Several people have kindly requested an update on Mark and Gloria's excellent adventure. For those playing along at home, Mark and Gloria are the not-so-esteemed mayor of Kansas City, Mark Funkhouser, and his wife, Gloria Squitiro.
This tale began a year ago, moments after Mark was sworn into office, with the discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee in the mayor's office, who found the ever-present Volunteer Gloria's remarks, such as calling her Mammy, thus leading to the term, Mammy-gate, offensive. [Personally, I think this Mayorship was a dead horse right out of the gate, but maybe that's just me. Oh, and did I mention the aggrieved suit-filer is African American, something which apparently slipped Gloria's notice during the preceding 15 years of friendship?]
Add to that the Mayor's oft-stated desire to have Gloria on site to hold his hand (or feet) while he works, and the outcome was obvious. Gloria has been banned from city hall by law, a thumb of the nose passed by the council especially for her.
I would give winners and losers, here, but I'm not sure which is which, except the populace, who have clearly lost their minds by electing this whole bunch in the first place.
To continue the recap of previous episodes, that was when they put the wheels under their circus and hit the road. First, they moved the mayor's office from city hall to their home in the Brookside area of the city. Next, and I think this is my favorite part, they are suing the city to try to get the law undone. Then they went to New York to tattle about it all on the national morning shows.
So, to sum up, they are now running the city of Kansas City out of their home, and Mark continues to be unable to function as mayor without her. Of course, if it weren't for negative publicity, Kansas City wouldn't get any, and at least they weren't talking about the murder rate. Nero continues to play, Rome continues to burn and all that.
But it seems they aren't finished with us yet. I am happy to provide the update that they have once again taken their traveling show mobile. Now that the furor has died down, [apparently there are some actual problems out there in the real world to be dealt with, and the council is busily trying to figure out where the missing $50 million in the budget is going to come from,] and to the amusement of virtually everyone (except the actual residents of KC, of course,) Mark and Gloria have once again put wheels to the pavement. In the latest wrinkle in our time, they are now holding their weekly staff meetings in the public library branch halfway between their home and city hall.
This shortens the drive time for the confused employees who actually do show up for work downtown at headquarters, and who are not getting reimbursed by the city for their travel costs associated with this out of grounds [or out of bounds, if you ask the public] meeting. I am sure it's entirely by coincidence that this has put the whole spectacle squarely back into the public eye, just as it was all fading from view.
The best comment I read was from a city council member, who gave the tight lipped response, "It's a very fine library. I'm sure they will find the accommodations to be excellent."
In these days of budget tightening, it seems Mark and Glo may have actually found a creative new way to cut costs. Let's just get rid of city hall, and conduct the city's business like a telecommuting job with meetings at the local library. Hey, as a young man I know pointed out, the President runs the whole country out of his house, so it can work. Kudos to them for economizing.
I'm not so sure the people of KC are well served this way, but on the other hand, I'm not so sure they are any worse off, either. Dysfunctional family that they are, they rarely accomplish anything to write home about, anyway, so if this reduces the antics of the elected and not so elected officials in charge, perhaps that is all for the best.
I am amused at the idea of a mayor who thinks you can take the whole city on a field trip to his own home. (Of course, it's a lot easier to be entertained when it's not your mayor, but since I live in the suburbs, we sort of have to claim him by proxy, anyway.) For an auditor, which is what he is by training, he is a pretty creative thinker. He was given a problem - the removal of his wife from his side for part of each day - and he has problem solved and come up with a solution - city hall is now a mobile enterprise.
While I don't really envision this as a long term plan for effective leadership, there is no doubt that he is not hiding in his office at city hall. Meeting in the library, he is out in the community, seeing the public, and being seen. In truth, I suspect this mayor may be more in touch with the common man than any mayor in a long time.
For the life of me, I can't understand why I feel this way, because he has been a complete fool in his handling of this whole situation, but he is starting to intrigue me and win me over. His bold certainty of the righteousness of his position in the face of total opposition is sort of inspiring, in a weird kind of way. Maybe it's because I'm divorced, and my ex, Mr. Unfaithful, would have thrown me over for a dirty sock, (in fact, he more or less did, if you count the woman to whom that sock was attached,) but that kind of devotion to his wife looks rather astounding, from where I sit.
If Hizzonor is willing to be this devoted to his wife, I wonder if he is also this devoted to the people who elected him. He was a very fine auditor for many years, always willing to take on city hall if there was a need, and unflinching in his dedication to holding the city leaders to the fire. It seems, from the outside, that he has become confused about who is in charge, but maybe, in the end, it's him that has it right.
Perhaps we are so accustomed to politicians bending to the will of every prevailing wind, we don't know character when we see it.
Or maybe he is just as crazy as we all think he is, and this is just the latest installment of the civic experiment gone awry.
I don't know, but I will keep you up to date as this reality show continues to entertain from coast to coast. Take heart. He runs for re-election in two years, and he has already thrown his hat into the ring. While the local newspaper has withdrawn it's endorsement from the last time around, [I never knew they could retrospectively withdraw endorsements - too bad we can't do that with our votes when things don't work out the way we expect,] and recall petitions have been floated, he boldly stated that he will not only run, but win. This could be pretty good entertainment. And the best part is, it's all free.
