It’s a happy day for the Kansas City political organization Freedom Inc.
With Theresa Garza Ruiz’ announcement that she is dropping out of the race for Kansas City’s 5th District at-large City Council seat, it is very likely that a black candidate, Lee Barnes Jr., will win the seat.
This is a very significant development because blacks held that seat from the mid-1970s until 1999 but lost control of it when Becky Nace, a white woman, was elected in 1999.
Nace held the post until 2007, when another white woman, Cindy Circo, was elected from the 5th at-large. Circo is now finishing up her second term and cannot seek re-election under the City Charter’s two-term limit.
Losing control of the seat irked Freedom officials because blacks comprise the majority in the 5th District, which encompasses much of southeast Kansas City.
“I feel good about this,” said Clinton Adams Jr., Freedom Inc. attorney. “Finally, we can break the cycle of (candidates) with limited support in the 5th district being elected at-large to represent a predominantly black district.”
Blacks currently hold the 3rd District and 3rd District at-large seats, as well as the 5th District seat, which Michael Brooks recently vacated in the wake of a well-deserved torrent of bad press.
The council consists of 13 members — six elected from districts, six at-large and the mayor.
The city primary election is April 7. With Garza Ruiz’ defection, Barnes and Dennis Anthony, the other remaining 5th District at-large candidate, will automatically advance to the general election in June.
Anthony, a former city employee with no name recognition or political experience, is not expected to be a factor. That means Barnes, a former Kansas City School Board member, should have an easy go of it in June.
**
Until today, Garza Ruiz, a high-profile member of the Jackson County Legislature, was the odds-on favorite to win the 5th District at-large seat. Barnes might have given her a good run, but she likely would have prevailed because of her name identity and political experience.
Barnes
What brought Garza Ruiz down was a residency-related problem. The City Charter requires council members to have lived in their district boundaries for two years before the general election. In this case, the deadline was June 23, 2013.
Garza Ruiz produced records indicating she had moved, or was moving, from Blue Springs to Kansas City in March 2013. It wasn’t clear exactly when she moved, but the bigger problem was that Jackson County Election Board records show she voted in Blue Springs on April 2, 2013 — after she said she had moved to Kansas City.
Theresa Garza Ruiz
An attorney for Barnes filed a lawsuit, challenging Garza Ruiz’ residency and also alleging that she was guilty of voter fraud for voting from the Blue Springs address. Had the judge found Garza Ruiz guilty of voter fraud, she would have forfeited her right to ever again vote in Missouri.
With rare exceptions, Jackson County Circuit Court judges have been reluctant to strike candidates from ballots on residency challenges. But strong precedent exists for voter fraud, and that apparently is what prompted Garza Ruiz to get out of the race.
Not surprisingly, Garza Ruiz did not acknowledge that the possibility of being stricken from the voter rolls prompted her abdication. Instead she cited “personal issues that require my full focus at this time.”
With her out of the race, Barnes is now the odds-on favorite to win the 5th District at-large seat.
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As some of you know, I worked with Freedom Inc. officials two years ago against Jackson County’s proposed half-cent translational medical research tax, which would have sent millions of dollars in public funds to two private, not-for-profit hospitals — Children’s Mercy and St. Luke’s.
I greatly admired Freedom’s principled stance against that proposal — which went down to an 86 percent to 14 percent drubbing — and I have worked with Freedom on a variety of political matters and issues since then.
Today I share Freedom officials’ satisfaction that an African-American probably will be reclaiming Kansas City’s 5th District at-large seat.
I sympathize, to some extent, with the Hispanic community, which suffered a big setback today…But in Lee Barnes, the council will be getting a humble man who will not seek the limelight and who, I believe, will look out for the interests of his constituents and all of Kansas City.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
You are TOTALLY out of the loop on this one. The Hispanic community never supported her. She NEVER got an endorsement from La Raza Political club. Try doing a little bit of research.
I seriously doubt that La Raza Political Club — which, as I understand it, has not yet endorsed in that race — represents each and every member of the Hispanic community. I believe a majority of Hispanics throughout Kansas City would have voted for Garza Ruiz.
