Give a quick nod to Brooks, Klein, Funk, Eddy

   Who mananged to raise their heads about the pack Tuesday night at the first major mayoral forum of 2007?

   Let's say Al Brooks, Mark Funkhouser, Chuck Eddy and, by gosh, Henry Klein.

   Those who struggled: Katheryn Shields, Becky Nace, Jim Glover and Stan Glazer.

   Nearly 200 attended the Park Hill High School forum in the Northland. Not bad, considering the primary is still seven weeks off.

   Brooks scored with a comment about race. Funkhouser had the line of the night, criticizing tax-increment financing. Eddy was, well, solid on the issues.

   And Mr. Dark Horse, Klein? His easy-going, candid presentation came off as refreshing and honest.

   Nace and Shields hurt themselves by reading their opening statements, a major no-no. Glover needs help in the sound-bite department. And Glazer wasn't up to speed on some hot Northland issues.

   One lesson learned: Making any meaningful impression in a political scrum, which is what these forums are going to be, is going to be a trick.

   If you were there, tell us what you thought.

Posted by Steve Kraske 

Comments

[FarRight]

I thought John Fairfield and Jim Glover had the worst nights.

Fairfield is clearly out of step with Northland voters. He's for every TIF, for having ATV's wherever you can put them and kept talking about building more, more, more even though everyone in the room knows the city needs to focus on basic things.

Was Jim Glover there? I saw his name on the table, but if he said anything intelligent or funny at all I missed it. Except when he decided that Al Brooks question in jest: "will you support my campaign?" was the only question he would answer. Classless and Milktoast is no way to run a campaign.

[CarrieB]

Once again, Kraske and I appear to have attended different events. Glover was witty, fast on his fit, on message, and shared but a few of his great ideas for the city in the minimal time allowed.

To have said that Al Brooks did well is pathetic. He read his opening statement that sounded like it was written by someone else. And what was up with that question he asked Glover? "Will you support me in my race for mayor?" It was a rather pathetic attempt at humor to try to cover the fact that he can't think spontaneously.

Funkhouser is more doom and gloom Chicken Little. TIF is bad, CIMO is bad, we have to do away with programs (like indigent care funding Funk?). Voters don't want to hear negative sky is falling rhetoric. They want to hear positive plans for the future of the city.

And Kraske just says Henry Klein looked good because Klein kissed Kraske's fanny repeatedly.

Give us a break Kraske - try unbiased, accurate reporting for a change. It might shock the conscious of the voters but we deserve it.

[CarrieB]

ETA: that was "fast on his feet, not fit." I was so outraged by Kraske's spin on the forum that I didn't proofread before posting

[jenniferm]

"Brooks scored with a comment about race. Funkhouser had the line of the night, criticizing tax-increment financing."

Steve, why not share those lines with the rest of us? Is there a transcript anywhere?

[Mike Corcoran]

While I'm surprised that Eddy made the list (I thought he was just almost the worst of the evening, second only to Glover, who was his usual stiff, boring self) I was there last night and think Steve is pretty close to dead on. It was a nice event and people actually showed up, which was cool.

[SSmith]

Kraske has it all wrong as usual. I was at the event and did not share the same evaluation of the candidates. I agree that Shields, Nace, and Glazer had a poor showing. I would take you to task and disagree about Jim Glover. He was good I thought. Yes, Jim is not "Mr. Personality" who takes over the spotlight, but is that really the measuring stick for the mayor. He had substance to his answers and as far as I can tell is trying to actually come up with plans to address the cities needs rather than just complaining about what is wrong or needs fixed. He appears to be a candidate that is actually willing to listen to people with genuine interest and come up with solutions rather than be political about it. I think Funkhauser is smart but comes off as a policy wonk. Klein is passionate but also quite arrogant with no experience with dealing with city matters. I agree with the other posting that Brooks was well a prepared statement and I am sure he was doing what Pat Gray wanted him to do. I have yet to read an article of Kraske's that doesn't have an agenda intended to skew in a direction so I shouldn't be suprised.

[KC Guy]

How can you guys say Kraske was right or wrong? These are all subjective reports that, together, help other readers who weren't there form a composite picture. All of you come from different biases and have different axes you want ground, but that's okay. That's why we're reading these comments. But for you to claim that someone was wrong for reporting what they subjectively experienced, that's just crazy.

KC Guy I'm sorry I was under the impression that Mr. Kraske was a reporter and was supposed to be more of an objective nature and not allow his own biases be allowed to persuade readers. I guess I have higher standards for my reporting when it comes to these issues. I certainly do not see this type of spin on Mr. Hellings reports.

[try2Bobjective]

I do not understand how Mr. Kraske could conclude that Al Brooks and Henry Klein did well. The consistent bias towards Brooks is especially surprising, considering for Brooks to make any sense he had to read from index cards.

The Star seems to like reporting consistently the fact that Brooks is the front runner, providing free publicty without reporting anything about his record, or lack thereof, at city hall.

