Kansas City News Blog

By DAVID MARTIN

Ed Wolf's nearly 200-page deposition has provided a lot of infotainment for people who follow the Appalachian-Neapolitan soap opera in the Kansas City mayor's office. First lady Gloria Squitiro's alleged penchant for the inappropriate and Wolf's "mother-in-law on honeymoon" money quote have received the most attention. Less eye-catching but also interesting is the discussion about Squitiro's status as a Funkhouser's campaign manager.

Squitiro described herself as her husband's campaign manager in an interview with a Kansas City Star reporter over the summer. Squitiro used her work on the campaign to justify her prominent role in the mayor's office, reportedly telling Star writer Stacy Downs that campaign managers commonly take jobs in new administrations.

I didn't cover the 2007 mayor's race on a day-to-day basis, but it was news to me that Squitiro was the campaign manager. Apparently, it was news to others as well.

Wolf was deposed by an attorney for Ruth Bates, a former Funkhouser aide who alleges discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment in a lawsuit. The attorney, Lynne Bratcher, asked Wolf who the campaign manager was at the beginning of the campaign. Wolf said it was Jeff Simon, a lawyer at Husch Blackwell Sanders.

Bratcher followed up. "Had you ever heard that someone else acted as campaign manager besides Mr. Simon?" she asked.

Wolf: "Subsequent to that. Recently, I think the mayor has stated that Gloria Squitiro was the campaign chairman."

Asked about Squitiro's duties, Wolf began by describing largely clerical duties -- working with poster makers and vendors, summarizing invoices -- that Squitiro performed. Wolf said Squitiro also attended public meetings and participated in strategy sessions, but he did not indicate that she played a leading role in these activities.

Reached Friday afternoon, Simon tells me that he doesn't recall anyone having the title of campaign manager. "It was a pretty flat, informal group," he says.

Simon officially chaired Funkhouser's campaign committee, but he doesn't put a lot of stock in the designation, saying, "whatever that meant." Simon intimates that if anyone deserved the title of campaign manager, it was Britt Nichols, whom Simon refers to as the "nuts-and-bolts guy." Simon says Nichols plotted the calendar, handled voter lists and marshaled volunteers. Nichols is also listed as the contact on press releases the campaign sent out.

And Gloria? Simon says she checked e-mail, handled phones and worked with Joe Miller, Funkhouser's recently departed communications director, on campaign mailers.

"Like I said, nobody really had a title," Simon adds.