Funkhouser & Squitiro reflect on election loss

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - KCMO Mayor Mark Funkhouser and his wife, Gloria Squitiro, have had a week to reflect on their loss in the primary vote.

Voters denied Funkhouser a second term, and Squitiro was his campaign manager.

The interview with political reporter Chris Hernandez during the Midday newscast was their first interview since election night.

They both say Funkhouser was defeated because he took on big money interests while trying to change Kansas City's economic development culture.

"We brought this city back from the brink of bankruptcy..... and we made some enemies," said Funkhouser.

"And especially with the negative campaign that was going on against us in the Star. It was hard to counteract that," said Squitiro.

But many voters blame Squitiro.

She was a full-time volunteer in his office, until she was sued for racial discrimination.

Former mayoral assistant Ruth Bates accused Squitiro of allegedly calling her "Mammy".

Settlements cost the city more than $600,000 and caused months of controversy at City Hall.

The mayor also faced more than a year of problems after he kept on a Parks Board appointee, Francis Semler, who turned out to be a member of the anti-illegal immigrant group known as the Minutemen.

Squitiro and the mayor say his defeat is not her fault.

"I don't think it had anything to do with me. At the end of the day, when it's about money, it's gonna get ugly, and it got ugly, and it got personal," said Squitiro.

Funkhouser added that if it had not been Gloria, his opponents would still have targeted him with something: "And they would have found another reason or two or three. I don't think, at the end of the day, that it would have been a different trajectory if we had done it differently."

Funkhouser campaigned saying he'd fixed the city's finances, and created new economic development policies that cut down on easy tax breaks for big developers.

The mayor hopes his successor keeps the clampdown in place.

"My belief and hope that the incoming administration would not simply ignore those policies," said Funkhouser.

The mayor hopes to take up academic pursuits when his term ends.

"I would like to teach or go to some sort of foundation or think tank," the mayor said.

Squitiro closed by saying, "I know it's a little weird to say, but I feel like God meant for him to come in and try to help this city.Wherever God takes us next is still unknown to us."

Funkhouser has two months left in office.

He has not  yet decided whether he will make an endorsement in the general election.