JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Well, that was fast.

After being out for an hour or so, I returned home to find an email from Mayor Sly James’ office, saying that Herb Sih, the payday-loan lead generator whom The Pitch and I had written about this week, is out as a member of the city’s Economic Development Corp.

The appropriate response to that is, “Alright now!”

I don’t know what led up to it or went on behind the scenes, but Sih resigned earlier today.

The mayor’s press secretary, Mike Grimaldi, issued this prepared statement from James.

“Herb brought valuable expertise from the high-tech, start-up community to the EDC Board of Directors, and I have appreciated his commitment to the organization.  I respect his decision to act in the best interests of the EDC and its mission.”

He may have brought “valuable expertise from the high-tech community,” but he was also a disastrous appointment to the EDC, the city’s premier economic development agency.

In January 2014, James appointed the 49-year-old Sih and four other people as board members of the newly revamped EDC.

Sih

This week, The Pitch’s David Hudnall, who has led the way on the payday lending story in Kansas City, exposed Sih as having been neck deep in that unholy business for several years. His specialty was using his technical expertise to give payday lenders the ability to find prospective borrowers and solicit personal and confidential information from them. That enabled the lenders, in turn, to get into the borrowers bank accounts, in some cases. It was all done online, and Sih was one of the masterminds, if not the mastermind.

In the wake of Hudnall’s story, Mayor James took a wait-and-see approach, issuing a statement supporting him but leaving the door open for re-evaluation.

As strong a reporter as Hudnall is, I was skeptical that his story would generate enough outrage to either force Sih to resign on his own or prompt the mayor to ask for his resignation.

I went so far as to email Barb Shelly, one of four editorial page writers for The Star, and suggest that she do a piece. She wrote back, saying she intended to write something next week.

…Fortunately, it turns out my skepticism about The Pitch’s clout was misplaced.

Congratulations, David and editors of The Pitch! You have done a great service to the public. A very bad apple has been plucked from the bushel.

…And, Barb, thanks for standing ready to fire a volley, but now you can turn your attention to other pressing matters.