Showing posts with label Mark Funkhauser. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Funkhauser. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Mike Burke and Sly James will Face Off in Kansas City Mayor's Race

Kansas City's Mayoral primary is over - with historic, if not necessarily surprising, results. Mark Funkhauser will be the first Kansas City mayor in over 80 years not to enjoy a second term. The current mayor finished a fairly close 3rd overall in a field of 6. Jim Rowland finished 4th, with Deb Hermann finishing a disappointing 5th place. Henry Klein got a few more votes than did Charles Wheeler - of course Wheeler bowed out of the race more than a week ago, but it was too late to remove him from the ballot. Mr Klein should spend his time more wisely in the future, running for Mayor is not a very productive pastime for him.

Who are the 502 people that voted for Charles Wheeler anyway? Almost nobody bothers to vote (50,000 voters out of 230,000 registered in the city) in these municipal primaries, and usually they are the more informed among us and they still voted for a man that dropped out of the race? I guess you can't fix stupid.

Should be a good race between Burke and James. Both seem to be nice enough guys despite both being attorneys. Burke probably holds an edge with the endorsements he has received and hi "experience" in city government. Experience is overrated and Sly James will tout the fact that he is an outsider - this plays well to some, and of course being black will help in the inner city. Besides, it would be cool to have a mayor named Sly, wouldn't it?

Monday, February 21, 2011

Kansas City Mayoral Primary on Tuesday

The Kansas City Mayoral Primary will be held on Tuesday. Mayor Funkhauser will face five others to narrow the race down to two. The top two vote getters will face off in the March 22nd General Election. The candidates, in no particular order are:

Henry Klein - Klein has lived in Kansas City for more than 25 years and has no direct experience in local Government (that's probably a good thing). He ran last time around and received just over 1% of the vote in the primary. His big issue is crime and the fact that Kansas City is more dangerous than 98 % of US Cities. Klein doesn't stand a chance, which means he is probably one of the better candidates.

Deb Hermann - Two term City Councilwoman from the North of the River's 1st District. Will probably show well in the Northland and has decent name recognition. She is big on "neighborhoods" - whatever that means. She also stresses the importance of basic services. Hermann is a possible top two finisher.

Mike Burke - Former City Council Member (1st District) - extensive experience in city government, on council and various councils - for example Convention and Visitors Association. Probably the front runner at this point. Burke has picked up key endorsements from Two senile former mayors and Kay Barnes (make that 3 senile former mayors).

Jim Rowland - Former City Councilman and current Executive Director of the Jackson County Sports Authority. Don't know the man, but seems that one should quit their job working for the county Sports Authority before they run for Mayor if they want to seem serious. Also I have heard he is an asshole. Besides their are too many white candidates for Rowland to be successful.

Sly James - Former Marine and Successful Personal Injury Attorney - I'm not really a big fan of personal injury lawyers, but he seems like an OK guy for a Democrat. Besides, he's the only black guy in the race - if he can get black people to the polls, he will do well - just ask Emanuel Cleaver.

Mayor Funky - Well we all know the very public tribulations of our current Mayor. Personally, I like the guy. Seems to me he told everyone he was not a politician, got elected, proved he wasn't a politician and then every one's pissed. I think the city has actually made progress. If it wasn't for his wife, we might be talking about a different race. I'd like to think he can make the top 2, but I'm kind of a cranky bastard pulling for another cranky bastard.

Polls are open Tuesday, February 22nd, 6AM - 7PM in Kansas City.

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