Jim, what qualifications does Barnes have other than black skin? The only background you are giving us is that he is a former KC school board member. Given the past and current state of health of the KCSD, I hardly think that would be a qualifier. But I guess skin color matters more in the 5th district.
If, by your logic, only a black person can better serve a black community, then I guess that I am not being served as well as possible by my President, Mayor, and Police Chief. Of course you know I despise Obama for his policies against American Citizens and the Constitution. I think that Mayor James is doing a fair job (much better than Funkhouser), and I have nothing but applause for Chief Forte’. But how could any of them serve me well? I am of the wrong skin color.
There is an elephant in the room that no one ever wants to talk about, and that is the fact that it is OK to be racist toward anybody who isn’t black. Freedom Inc. only supports black people. That is racial bias without question.
I am also starting to think that you have racial bias against white people as well.
You never seem to miss a “pedestrian killed by vehicle” story, especially when criminal charges are involved. But the case of Tamika Pledger seemed to get by you somehow. Same with Brandon Howell. You know who he is, right? He reduced the population of an entire city block by over half, in his attempt to steal a vehicle.
I am getting tired of hearing you bash “whitey” all the time. Doing so does not prove that you are not racist against blacks, it just means you are racist against white people.
I will look forward to your reply about Barnes’ qualifications. I am sure he has more than what you have mentioned so far. In fact, he may very well be the best man for the job. But don’t tell me he is just a good fit because he is black. That answer is completely unacceptable.
Jason — The only white person I “bashed” in this post was Dennis Anthony, and all I said was he doesn’t have experience or name recognition. What I said about Lee Barnes was this: “In Lee Barnes, the council will be getting a humble man who will not seek the limelight and who, I believe, will look out for the interests of his constituents and all of Kansas City.”
I met Lee a long time ago and have seen him periodically over the years. Last week, I had lunch with him, so I’m judging him from his track record — unblemished — and my own impression.
…You helped me on the translational medical research tax measure, Jason, and so did Freedom. I am loyal to those who stick with me. Vote Barnes!
I simply fight for what I think is right. It just happened that Freedom Inc. and I agreed that the medical research tax was a bad idea that funded private “for profit” companies. It is very possible that I will take the same stance as Freedom Inc. on other issues as well. That being said, Freedom Inc. doesn’t give two shits about me, because I am not black.
I will ask again, since you did not answer my question…What are Lee Barnes qualifications for the job?
its about time the city did something right now if they could some how come up with the money for sewer and water upgrades instead of keep raising our rates
Jack, if Lee Barnes has some sort of initiative towards making good on the broken promise to residents (around the Bannister and Swope Park areas), regarding sewer improvements, then I would see reason for supporting him.
However, I know little of him at this point, other than the fact that he is black, has served on the KCSD Board of Directors, and is regarded by JimmyC as a humble man who will look out for the interest of his constituents and all of KC.
BTW, the city currently needs sewer upgrades in other areas as well. Some of our sewer system dates back to the early 1900’s
Dammit Jim, I’m a mechanic, not a political scientist! But you touched a nerve here…
“The only white person I “bashed” in this post was Dennis Anthony”
Maybe I’m reading this wrong…
…”it is very likely that a black candidate, Lee Barnes Jr., will win the seat.
This is a very significant development because blacks held that seat from the mid-1970s until 1999 but lost control of it when Becky Nace, a white woman, was elected in 1999.”
So are you saying that white people came along and wrested power from the black community and began to oppress them? You make the implication that there is some sort of power struggle between whites and blacks in the 5th district.
I am curious, because, while I am registered to vote in Raytown Ward 2, my back yard is in fact, part of the 5th district. While over half of my property is in the 5th district, my house is on the Raytown side of the border and that is where I am registered. I do know several people who live in the 5th district between Hwy. 40 and Knobtown, Woodson Estates, etc. and haven’t heard of any race related power struggles in the district.
So what’s the beef? Is it because Nace uncovered the fact that her predecessors had shifted money from promised improvements (see post from jack koontz) to new and shiny stuff? http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/nace-baiting/Content?oid=2168131
Nace was criticized for not continuing any projects which were unfunded unless they posed a safety hazard.
“Nace held the post until 2007, when another white woman, Cindy Circo, was elected from the 5th at-large. Circo is now finishing up her second term and cannot seek re-election under the City Charter’s two-term limit.”
