Ashcroft Back on the Campaign Trial in KC area

Former US attorney General and former Missouri Senator John Ashcroft campaigned in Johnson County, Kansas Friday.

He’s endorsed Wichita congressman Todd Tiahrt’s bid for the US senate. Tiahrt is facing Western Kansas Congressman Jerry Moran for the senate now held by Sen Sam Brownback. He’s running for Governor.

Here’s the Campaign hand out on Ashcroft: Ashcroft said, “Todd Tiahrt is a principled fiscal and social conservative who understands what it takes to keep this country safe,” said Ashcroft.

“During my tenure in the United States Senate and as Attorney General, I gained a real appreciation for public servants like Todd Tiahrt. Todd fights for the conservative values he believes in and does not waver in the face of tough opposition. And, when Todd gives you his word, you can count on him to do what he says.”

Ashcroft served as Attorney General in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. His Justice Department was responsible for overseeing many new measures that have been credited with keeping America safe through the end of the Bush Administration.

“When this nation was attacked on September 11th, Todd Tiahrt stepped up to the plate and supported the administration’s efforts to make the changes necessary to keep this country safe. Some chose politics; Todd chose principle,” Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft was in town for multiple Tiahrt events, including a campaign fundraiser hosted by several prominent Johnson County residents, business owners and conservative state legislators.”

Wayne Cauthen: The Back Story

Former Kansas City Manager Wayne Cauthen lost support of the City Council as the economy soured.

In both public and private comments, City Council members said Friday that the city’s position in a deepening recession, and constant budget battles contributed to Cauthen’s dismissal.

“Things change,” City Council member Cindy Circo told KMBC’s Micheal Mahoney. She voted for Cauthen the first time Mayor Mark Funkhouser tried to fire him. “Situations change, and sometimes, city managers must change.”

It also appears that Cauthen’s reliance on an outside city budget consultant worried some council members.

Some council members feared they would be held responsible to bureaucratic budget decisions they disagreed with. They also worried about the political fall out from those third-party decisions.

Another City Council member said Funkhouser was told in recent days that seven votes had been collected.

The City Council members added that Funkhouser was told if he really intended to make the move against Cauthen, now was the moment.

According to multiple sources, the successful move to oust Cauthen started in earnest last week. It picked up steam from there.

Funkhouser was informed Tuesday the votes to dismiss the City Manager were there.

On Friday, interim City Manager Troy Schulte made his first public appearance.

At a luncheon with Missouri state representatives, Schulte drew a laugh when he introduced himself simply as “Troy Schulte from City Hall.”

Schulte said he would try to win the council’s confidence and hoped to be named the manager on a full-time basis.

Cauthen’s String Ran Out: An Analysis

The first surprise I learned talking to folks involved with Wayne Cauthen’s suspension is that Mayor Mark Funkhouser was handed the six votes he needed.

He didn’t seek them out. At least not in the last few days.  According to sources who would only talk without be named, they were delivered to him by a council member.  Funkhouser then moved quickly once he had the votes to suspend Cauthen.

He was not fired. He was removed, for now. And the odds are long that he’ll ever return.

And yes, it is true that “the City Manager has been asked to vacate the premises immediately.”

That’s in the text of the Mayor’s letter to the City Council.

Cauthen left City Hall  about 2:30 Thursday afternoon.

He said nothing of consequence to reporters.

So as to the question of why was the City Manager dumped now?

One council member who backed Cauthen in the past, says it was because the time had come.

“We thought there would be a new mayor first”, meaning a different mayor in 2011.

“Then we’d get a new city manager. But it didn’t work that way.”

But they suggested that the City needed a different kind of top administrator now. The important work in that sentence is NOW.

The council member said that Cauthen was great during a good economy. He was strong, and the right kind of guy to rebuild a sagging downtown.

But the times had changed.

Another big item, according to multiple sources, was Cauthens bid to create a larger city bureaucracy in the midst of a recession.

It has also been suggested that Cauthen was “not as robust” as he once was as City Manager.  In the mayor’s office, one of the big goals for the week was to craft an alternative to the Cordish plan for a Dress Code Oversight Panel. Dumping the City Manager was apparently not on the main ‘to do’ list.

The Dress Code resolution was debated, but not voted on because of the intensity of the Cauthen story.

That’s because the anti-Cauthen tide on  was building  and the votes were lining up. 

One other note. To hit my live shots, I had to slide up and down the City Hall elevators between 4 and 5pm Thursday several times. The Cauthen debate was underway. Normally, during that time of the afternoon, the elevators at City Hall are jammed with city employees at the end of their day.

Thursday, they were empty. You could go from the first floor to the Council Chambers on the 26th floor without stopping.

Everybody was still at their desks. They were watching the city government channel, as Wayne Cauthen’s string ran out.

Tiahrt tries to Block Civilian Trials for Terror Suspects

Kansas Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate, Todd Tiahrt, is introducing a bill that would block terror suspects from being tried in civil courts.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made the decision to try some suspects in the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington in New York’s federal district court. He is taking heavy heat for the decision.

Tiahrt has introduced a bill in congress that would  prevent the Dept. of Justice from prosecuting the terror suspects.  Tiahrt says  the prohibition of a civilian trial  would return jurisdiction back to Military Commissions.

““It is completely unacceptable that the Obama administration intends to treat terrorists as criminal defendants in the city and nation they have sought to destroy,” Tiahrt said.

““Terrorism is a national security issue, not a law enforcement issue. A civilian court is an inappropriate forum for prosecution of war crimes and not designed to handle the evidence and logistics for the effective prosecution of terrorists.”

McCaskill Says Public Option is the Gravy, Not the Mashed Potatoes

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill may be in a Thanksgiving Day Dinner mood already.

In an interview with KMBC TV, The Missouri Democratic Senator  says the  reduced public option in the Senate version of healthcare is ” the gravy, not the mashed potatoes”.

She went on to explain is that she thinks the public option for low income people may affect 5% of Americans. And the rest, she says,  will benefit from the health care bill’s increased affordability and increased access to health care.

She described the public option as “a start up”  that permits states to opt out if they choose to.

“There are a lot of things in this bill that will let the states  do things differently”, said McCaskill.

She added she expects the Senate will vote Saturday to start debate on their version of health care. But she does not expect  floor action  until  the Senate returns from its holiday break.

“Everybody gets a week, not just a day or two or 72 hours, to  go thru the bill line by line, paragraph by paragraph.”

By the Way, McCaskill has a link on her website so Missourians (or anybody else) can read the entire bill. Here’s the link: 

Full Text Now Available, 11/18/2009
Download the complete text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Senate health insurance reform bill. (Click for PDF)