: Missouri News
Auditor: KC mayor didn't cooperate with audit
Nov 5, 2009, 10:58 AM
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser didn't fully cooperate with a city investigation into alleged ethics and open-records violations, according to a report from the city's internal auditor.
Funkhouser, however, strongly disagreed with the report, saying he worked with the investigation and the allegations remain unsubstantiated.
The report from internal auditor Roy Greenway came at the request of the City Council and was released Wednesday. The investigation did not seek to conclude if Funkhouser violated any city or state rules.
But city attorney, Galen Beaufort, said the report would be sent to the city's Municipal Officials Ethics Commission.
The allegations under investigation included whether Funkhouser directed a city staffer to work on a light-rail political campaign and if he withheld documents from the media regarding board appointments.
The report revealed that the internal auditor criticized the mayor in September for delayed or missing responses to questions sent months earlier.
Funkhouser said Wednesday that Greenway's questioning was overly insistent.
"I have answered Mr. Greenway's hundreds of questions and follow-up questions to the best of my ability," Funkhouser said in a written response. "To do so was an undue burden on my staff, and on the resources of the city. Questions were asked, answered, and then asked again in differing ways."
In the report, Greenway found that Joe Miller, the mayor's former communications director, received payments from a political campaign for passage of the city's light rail proposal in November 2008 while also being paid for working in the mayor's office.
State law restricts the spending of public funds on political campaigns.
Funkhouser said the Missouri Ethics Commission had investigated and dismissed that allegation.
Greenway also was asked to find out if Funkhouser fully responded to an open-records request for documents related to the appointments of Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.
Miller told Greenway that the mayor told him not to release a document (a report on a mayoral staff meeting) to The Kansas City Star, even though the city attorney's office had advised that it should be released.
"I'm sure I never told Joe Miller to violate the law," Funkhouser said.
If the document wasn't immediately released, it was a mistake, the mayor said, and later it was released to the media.
Funkhouser, however, strongly disagreed with the report, saying he worked with the investigation and the allegations remain unsubstantiated.
The report from internal auditor Roy Greenway came at the request of the City Council and was released Wednesday. The investigation did not seek to conclude if Funkhouser violated any city or state rules.
But city attorney, Galen Beaufort, said the report would be sent to the city's Municipal Officials Ethics Commission.
The allegations under investigation included whether Funkhouser directed a city staffer to work on a light-rail political campaign and if he withheld documents from the media regarding board appointments.
The report revealed that the internal auditor criticized the mayor in September for delayed or missing responses to questions sent months earlier.
Funkhouser said Wednesday that Greenway's questioning was overly insistent.
"I have answered Mr. Greenway's hundreds of questions and follow-up questions to the best of my ability," Funkhouser said in a written response. "To do so was an undue burden on my staff, and on the resources of the city. Questions were asked, answered, and then asked again in differing ways."
In the report, Greenway found that Joe Miller, the mayor's former communications director, received payments from a political campaign for passage of the city's light rail proposal in November 2008 while also being paid for working in the mayor's office.
State law restricts the spending of public funds on political campaigns.
Funkhouser said the Missouri Ethics Commission had investigated and dismissed that allegation.
Greenway also was asked to find out if Funkhouser fully responded to an open-records request for documents related to the appointments of Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.
Miller told Greenway that the mayor told him not to release a document (a report on a mayoral staff meeting) to The Kansas City Star, even though the city attorney's office had advised that it should be released.
"I'm sure I never told Joe Miller to violate the law," Funkhouser said.
If the document wasn't immediately released, it was a mistake, the mayor said, and later it was released to the media.
