Today's Defense of Funk
I suspect I will get a few blog-hits from people wondering what my defense of Mayor Funkhouser will be in light of the Star's report this morning. In a nutshell, Funk has established a wonderful open application process for his appointments to city boards and commissions, but then went around that process to appoint Frances Semler and Tyrone Aiken to the Parks Board without having them apply.
My defense is . . .
Umm, I can't really defend this decision. It was foolish to undercut the good work of setting up an open process by using the back door for personal favorites.
The foolishness is heightened by the fact that it could have been avoided so easily. If he had called and told them to fill out an application because he would like to appoint them, nobody could really complain, and the same result would have been reached. They could have come in through the front door by filling out a simple form.
This flap is all the more surprising because respect for process is one of the real strengths of Mayor Funkhouser. His auditor background and well-earned reputation for substantive competence should have prevented this headache. The problems he has run into up until today have stemmed more from political inexperience - he failed to foresee the ferocity of the anti-Semler sentiment, and he didn't anticipate the PR cost of the Honda deal - but nobody could really complain that he wasn't following transparent rules in either case.
So, yeah, I'll agree with those that want to call this a bonehead play.
But, to avoid disappointing those who come here to attack a Funk supporter, here are a few further points to consider:
1. It was a bonehead play to skip the application process, but let's remember that every single appointment made by Mayors Pendergast through Barnes skipped the application process, too. I'm glad Mark has set up the process, and I hope and expect he'll be using it religiously in the future.
2. It was a bonehead play to skip the application process, but let's not over-react. It's not like he incurred millions of dollars in debt on a risky development scheme, or gave away school money for TIF developers. It's not like he invaded another country on false pretenses. This is a mistake, not a scandal.
3. It was a bonehead play to skip the application process, but the timing of it is worth remembering. It's hitting the papers today, but the mistake was made way back before Semler was appointed. It's not like Mark is waking up every day and blundering into a fresh faux pas before lunch time. It feels like Funk is making new mistakes all the time, but we're really just learning new aspects of an old one.
4. It was a bonehead play to skip the application process, but let's hope he's learning from his mistakes.
Labels: funkhouser, kansas city