluded: they could not win, so they never filed.
Now the fact that Clay Chastain ran, that was crazy. But it wasn't worth proving to the election board that he was not a resident. Worse yet, General Lee is a homeless man, yet Micheal Mahoney at KMBC, and the Star, REFUSED TO REPORT IT!!!
We all have the government we are willing to put up with. The charter should stay as it is, and not be jury-rigged to raise the petition minimum. The hotel deal still stinks, Tony, you're right. Karma comes round. The council that does such things will be caught and punished for their bad choices --but in some other event.
I hate to say this but part of the problem is term limits. By the time our rulers know what the fuck they are doing, they are termed out. Sometimes that's good --such as in the case of Russ Johnson. However, such a system never favors the reformers.
ReplyDeleteGood post Tracy
ReplyDeletePerspective folks. Really try hard.
ReplyDeleteAs long as Tony panders to the bigot that seems to be without life and his highlight is posting on a crappy blog site, it's easy to dismiss this dialogue, even the thoughtful ones.
I can imagine a bigot with hate, I just can't get my mind around someone so utterly stupid as to feel that hate and then go, "mmmmmmm, lets post on TKC".
Tony, if you want to buy into conspiracy theories, this whack job does a great effort to marginalize your blog. But if the hits are that important to you, roll on.
Secondly, and no one here will believe this for a moment, but you and your Denizens will be on the wrong side of this issue, AGAIN. Precisely for the reason note above. I don't live or work in KCMO, but I have friends that do, and your positions of anti this anti that are so repetitive and caustic , and yes-frequently hateful, that you have become marginalized.
While it does not represent the characteristics of your base, civility and respect really tend to attract political support for public policy over hate, misogyny, and bigotry. You are doing a great service if your blog serves to vent dysfunctional people who can't communicate or process the reality that most cities are not applying a policy approach popular in 1966.
As always, your blog, your choice.
Democrat special interest scam groups rule!!
ReplyDeleteTruth is the enemy of the nigger and the nigger lover. Truth must be hidden from society for society’s own good…but exactly what society are we living in? A nigger society? A fucking jungle society? Look around. Are you an animal? Do you thrive on silencing your enemies instead of standing and declaring your evidence to combat them? If you are a nigger, then you have no choice. You have no evidence. You have no fact to back up your thin arguments so you demand in the name of racism and hate speech that the truth be squelched. The truth be hidden from the masses who are too stupid in the niggers opinions to understand why niggers are what they are. Anyone who calls themselves Americans and subscribes to this censorship approach to arguing should be ashamed of themselves. But there they are, reading this and still figuring out how they can have me shut down…instead of just hitting the next blog button, figuring I am but one little nothing in a sea of blogs, they will waste their time shutting me up…Because I pose such a huge threat to society with my disdain for the nigger species…it really is pathetic.
ReplyDeleteNaziDave, its "too".
ReplyDeleteHe has three brothers & a sister. You don't know this because none of us have any thing to do with him (though that's mostly Gloria's fault.)
You've been attacking me since the day you found this site. I always pegged you for a DumbFunk Flunky.
I thought Funkhouser was a good Mayor. The man was an Auditor, he understood Kansas City's financial standing. Unfortunately that was his downfall. It caused the "development" crowd to campaign him out of office. Really is a travesty.
ReplyDeleteREADER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the MOST IMPORTANT posts to ever appear on the TKC blog!
The blogger is highlighting the sad reality which is KCMO politics and if the cabalistic trend remains unchecked, the taxpayers of KCMO will truly be denied their proper right to representation.
A SAD REALITY indeed, when a lone individual sounds the alarm and informs his readers, while the local daily newspaper, television news, and business councils actively work against the bests interests of taxpayers.
For this post, blogger Tony Botello is nominated for the Kansas City Voice of Liberty medal.
I thought this was the MOST IMPORTANT post on the TKC blog 12:57:
Deletehttp://www.tonyskansascity.com/2012/08/retraction-and-apology-to-mr-louie.html
I mean what more is there to know about integrity?
Sly is probably oof the most arrogant and corrupt mayors i. our history. Basically the want to circumvent the will of the voter.
ReplyDeleteThe Street Car vote was a test to see if it could be pulled off...it worked. Now this is affecting every proposition .
Neighborhoods are also getti g in on the action , Hyde Park id trying to pass a mandatory Property tax levy, and only count yes votes. A former council woman who lives in Hyde Park is spearheading the proposal , she was also heavily involved with the fraudulent sreet car vote, which fail miserably.
These individuals are pulling out the stops to get what THEY want regardless of strong opposition
1135 is word. You can't find a rational position here for all the trolls, AKA 1207.
ReplyDeleteThat, and his lack of command of simple English makes Caucasians cry.
This is an evil City Hall power grab. If the people vote for it they will lose democracy and freedom.
ReplyDeleteThe people should have an easier avenue to challenge government overreach not a harder time.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY EVIL AND WRONG.
You think that Kansas City is vacant now, wait until they change the charter. All of KC Dreaming that people want to live in a society that dictates how they should live will only lead to more mutiny and more abandonmemt. These lawyers instead of dreaming up how to limit peoples interaction with the government should probably focus on more productive endeavors. This is Kansas City. Who am I kidding? The abuse of power in this town is palpable.
ReplyDelete11:05 Got it with Karma coming around.
ReplyDeleteA Proverb provides "When the wicked are in authority, the people mourn."
KC will continue to have higher and higher rates of crime and the people will suffer more and more as corruption continues.
The Star has lost any pretense of moral authority and leadership.
Hasta la vista, baby!
I'm bailing to the 'burbs.
Another proverb provides "When the niggers are in authority, the humans mourn."
ReplyDeleteThis is a good time to cuss out everybody in KCMO who did not vote in the mayoral election. This is how JE Dunn got to be mayor!!!
ReplyDeleteRight Yael? You in KCMO have the city--and the school--that you deserve.
See you on the Toy Train! (if it ever gets here).
1:03: Punctuation, coherence and spacing much?
ReplyDeleteThe war is on! Need soldiers who are willing to fight for their rights.
ReplyDeleteWas 1:03 sober? Inquiring minds want to know.
ReplyDelete8:15 & 7:43 anything ever relevant to add to the topic, or do you always focus on what really doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteThis Mayor feels he has a mandate even though he won simply because a qualified opponent never challenged his lunacy.
This Mayor has no respect for this city,its revenue or its people.
The homicide rate per capita has surpassed Chicago, the Police department budget has been stripped.We pay the price.
Perhaps its time to recall Sly James, that is if we can even petition anymore.
AWWWWWW! Porr widdle Danny and Paddy and Crosie got their feeling hurt when people who were elected by fucking landslides didn't listen to their demands and the 2,000 signatures they gathered by lying to people at Price Chopper? Poor widdle guys! Don't they know you are white men of privelege and should be kowtowed to with you no nonsense ideas and whipsmart conservatism? How could anyone deny your right to be heard iand have your illegal schemes enacted? Don't they know who you are!
ReplyDelete^^Toot toot! Condescending hoot from someone who experiences justifiable condescension on a daily if not hourly basis. Big clunk there, brilliant widdle white boy of privilege. ("The east side got the bus service they deserve.")
ReplyDelete10:29: All you ever do is complain, primarily about how mistreated you are by the HPNA.
ReplyDeleteIf you're serious about recalling the mayor, get off your ass and get a petition started. Or are you ain't gonna do nuffin' but bitch?