Aaah. I didn’t know if I would waste my fingertips on this, but my allergies woke me up, so I might as well kick up some antihistamine while I’m up. The Gloria Squitiro factor at City Hall has been a problem from jump street. Things have gotten way out of hand and she has done more to denigrate the office of the mayor. Unfortunately, pillow talk always wins out.
KC Mayor Mark Funkhouser ran one of those grass roots campaigns that suckered in most of you “tired of the status quo” voters. He was the Jesse Ventura of KC politics. A guy just like you. Just a man who wants to change the system. A voice for the little guy. The voice of one crying out in the wilderness and all that junk. Please. I don’t have enough money to buy that lie.
Dude did what he had to do to get into office. What he did after that has been a podiatric psoriasis of perpetual proportions. Now, the city is up against the proverbial pumice stone in relation to whether they should be on the hook to pay for the things that Gloria Squitiro has done in the office of the mayor. The city is facing a lawsuit due to things said and done by Gloria. While no one (outside of the mayor) was estatic to have her down there “voluntelling”, she has put the city in a unique bind.
Who should pay for the lawsuit?
Quite honestly, the city should. I don’t say that happily, I just say it because it is going to change the way “volunteers” are allowed to do. There should be a limit to the scope of a volunteer’s work. They should not be given access to everything. While we can’t regulate pillow talk of our elected officials, we (as a city) should be allowed to ensure that the pillow talk doesn’t turn into 9-5 problems. That seems to be the problem.
Say what you want about the Funkhousers. They are like a lot of couples. The good thing about the guy or gal that you detest at work is that you don’t have to deal with them and their crazy spouse. At worst, your boss might have their spouse drop in from time to time. If they start hanging around the office all the time, then you’d have a big problem. If they ended up saying racially and sexually charged (allegedly, for both) towards you in the office, you’d be hard pressed not to sue the company. Why? Because the company is responsible for what happens at the company.
The same thing applies to your home. We call it insurance. You are paying your premiums for “in case” stuff. In case someone comes onto the property and an unfortunate incident occurs that might be out of your control, you are covered. However, you paid for it.
Now, the city is wrangling with the notion of whether or not they should be liable for the legal fees that will mount with this lawsuit. While I don’t think that it is right that the city should pay (just based on the ignorance of the mayor and his bride), I believe that the city should pay because it’s the right thing to do. After the city gets hammered in the pocket, then the city needs to check the charter and see if they have any kind of recourse to turn around and put it to the Funkhousers.
It’s a black or/and white issue. Poor Kwame Kilpatrick (Detroit mayor) is in some hot water for some things he did, but more importantly, something that his wife did at a party at the city owned mayor’s residence. She put an object up against the side of a stripper’s head who got a little to friendly with her husband while he had a party at the mansion. That woman ended up going to the hospital and it started a chain of events that has sullied Detroit politics (as if they weren’t dirty enough), eventually led to the woman being gunned down (so-called randomly), and led to events that shed light on the mayor’s secret affair with his chief of staff. Kilpatrick is a brotha and no one is looking to pay for his nor his wife’s actions.
At some point, in a perfect world, people should be held responsible for their own actions. At some point, you should end up paying the bill for your own foolishness. At some point, if you screw something up on the job, while they might pay for it up front, they need to turn around and hit you in the checkbook. it’s only right. It’s only fair.
Sadly, it won’t happen here. Pay up, KC.
3 Comments
June 11, 2008 at 6:19 am
[...] RDM files an excellent post on the subject: Here. [...]
June 11, 2008 at 9:12 am
good post. I agree, the city should get stuck with the bill, and then they should so the funks for reimbursement. Put a shoe on that thing would ya.
June 11, 2008 at 9:13 am
Sue the funks, not so th funks, my bad.
Comments are closed.