Worth Fighting For
Essentially, what has happened over the last several weeks is former Mayor Bill Quitmeier dealt himself back into the Parkville political game hardcore (not that he ever really left it in the first place). It should come as no surprise that when Quitmeier, who has served the city for about two decades as mayor and planning commissioner, decided to get back into politics, he may have had a natural inclination to blur the line between Citizen Quitmeier and Mayor Quitmeier. But when Mr. Quitmeier drafted the now infamous letter on behalf of Deborah Butcher in the heat of the election race, he dragged the Planning Commission into it - and if Al McCormick is to be believed, unwittingly at that.
Mrs. Butcher now is attempting to explain away her misleading handwritten note on the letter that inferred she had the support of commission members she did not rightfully obtain. She claimed during public session that the note was jotted down on a copy of the letter that wasn’t going to be distributed, but that she mistakenly copied it several hundred times and mistakenly hand delivered it to several hundred homes without catching the error. Mrs. Butcher also is fretting openly that “good” people will be afraid to run for office in the future because of situations like this. The theory plays out by claiming only “bad” people will be left to govern the city in the future.
I don’t think “good” people will be scared away from civic duty in the city they profess to love because they’re afraid of pointed criticism regarding their actions in office - elected, appointed, paid or otherwise. If they are, they should not run for office, ask for an appointment or accept a job in city level. It’s not the place for them.
Think of it as natural selection. We need more people who are willing to shrug off the people who get their kicks from stomping on new ideas, to accept reasonable criticism for what it’s worth and still have the courage to stick to the convictions that got them in office in the first place. That’s what will keep this city great. Luckily, this city has several such individuals. Parkville doesn’t need a bunch of people who want to stifle open debate for fear their feelings may be hurt. Governance is not a game.
Parkville’s revitalization is in full swing, and the city has an assessed valuation larger than the capitals of many countries. The city has quadrupled in size over the last 10 years and has become one of the more influential and vital cities in the Kansas City region.
The situation begs to be addressed by city officials, and if that leads to debate, then so be it. This doesn’t mean stakeholders in the city need to ruin each other’s lives, spread rumor and innuendo about one another (Note to anyone calling The Parkville Luminary office: Don’t ever expect this newspaper to pry into people’s home lives or personal privacy. In other words, save the gossip for your coffee klatch because we’re just not interested). Democracy was designed for just this sort of thing.
Mr. Quitmeier, meanwhile, wisely avoids being pinned down on any of those issues. An accomplished trial attorney, Mr. Quitmeier had no compunctions about taking the podium at City Hall last Tuesday. He quickly frames the situation as one pertaining to freedom of speech and the Constitution. Like Ivory soap, he rightly said the First Amendment couldn’t be any more “pure.” In this matter, he claims to be zestfully clean.
Quitmeier, perhaps best of all, understands the issue has to become a battle of political wills.
The matter over ethics leaves Mayor Kathy Dusenbery in a precarious situation. She can go to the mats over this, but it likely would be a political bloodbath. If she were to go the distance in removing Mr. Quitmeier and others from the Planning Commission, she would have to have public hearings. That would make the event a media circus and one that could have serious repercussions for the city’s long-term growth.
A wholesale replacement and firing of the board would call years of planning into question and potentially scare off any future home builders or commercial developers from the recently annexed portions of the city.
Instead, the mayor handled a tense first meeting of the newly elected Board of Aldermen on Tuesday. It wasn’t pretty; Mrs. Dusenbery did appear to lose control over the meeting at one point, completely abandoning the rules of parliamentary procedure. There were also some pretty tense moments between the mayor and Mrs. Butcher’s supporters, who turned out for the meeting in robust numbers after learning about this week’s agenda, while she sought to move public comments forward.
In the end, however, the mayor maneuvered the city into what may have been the best political outcome - a mandatory “workshop” on ethics. Should anyone miss the meetings without an acceptable excuse, it is understood it could lead to removal from the board, but it would certainly disqualify anyone from being reappointed. Like mail fraud or RICO cases, it may not be sexy, but it does have some teeth.
In the meantime, Aldermen like Dave Rittman, the mayor, Mr. Quitmeier and anyone else who has stepped up to the plate in this matter should be commended. No matter what their position, they have shown they believe their convictions and the future of the city are worth fighting for.