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Kansas City's new mayor forgoes luxury vehicle, bodyguards
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Mayor-elect Mark Funkhouser could have stretched a bit in the luxury car leased for him by his predecessor's staff, but he'll keep driving his own 10-year-old Toyota Corolla just the same.
And when the 6-foot-8 Funkhouser takes office Tuesday, he also will forgo the security detail that traditionally has chauffeured the mayor around.
“I was shocked to find out about this,” Funkhouser said of the Lincoln Town Car leased for him by the staff of outgoing of Mayor Kay Barnes.
As for the two-year lease, Funkhouser said, “The city has a problem,” he said.
But Barnes and three former mayors think Funkhouser, who served 18 years as city auditor before stepping down to run for mayor, is making the wrong decisions.
The larger Town Car is not only safer, but also useful to a mayor. And so are the bodyguards, they say.
Charles Wheeler, who served as mayor in the 1970s, said Kansas City's chief executives have been using city-provided Lincolns at least since the 1950s.
“We lugged a lot of people around,” Wheeler said. “You have visitors you need to show the city to and they enjoy the first-class vehicle. I never got any flak from showing off the city in a nice car rather than a humble car.”
Funkhouser will accept the $600 monthly car allowance to continue using his maroon Corolla and said he would make arrangements for a more spacious vehicle when the occasion of a visiting dignitary arises.
As for the convenience of having a chauffeured Town Car that can get in and out of events quickly, he said he welcomes the opportunity of parking his own car and waiting in line with other residents.
Barnes said signing the $700 monthly lease on the $43,000 Town Car before the new mayor took office was in keeping with tradition.
The lease on the Lincoln she used for official business was up and a decision had to be made, she said.
“We moved forward,” Barnes said. The car was delivered the day after Funkhouser's election, and Barnes is using it for now
The yearly cost of the bodyguards, including overtime and benefits, is about $160,000.
Funkhouser scoffed at the notion of security threats, adding that he values his time alone in the car.
Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin said Funkhouser could make his own decision on the matter.
The officers currently providing security will be reassigned to other duties, Corwin said.
But Barnes and her three predecessors say Kansas City's mayor should have a city-provided vehicle and security because of the possibility of threats.
Wheeler did not have police protection during his first term, but was assigned a bodyguard in June 1975 after the Kansas City School District announced it would bus students to help desegregate the schools.
Richard Berkley, who followed Wheeler as mayor, had a bodyguard whose face was gashed by a scissor-wielding man. Berkley said last week that he thought the security and the car are needed for protection, adding the mayor can get considerable work done while being driven to events.
And Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., who served two terms as mayor, said he had considered the security “an excessive caution” until a man punched him as he and his wife were leaving a Kansas City Chiefs game.
“My security detail was on top of him in an instant to stop the attack,” Cleaver said. “Had they not been there, I hate to imagine what would have happened.”
Neither Barnes nor any of her bodyguards has faced attacks, but a spokesman said the Police Department has compiled a thick file of death threats on her.
And when the 6-foot-8 Funkhouser takes office Tuesday, he also will forgo the security detail that traditionally has chauffeured the mayor around.
“I was shocked to find out about this,” Funkhouser said of the Lincoln Town Car leased for him by the staff of outgoing of Mayor Kay Barnes.
As for the two-year lease, Funkhouser said, “The city has a problem,” he said.
But Barnes and three former mayors think Funkhouser, who served 18 years as city auditor before stepping down to run for mayor, is making the wrong decisions.
The larger Town Car is not only safer, but also useful to a mayor. And so are the bodyguards, they say.
Charles Wheeler, who served as mayor in the 1970s, said Kansas City's chief executives have been using city-provided Lincolns at least since the 1950s.
“We lugged a lot of people around,” Wheeler said. “You have visitors you need to show the city to and they enjoy the first-class vehicle. I never got any flak from showing off the city in a nice car rather than a humble car.”
Funkhouser will accept the $600 monthly car allowance to continue using his maroon Corolla and said he would make arrangements for a more spacious vehicle when the occasion of a visiting dignitary arises.
As for the convenience of having a chauffeured Town Car that can get in and out of events quickly, he said he welcomes the opportunity of parking his own car and waiting in line with other residents.
Barnes said signing the $700 monthly lease on the $43,000 Town Car before the new mayor took office was in keeping with tradition.
The lease on the Lincoln she used for official business was up and a decision had to be made, she said.
“We moved forward,” Barnes said. The car was delivered the day after Funkhouser's election, and Barnes is using it for now
The yearly cost of the bodyguards, including overtime and benefits, is about $160,000.
Funkhouser scoffed at the notion of security threats, adding that he values his time alone in the car.
Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin said Funkhouser could make his own decision on the matter.
The officers currently providing security will be reassigned to other duties, Corwin said.
But Barnes and her three predecessors say Kansas City's mayor should have a city-provided vehicle and security because of the possibility of threats.
Wheeler did not have police protection during his first term, but was assigned a bodyguard in June 1975 after the Kansas City School District announced it would bus students to help desegregate the schools.
Richard Berkley, who followed Wheeler as mayor, had a bodyguard whose face was gashed by a scissor-wielding man. Berkley said last week that he thought the security and the car are needed for protection, adding the mayor can get considerable work done while being driven to events.
And Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., who served two terms as mayor, said he had considered the security “an excessive caution” until a man punched him as he and his wife were leaving a Kansas City Chiefs game.
“My security detail was on top of him in an instant to stop the attack,” Cleaver said. “Had they not been there, I hate to imagine what would have happened.”
Neither Barnes nor any of her bodyguards has faced attacks, but a spokesman said the Police Department has compiled a thick file of death threats on her.
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