There’s an old saying in politics. You live by the photo op and die by the photo op. Truer words were never spoken. One look at the picture of the city council sell-outs cozying up to the assemblage of black pastors after the fateful Paseo name change vote was all the proof voters needed to see who represents the will of the people and who sold out their electorate.

Take heed Kansas City voters, this is what selling out looks like. This keen thinking Newsdog knew the gig was up the second the pastors paraded off the elevators on the 26th floor of City Hall with an entourage of grifters and fawning local media at their side, ready for the statement of the ages from the so called “Sages of the SCLC.” They even had their own street-sign to drive a stake through the heart of The Paseo, a 120-year-old grand boulevard named for Av. Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.

What have we learned? First and foremost, there will always be a group of elitist politicians who will sell voters out, apparently for lunch at The Capital Grille. We’ve also learned that despite what they say in public, these same politicians will make back room deals in order to advance their careers, even if it flies in the face of the taxpaying public by a 93-7% margin.

We’ve learned that holding a city ordinance a whopping six times in order to ostensibly allow further public input is an outright lie. We’ve learned that words apparently don’t mean things to these same politicians and that the definition of “public input” really means “organizing”. Organizing a cadre of black, activist Pastors to show up on Council day and shred the city’s Charter in the face of the tax-paying public. The Do will call it like it is, a shameful display of political theater.

We’ve learned that Councilman Reed, Lucas and Taylor were all less-than-truthful during the January 24th Council legislative session by repeatedly referencing petitions that allegedly held “over 1,000 signatures” from grass roots organizations “all over the city.” This Newsdog contacted the City Clerk’s office and asked about those petitions and was told that no petition existed; all petitions of this nature must go through the clerk’s office and were again told that no petitions existed. The Dog took things a step further and emailed the above named Council people about the alleged petitions. Councilman Lucas returned our email directing us to Dr. Vernon Howard Jr, head agitator at the Kansas City SCLC office. Dr. Howard, taking a cue from the Taylor-Reed handbook, has not returned our calls. The takeaway here is that there never were any signed petitions as was stated during the discussion on this ordinance.

We’ve learned that the ordinance flies in the face of the results of the Mayor’s official MLK Commission that actually took public comment on the matter. The process by which this ordinance was adopted is not only a slap in the face to Mayor James, but also a slap in the face to the members of the commission and the public that actually took time out from their busy schedules to serve and take testimony on the matter.

There’s an election in just over sixty days. Some of the proponents of this Charter-shredding legislation are running for mayor. A vote is a terrible thing to waste. Use it wisely.