It’s starting to look like Jackson County Executive Frank White is not only paddling in political waters too choppy for him but also that his inability to manage his personal finances has indebted him to people who could take advantage of him and the taxpayers.
Hendricks
Vockrodt
Those are the two obvious conclusions from the latest Jackson County political expose produced by the kick-ass, KC Star team of Mike Hendricks and Steve Vockrodt.
Two weeks ago, the same reporters blew open a kickback scheme involving former County Executive Mike Sanders, and today they notched another huge scoop with a story about a prominent Independence attorney bailing White out of a mortgage jam last year.
The gist of today’s story is White and his wife Teresa had fallen so far behind on the mortgage payments on their Lee’s Summit home that it was scheduled to be sold on the courthouse steps in April 2016. Hendricks and Vockrodt reported that Ken McClain, a lawyer and who owns or co-owns much of the Independence Courthouse Square, “provided the funds to catch White and his wife up on their mortgage.”
McClain’s involvement was hidden, however, because he has direct business dealings with the county. First, the county rents office space in a building McClain owns on the Square and, second, the county allows McClain to house part of his art collection, free of charge, in the Independence Courthouse.
So, rather than write the check himself to cover the Whites’ back mortgage, McClain got another lawyer to provide the money, Hendricks and Vockrodt said.
Under terms of a new, five-year lease that took effect earlier this year — and which White presumably approved — the county is paying McClain $56,888 a year for the space in the Courthouse Square building. Before that, McClain was paid $49,869 a year.
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Perhaps as troubling as White’s compromised position in regard to McClain is his inability to manage his personal finances. He had a big-paying, front-office job with the Kansas City Royals until early 2011, when the Kansas City Royals decided to cut his pay because he was giving the team less time due to broadcasting Royals games on Fox Sports. Rather than take the pay cut, White quit, but then later that year he also lost his broadcasting job when Fox Sports did not renew his contract.
Still, he had made very good money when he was playing for the Royals — $1.15 million his final season, 1990 — and as county executive he has been earning a salary of $145,000 a year. In addition, Hendricks and Vockrodt, he was eligible for a Major League Baseball pension of more than $9,000 a month, or more than $108,000 a year, and he has a sales and marketing job with a roofing company and is a paid spokesman for a non-profit agency.
Hendricks and Vockrodt did not report this, but White was previously divorced, and that certainly could have had a significant bearing on his financial situation. Nevertheless, it seems almost certain he and his wife were living beyond their means when they fell behind on their mortgage payments.
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Now, everybody loves Frank White. He and George Brett are the greatest two players in team history. Each is memorialized with a statue at Kauffman Stadium, along with legendary manager Dick Howser. White was an outstanding commentator while he was with Fox Sports, and he is — or was — first base coach for the Kansas City T-Bones.
That said, the last thing you want in an elected official who is overseeing millions of dollars in taxpayer money — besides being a straight-out crook — is someone who can’t manage his personal finances. This is a bad situation, and it might cost him his job; it will make him vulnerable if he hopes to be re-elected in 2018.
In any event, congratulations are in order to The Star and the team of Hendricks and Vockrodt. Their two Jackson County exposes, along with the paper’s series on secrecy in Kansas government and its hammering on Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ clandestine ways, are making for a pretty merry Christmas at 17th and McGee.
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Note: A point of particular interest to me in today’s story was Hendricks’ and Vockrodt’s reporting that the late James B. Nutter Sr., political kingmaker and mortgage banker, had refused to bail out White, whom Nutter had supported politically. Even though Nutter’s company didn’t hold the mortgage — it was through U.S. Bank — White sought help from Nutter.
Nutter
Nutter probably contributed millions of dollars to political candidates during his lifetime, but from what I’ve seen and read he always played it very straight on mortgages. In White’s case, Nutter drew the line between political supporter and financial savior. He did the same several years ago after former Kansas City Mayor Charlie Wheeler fell behind on his mortgage payments.
Nutter, whose firm held that loan, gave Wheeler a lot of latitude but ultimately foreclosed on the home on West 53rd Street, near Loose Park. Nutter sold the home to an out-of-state company. The home was under renovation for years but remains unoccupied.
I knew Nutter very well and was always impressed with his honesty and above-board dealings with politicians. His main interest in contributing to candidates was not generating more money for himself but seeng elected to public office candidates he believed would work for the betterment of Kansas City, Jackson County and Missouri.
Nutter died in July at age 89, but his legacy of integrity and commitment to community endures.
It was certainly a highly newsworthy story by Mike Hendricks and Steve Vockrodt, and I am sure we haven’t heard the last of this. But, I do wish it had been more kick-ass in one respect.
