Mike Sanders has led a charmed political life since he stepped into the Jackson County Executive’s office. The Star, for whatever reason, prefers to focus its attention almost solely on the City government. Whenever scant attention has been drawn to the County, it’s usually because of some flamboyant nonsense undertaken by the legislature, such as the attempted labor sell-out by Henry Rizzo, or the Jackson County Ethics Blackout, when legislators brazenly attempted to exempt themselves from the Ethics Code they imposed on everyone else.
In other words, it’s not hard to stay out of the local circus spotlight when you have Mayor Funkhouser, the City Council, and the Jackson County legislature performing daily tricks on the trapeze.
Not that Sanders has been complaining about the lack of attention. Most of Sanders’ accomplishments have been achieved by avoiding the glare of sustained attention. The COMBAT tax appeared on a ballot carefully selected to draw a low turn-out, in an off-year election, a year before it was due to expire. Similarly, the changes to the Jackson County charter were accomplished before the prior charter called for a public review, and were pushed through on a low-turnout primary ballot.
Sanders has been pretty much having his way, but remaining quiet about it.
It’s easier to keep successes silent than failures, though, and Sanders may be reaching the tipping point where he could be dragged into the spotlight.
Most alarmingly, Sanders wound up on the wrong side of the Rizzo/Williams battle for the county legislature. Back when it appeared that the CCP Executive Committee might actually stand for County Progress and endorse Crystal Williams, he circulated an Orwellian email falsely portraying Rizzo as a supporter of ethics, despite Rizzo’s attempt to exempt the legislature from compliance. Later, when Rizzo tried to salvage his primary campaign against Williams by including Sanders’ picture on a mailing, it was too little, too late.
Other missteps are adding to the concern. He is pushing a “regional rapid rail” scheme, despite the unlikelihood that local voters would willingly saddle themselves with tens of millions of dollars for construction costs to create a system that will cost millions more, every year, to operate. It’s a nice dream, but the money’s not ever going to be there.
Speaking of money, only a compliant, spendthrift Kansas City Council saved Sanders from major embarrassment during the latest budget battles. Once again, the Council donated taxpayer money to the County to pay for the stadiums, despite the fact that the City is not obligated to do so. Had our City Council chosen to fund our city instead of giving money away, Sanders would have had a tough time explaining why he hadn’t ironed out an agreement before the issue came up again.
(See Update Below.) Most recently, the blame for the Kerr/LeVota debacle appears to be sticking to his teflon. The buck for the Jackson County clerk’s office stops at Sanders’ desk, and whether it was corruption or outrageous incompetence, it was a backroom blunder. Now that Phil Levota has generously and effectively smoothed over the problem, only the uncomfortable questions remain about whether it was corruption or incompetence in Sanders’ clerk’s office.
Mike Sanders has crafted a reputation as a quietly effective executive who makes things happen in the back rooms of Jackson County. Frankly, while I prefer transparency, I have a grudging respect for someone who can get things done without drama.
The past several months have been costly to Sanders’ reputation. Can he regain his magic touch, or have we seen the first cracks in a crumbling foundation?
UPDATE: As one of the commenters pointed out, I was wrong to lay the blame for the corruption or incompetence in the clerk’s office on Mike Sanders’ plate. The clerk is actually the clerk of the legislature; the incompetence or corruption is not Sanders’ fault. Thank you for the correction!
