Trouble with the Treasurer

If you're coming here for inside skinny on Funkhouser's appointment of Gloria to serve as Campaign Treasurer, I'm sorely lacking. But the facts on the table are sufficient to spark some thoughts.

This is another classic Funkhouser dust-up. I am completely capable of arguing that this is no big deal. It's not, really. The campaign treasurer position is highly public, and, as Mark mentioned in the Star's article, people will have the opportunity to examine every detail of every transaction. Also, it's a stop-gap, temporary thing, during a time when the campaign isn't going to be raising or spending much money at all. No big deal. No blood, no foul. Sure, it looks a little bad, but don't be ridiculous - nothing bad is going to happen.

And, really, the people screaming loudest are performing their typical roles. Some hysterical commenter has started shouting about racketeering, and claiming that Funk has contempt for the people of Kansas City. It's tempting to argue in favor of the decision solely to poke the easy holes in the logic and language of commenters like those, and to distance myself from their sloppy, strident silliness.

My ego enjoys the sport of swatting fools (it's so darned easy!), and my stubbornness inclines me to launch the best valid defense available - which is, as argued above, that it's no big deal.

So, it's all laid out in front of us, and we all know our appointed roles. I'll be cool and logical and perhaps a bit defensive, and a few commenters (you know who you are) will be all over the place, making unsubstantiated claims and crazy leaps in logic. If that's what you came here for, I've laid it out already above, so have at it.

But I'm having some difficulty playing my part this time with any sincerity. Maybe it's a cold coming on. Maybe it's the sense of deja vu. Maybe, even though I am fully capable of explaining it away, the appearance of this particular problem is just a little too jarring for my explanation to bring me complete satisfaction. Really, if a good man like Evert Asjes resigns because of problems with payments involving Gloria, replacing him with Gloria might not be the best solution.

Surely there ought to be somebody, anybody, else. If Jeff Simon (the deputy treasurer, and one of the most ethical and clear thinking people in the city) was too busy with his work and family, they ought to have been able to find someone else. It concerns me deeply that there's nobody else around to step in.

But I've seen the damage done by the harping and attacking by the constant critics. It seems like the Funkhousers are relying only on each other. In her gossip column interview, Gloria said "What my husband lacks, I make up for," and asked "where do I begin and Funk ends?" I notice an absence there - an absence of other people. The "kitchen cabinet" hasn't met for a while, and has no meetings scheduled. If rumors are true, good, old friends are alienated. While it's understandable to circle the wagons when under attack by constant, thoughtless, unfair, vicious critics, but it seems like we're headed toward having only one wagon, and only two people on it.

I appreciate the motivation behind Gloria's involvement. I don't think it's bad that she plays a role in the Mayor's office. The Mayor's office is not a one-person shop. Unfortunately, it's not a two-person job, either. It's a team job, just like the campaign was. It's time to start bringing in some new people, or reconnecting with old people.

Appointing Gloria to be campaign treasurer looks bad, though I can argue that it's not. But allowing your circle to shrink so small that you have to turn to Gloria is bad, and has me deeply concerned.