Kansas City one-upped New York City

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Results, not appearances, matter most in politics
By Dave Helling, November 18, 2013

New York City has elected a new mayor, Bill de Blasio. In his campaign, de Blasio promised voters a very different city than the one overseen by the outgoing mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

But it was de Blasio’s news conference the day after the election that caught my eye. Several reporters wanted to know about de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, and the role she would play in his new administration.

It appears she will be at the top of the organizational chart. McCray was the key adviser to de Blasio’s campaign, and she helped pick the leadership of his transition team.

And she will be heavily involved in his office once he takes the oath. “The most important voice in my life is Chirlane McCray,” de Blasio told the journalists.

It isn’t often that Kansas Citians get a chance to one-up the snooty residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan, so this is fun: New York, we’ve already seen a version of this movie.

It’s hard to believe we said goodbye to Mark Funkhouser and his wife, Gloria Squitiro, more than two years ago. In retrospect, Funkhouser’s single term as mayor now seems defined by good intentions that were repeatedly and disastrously derailed because of the controversies that swirled around his spouse.

They would say it wasn’t their fault. Most Kansas Citians, they would argue, never came to terms with their John-and-Yoko approach to running the city — opposition to her influence, they often said, was sexist and unfair.

Nonsense, their critics replied. It wasn’t Gloria Squitiro they objected to, it was the weird diaries, the allegations of harassment and her silly political advice.

We don’t know whether de Blasio and McCray will face the same questions, or respond the same way, as Funkhouser and Squitiro. We do know McCray’s influence on her husband was well-known to voters before the election, unlike Squitiro’s, whose role became clear only after the ballots were cast.

Eventually, though, Bill de Blasio will be judged on results, just as Funkhouser was. If his spouse helps, great. If not, trouble.

Kansas City would do well to remember that if it goes ahead with yet another plan to strengthen the mayor’s powers. In the end, charters and organizational charts are almost always less important than performance: Sly James is more influential than Funkhouser because he’s been a better mayor, not because the charter says so.

It works the other way, too. Ask the people of Toronto if they think their mayor needs more power.

In fact, the Toronto City Council, outraged at Mayor Rob Ford’s antics, is trying to make their city’s chief executive less important.

Funny. We’ve seen a version of that movie, too.
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