Hendricks and Vockrodt had “multiple sources” regarding the meeting between White and the three attorneys, yet they either couldn’t or wouldn’t identify the third attorney. Obviously, the identity of that third attorney is pretty important in figuring out exactly what transpired.
I hope Hendricks and Vockrodt keep digging.
I can’t give you an explanation for their decision not to name the attorney who provided the money. It probably doesn’t make a lot of difference, if he or she has no business with the county.
“According to the source, McClain provided the funds to catch White and his wife up on their mortgage. But rather than write the check himself, the source said, McClain provided the money through another lawyer.”
If the “another lawyer” was the third lawyer in the meeting, it clearly makes a whole lot of difference. In that case, the third lawyer was an integral part of the payment from McClain to White.
Vockrodt and Hendricks are the new stars of The Star. While I always thought Mike sucked as a columnist, he is an outstanding journalist, as is Vockrodt.
The more I think about it the more I can’t help but wonder how he could make all of that money, pension, side gigs, etc and spend so much that he couldn’t make that most basic of payments
I read a story in The New York Times yesterday about Ed Kranepool, a former New York Met, who is selling his memorabilia. The story said he’s getting a pension of $200,000 a year “the amount allotted to all former major leaguers with at least 10 years of service time.”
All the more reason to wonder what he’s been doing with his money.
(I understand from a friend who knew Mr. K that Frank’s troubles with money go way back.)
You know, I am a born and raised Dotte, and still live here. I worked for almost 40 years in and around the Wyandotte County courthouse and I thought I had seen and heard the worst in politics and politicians, but wow… Jackson County is smelling more ripe every day! Thanks for taking the heat off the Dotte!
Good for you, Chuck. I really got to like Wyandotte County during the nine years I was in charge of The Star’s bureau there — a stint that spanned Carol Marinovich’s two terms as mayor (1995-2003), plus one more year…I left the bureau in 2004.
Before her, Wyandotte County was fraught with corruption and was a pretty ugly place, politically. She started by getting rid of the strip clubs and then pushing successfully for the merger of city and county governments, with the city holding sway. That changed everything and is why we see a progressive government and a much prouder Wyco community today.
…In my KC Star file, I keep a Post-it sticker with a quote of hers I wrote down while having lunch with her on Jan. 4, 2002. I asked her what prompted her to run for mayor and embark on such an ambitious agenda.
The writing on the sticker is faded now, but the words are still very readable…
“It was my town, and it was going down the tubes.”
This entire metro area is deeply indebted to Carol Marinovich for turning her town around.
I could tell you some stories about the U.G. politicians and their minions that would bust that shiny bubble. Carol replaced one group of self-serving power brokers with another one. 20 of those 40 years I worked there were under the Unified (but divided) Government, so I saw it from the inside right from the git-go. #justsayin
Seismic change is best viewed from the outside…
Another Marinovich quote. “I’ll bury the Kansan.” And she did.
I agree with Chuck to a certain extent. Marinovich basically made KCK a colony of the KCMO/JOCO establishments, replacing petty crooks who stole everything they could and gave you nothing with a pack of weasels who enrich themselves by the millions, but give you things like The Legends, Children’s mercy Park, Cabelas, Nebraska Furniture Mart, NASCAR, etc in return following the JOCO model of corruption.
Credit where credit is due, Carol took on the old guard and got rid of the titty bars. She did, in fact, bring in the UG (with much help). That, however, is a mixed bag depending on whether you live in KCK, or Edwardsville and Bonner. The UG basically has about 1 and 2/3s commissioners Ann Murguia is outstanding and there are a couple of others that put together almost make one useful person. Holland was a sleaze and an idiot and we are fortunate to be rid of him.
I have to defend Holland to a certain extent. Speaking from the viewpoint of an employee after the unification, the ‘county’ employees were treated worse and paid much less than the ‘city’ employees. He came in with a promise to unite the UG and treat the ‘county-side’ employees equally with the ‘city-side’ employees, so my union backed him.
For a few years, he butted a lot of heads, but eventually he succumbed to the conservative dark side and we didn’t get raises for 5 or 6 years and then only got a token 2% raise and nothing had changed to make the employee’s lives any better. Not a single union backed him in this last election and almost every one of the 2000 employees who do the actual work of the UG wanted him gone.
There’s an obvious lesson here for our politicians. If you treat your employees like servants without human rights, you create disgruntled employees who will not support you. Without the support of your employees, who are all county residents and voters with large families of voters, you will not succeed.
If you can’t lead your employees, you can’t lead your constituents.
Speaking as a ‘county’ employee, I don’t believe anyone will truly succeed as a leader of the UG until he, or she, truly unifies this government.