Why is the reporting so focused on style, backroom relationships without any regard to substance and the actual issues?

[Sportsgirl]

I agree with Kraske about Shields, Glover & Glazer, but also felt that Brooks & Ellis did not help themselves last night. I came expecting to see an auditorium full of Fairfield supporters, but believe he has an uphill battle to even come close to showing in this race. Thought Nace did okay; at least she wants the voters to recognize that she's not afraid to say no every now and then. Funkhouser actually got some big applause - yes, he's a money guy - but he said what many of the people in attendance wanted to hear - that the money has been mismanaged, but there is cash available to help the Northland. Klein was not on my radar, but impressed me.

I just watched Fairfield on the City Hall channel and now see why there is not much support in the Northland for him. He was out of place with his sneers and hateful remarks to Mr. Funkhouser after his testimony.

Shields will release a PR release saying that her speech was forged, and she didn't realize it until after it was criticized.

Katy is indicted let up on her .

[Mike Shaw]

Yea, now that she's been indicted we should stop criticizing her. Right. Now that we finally have valid evidence of her corruption, we'll let her off the hook.

Try2, you just addressed the crux of local government in KC for years, decades. It has been about style and backroom relationships.

There is only one candidate who is speaking on the actual issues and on matters of substance. A lone voice of late.

I have faith that with the wisdom of bloggers such as yourself and the information that is passed along on this site and with public awareness of the issues, Mark Funkhouser will be one of the final two after Feb. 27 and the last person standing on Mar. 27.

I was in attendance, and I would have to say that Funkhouser and Klein won the debate. I was impressed with both of them. Shields looks extremely out of her league. Brooks was fine as long as he had a prepared speech, after that, he had nothing. Fairfield lost ground last night. He really hurt himself.

[Lynn Hinkle]

Real people attended last night's event, and real people voted. With about one third of the ballots calculated on seven different factors (Opening statement, vision, integrity, leadership, communication style, northland issues and the closing question) here are the current top 4:

1. Mark Funkhouser
2. Becky Nace
3. Henry Klein
4. Alvin Brooks

The Community Coalition to Fix Barry Road will release the final results later today.

Note to Lynn: Thanks for the update. Who voted for the candidates? (Coalition members, audience members....)

[try2Bobjective]

WAIT A MINUTE. I was told that if you showed up you could vote. Why is the Coalition even attempting to reflect these "ratings", when they're probably determined by the number of campaign staffers that attended the event, and then of course voted for their candidates?

Very inappropriate. You did a service by having the forum, and you do a much greater diservice by publshing results that have absolutley zero validity.

Mark's the one.....

Dear try2. I think you under-rate the people who attend these forums in their area. In fact, I think you insult some of us. ZERO? I am a long time Kansas City resident and know a lot of the people who were there. I know one of the candidates who was in the top three and he only had a couple of his staffers there and they did not vote. How do you explain that?

Why don't all of you just attend the debates and forums and judge for yourself? There is a Northeast candidate forum tomorrow night at the Melrose Methodist Church, 200 Bales, KCMO.

That's 200 North Bales, 1 block north of St. John Avenue.

[try2Bobjective]

I don't want to takle anything away from the people that attended. BUT, if a vote was taken, and those votes and candidate rankings are published they will be universally interpreted as an endorsement.

This is misleading because the people voting on the candidates did not, and DO NOT represent the Coalition that held the forum. It would be much different if that Coalition had a formal membership board, and they reflected the opinions of THAT board. That would be credible and accurate, and reflective of the views of that body holding the event.

However, this is not the case, people that voted were people that just showed up. There's a big difference.

[Lynn Hinkle]

People who "just show up" to vote at a forum are probably interested enough to "just show up" to vote on election day, and they will be more educated about the candidates and their stances on issues if they have actually met them, or observed them in action fielding questions about issues important to citizens. That was the point of the Northland Forum, and the others to be held in various neighborhoods around town. In a democratic election process, the more exposure we have to something besides paid political ads, the more likely we are to make an informed choice.

The 10 candidates at the Northland Forum all had a few staffers or family members with them, including those who had the fewest points. Everyone who voted was there for the entire forum and you can tell when you look at the scorecards that they gave a great deal of thought to the scores they applied for each candidate in each category. Every candidate had at least a few ballots that were skewed their way, with 5's for their candidate and 1's for everyone else. It balanced out, and in the end, it appears the group reflected in their calculations their preferences just as they did during the debate when a candidate said something they agreed with, and they responded with applause for that candidate's position.

The Community Coalition to Fix Barry Road has been practicing grassroots advocacy since it was founded after a tragic car accident claimed the lives of two stellar Park Hill High School students, Brandon McPherson and Darren Floyd,in April 2004. The people who are actively involved have put their hearts and souls into the process of learning about government so they can work to improve an outdated bridge and dangerous roadway, working with representatives of Kansas City, Missouri, or Platte County, or the State of Missouri. This forum was an extension of that process.