In Defense of the Brooks Campaign - 10/10 Hindsight

As mentioned below, the pundits are having a field day criticizing the Brooks campaign for coming up 1010 votes short in Tuesdays election. Typical is Steve Kraske, who is beginning to resemble that guy in the Fed Ex commercials who is always wrong, and is shocked to learn they don't get "French benefits". He wrote:

On 10 different levels, it shouldn’t have worked. And it may not have worked had not Brooks run such a milquetoast campaign. The mayor pro tem’s campaign at times appeared invisible. So much ammunition was at his disposal, such as the former city auditor’s call to privatize the water department or raise trash fees, not to mention his startling one-time advocacy for school vouchers.

All that’s fair game. It didn’t have to mean “going negative.” But Brooks, a former cop, only flicked a jab or two at forums and his campaign, led by venerable tough guy Pat Gray, forgot to step on the gas.

“It never got off the ground,” said former City Councilwoman Teresa Loar of Brooks’ campaign.

From the start, this was Brooks’ campaign to win. He had every advantage: the money, the campaign team, the big-time endorsements, the name identification, the title of mayor pro tem, the unwavering backing of Barnes and decades of community service in his hip pocket.

But that wasn’t enough to sufficiently motivate his base. His numbers paled in comparison to another prominent black politician, Emanuel Cleaver. As good a guy as Al Brooks is, as much as he’s contributed going back decades in this community, he’s no Cleaver.

His campaign gave him no help in making up the difference.

I've got to call bullshit here.

While it's true that Brooks and Funkhouser both ran remarkably positive campaigns, and it's true that, all things being equal, it might have grabbed some attention if Brooks had gone negative, it is not true that such a move would have resulted in an uptick of votes for Brooks.

Such thinking assumes that the Funkhouser campaign would have remained static. Sure, I could beat the hell out of Mike Tyson, if I got to throw all the punches. Who knows how Funkhouser would have responded? I'm certainly not going to go negative now, but I suspect Funkhouser could have responded with similar, fact-based material that would have weakened Brooks' positive image.

Those who are decrying Brooks for running a clean, positive campaign, and claiming they could have done better, are using sloppy logic. Yes, some pointed criticism of certain audits drawn out of context could have changed the landscape, but the response from the Funkhouser campaign would have changed the landscape further. Perhaps the changed world would have resulted in a Brooks victory, but such a result is by no means certain.

The only thing that would have been absolutely certain is that Kansas City would have had an uglier Mayors race.

To claim that Brooks ran a bad campaign because he didn't go negative and came up 1010 votes short is to engage in utterly false hindsight. The race was run on the high road, and both candidates were wise and honorable to stay up there.

Call me a cab . . .

Among the countless details I've learned about our two mayoral candidates, today's Star brings the innocuous but potentially upsetting detail that Alvin Brooks does his jogging at midnight.

I don't know about you, but, before today, if I were driving home at midnight and saw Alvin Brooks jogging, I'd pull over and call a cab to drive my drunk ass home.

Briarcliff TIF Pig Kristl Abuses His Seat on the Parks Commission

Tim Kristl is notorious for his, umm, moral flexibility in juggling many roles to benefit himself and his clients at the expense of Kansas Citians. Not surprisingly, he is one of the biggest TIF pigs behind the "Briarcliff TIF Boondoggle", the absolute nadir of Kay Barnes' free-spending cronyism.

In today's Kansas City Star, Kristl abused his seat on the Kansas City Parks Commission to lash out at Funkhouser once again. Tim, we understand that you have been feeding at the TIF trough for years, and that you fear that Funkhouser is going to bring some sanity to a system which has made you insanely wealthy. We understand how frightened you must be, knowing that the TIF audit Kay Barnes and Al Brooks are hiding is going to expose you and your cohorts when it finally comes to light. We understand that your history of seeking money from boards you are serving on has lowered your standards of personal behavior.

But get this straight, Mr. Kristl. Your duty as a member of the Parks & Recreation Board of Commissioners is "To improve the quality of life by providing recreational, leisure and aesthetic opportunities for all citizens and by conserving and enhancing the environment." Your duty does not include lying about what Funkhouser's audits have accomplished. Your duty does not include taking advantage of your position to try to attack the man who will be ending your ride on the gravy train.

One of the best things about seeing Funkhouser win this election will be watching him drive snakes like Tim Kristl from positions of influence and back under the rocks where they belong.

At the Flea Market last night

The evening started out the way the campaign began - kind of a ragtag, polyglot collection of true-believers and political neophytes. Many of us wore orange, but a lot of us hadn't gotten the word, so we didn't even look like a spiffy campaign group. But it was a warm and friendly group of nervously optimistic people who gathered to crack wise and wait for numbers at the Flea Market. Not a tie to be seen, except for Mark's orange one.

Flash forward a few hours and several Boulevard Irish Ales . . .

Holy Crap! It really happened! We're in the general! And the people who weren't there at the beginning start rolling in. Jerry Riffel is chatting with a reporter. Mike Sanders and Charlie Wheeler have both come by. Kansas City's political insiders crowd around the star of the hour, Kansas City's next mayor.

Joe Miller is on a bar stool off to the side, and I finally get to meet Allie. She's charming and happy and way too good for Joe, but that's the way most successful couples are.

We have a whole new campaign now - 4 weeks in a race between two vastly different people. I've always liked Alvin Brooks, and I hope that nothing over the next 28 days changes my mind.

I bet there'll be more ties at the next watch party . . .