So here comes the next master of “Uncle Tom”.
Here is a quote about her at http://kcmo.gov/circo/about-2/
“Currently in her second term, Councilwoman Circo’s leadership role in some of Kansas City’s biggest recent success stories led Mayor Sly James to appoint her mayor pro tem in 2011.”
Clearly an adversary to the black community…
“Losing control of the seat irked Freedom officials because blacks comprise the majority in the 5th District, which encompasses much of southeast Kansas City.”
Sounds to me like…”This is our turf, we can’t let ‘whitey’ run this!”
“I feel good about this,” said Clinton Adams Jr., Freedom Inc. attorney. “Finally, we can break the cycle of (candidates) with limited support in the 5th district being elected at-large to represent a predominantly black district.”
The use of parenthesis (And shouldn’t they be brackets?) intrigues me. Are you substituting a racial slur, or should “of”, have been included in the substitution?
After searching for info on Becky Nace, Cindy Circo, Lee Barnes and Dennis Anthony, I came to the general conclusion that Nace assumed control of miss-appropriated funds, and made some unpopular decisions in trying to correct the problem. I found only praise in regard to Circo, including her involvement with bringing Google Fiber to KC. The only thing I could find in regard to Mr. Barnes, is that he is running for the 5th district-at-large seat. I found this video of Dennis Anthony, http://whatsupkansascity.net/interview-dennis-anthonykansas-city-council5th-large-candidate/. He doesn’t come across as a professional politician, but I don’t see a KKK grand wizard either.
Anthony will face off with Barnes in the election. Ironically, I was able to find out through a quick Google search that Barnes, while having no name recognition, served in the Navy Reserves for 28 years and retired as an Officer. He also was employed as a codes enforcement officer for the City of Kansas City for 12 years. Barnes turned up nothing. Not even a reference to his school board term.
Then you go on to put Garza Ruiz through the ringer and close it out cleanly with condolences to the Hispanic community.
And along came my conspiracy theory…
“Blacks currently hold the 3rd District and 3rd District at-large seats, as well as the 5th District seat, which Michael Brooks recently vacated in the wake of a well-deserved torrent of bad press.
The council consists of 13 members — six elected from districts, six at-large and the mayor.”
I gotta say, I blew right past this the first time I read it, but after going over it, I thought of something else. A few weeks back, I ran across this…http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article6334251.html
This isn’t really about the 5th district at all. It’s not really about race issues either. Even though I don’t think a comment like, “Today I share Freedom officials’ satisfaction that an African-American probably will be reclaiming Kansas City’s 5th District at-large seat.” could sound more racist. I feel like you are trying to play on my sympathy. It’s about putting votes in the Mayor’s pocket. Streetcar expansion? Airport? We can have it all, while the sewers back up in the 5th district every time it rains.
I expressed my concerns about Freedom Inc. to you a few months ago. You (or anyone else) will have to give me some other facts about Mr. Barnes, other than his affiliation with Freedom Inc. before I can make an honest assessment about him.
“Today I share Freedom officials’ satisfaction that an African-American probably will be reclaiming Kansas City’s 5th District at-large seat.” Nothing could sound more racist.
If, by your logic, only a black person can better serve a black community, then I guess that I am not being served as well as possible by my President, Mayor, and Police Chief, or (deadbeat) congressman. …..Exactly.
Plainly a cheerleading piece. Veiled white bashing at its finest.
Moving on I see…
I was unable to find ANY info about Mr. Barnes campaign. Even trying to log onto the Freedom Inc. website turned up a 404 message. It would be nice to know why one should vote for Barnes, other than his skin color. Alas, it seems I will get no answer from JimmyC other than what I have already been told.
I was however, able to turn up plenty of information about Mr. Anthony, and his goals, should he be elected. Any interested party only needs to do an internet search for – Dennis Anthony 5th district – and you will be rewarded with a wealth of information about this candidate.
I doubt anyone reads this, but if you do, I implore you to make a decision based on who will better serve the 5th district, rather than skin color of the candidate. Regardless of your skin color, don’t succumb to race-baiting. Race should not be a factor when voting for elected officials.