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Where’s the paper? Oh, in the neighbor’s yard! And what’s in it? Uh…. »

Of things reported and not reported…and a reporter who will be missed

January 17, 2019 by jimmycsays

I thought Councilwoman Jolie Justus would become the favorite in the Kansas City mayor’s race, and a story in today’s KC Star confirms that’s the case.

Jolie

For the most recent quarterly campaign report — covering October through December — Justus raised more than three times as much the next-closest candidate, Steve Miller.

According to Allison Kite’s story, Justus now has $250,000 in the bank, trailing only Miller, who has about $252,300. She has pushed well past Councilman Scott Taylor, the early fund-raising leader, who has $177,000 on hand.

…It was heartening to see a fleshed-out campaign-finance story in The Star. Those have been in short supply under the two previous City Hall reporters. I hope Kite, who recently moved to the City Hall beat, continues giving readers substantive reports on all facets of the mayor’s race.

But now the cudgel: Kite exhibited her lack of knowledge about local political donors when she wrote, “LJ Kissick, of Kissick Construction, gave (Scott) Wagner $1,000.

From the way that was written, I can tell she had no idea she was writing about Lloyd James “Jim” Kissick III, a high-profile contractor, or knows ( or knew) who he was.

Kissick

This is the second time within six weeks The Star slighted Kissick, longtime president of Kissick Construction Co. First, Star editors didn’t see fit to write a news story about him after he died suddenly Dec. 8. And now this…just another abbreviated name on a campaign finance report.

Of course, this isn’t all Kite’s fault. Very few, if any, editors left at 1601 McGee would know who Jim Kissick was.

**

While we’re talking about slights and The Star, how about the paper’s failure to report (as far as I can tell) the Kemper Museum’s hiring of a new executive director?

KCUR reported on Jan. 11 that Sean O’Harrow, who has been director at the Honolulu Museum of Art the last two years, will begin his new job Feb. 11.

Sean O’Harrow

KCUR’s Laura Spencer reported that O’Harrow was born in Paris and raised in Honolulu and that one of his parents is from the Midwest, the other from Vietnam.

In all fairness, Spencer also deserves a cudgel: She failed to report O’Harrow’s age. An October 2016 story in the Honolulu Star Advertiser said he was 48 then. By my keen mathematical calculations, that would make him about 50.

(Editor’s note: As a matter of full disclosure, our daughter Brooks Fitzpatrick is the “visitor services associate” at the Kemper. When you enter the lobby, she’s at the front desk, a.k.a., “the donut.”)

**

Now that the bell ending today’s Journalism 101 class has rung, we can move on to a final note…

I heard from a friend that Joe Popper, a former KC Star reporter, died recently, apparently of lung cancer.

Popper, who specialized in “long-form” journalism, was with the paper’s Sunday magazine from 1985 to 1990, and he was on the news side for a while after that.

In 1991, when I was City Hall reporter, Popper and I collaborated on two huge stories. One, dubbed “The Monday Morning Club,” recounted how a handful of civic leaders, including Irvine O. Hockaday Jr. of Hallmark Cards, quietly hand picked a community college executive, Brice Harris, to run for mayor.

Brice Harris

The executives, members of the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, were convinced Harris — with their financial backing and his good looks and apolitical background — would win. But the executives’ political naivete was soon exposed in a down-and-dirty campaign involving several candidates, including Councilman Emanuel Cleaver, Councilman Bob Lewellen and former Independence Mayor Dick King.

Dick King

As things developed, Harris and King destroyed each other with vicious TV ads, and neither made it past the primary election. Cleaver finished first in the primary, ahead of Lewellen. Cleaver then went on to thump Lewellen in the general election.

The primary campaign was one of the most riveting political races Kansas City has ever seen, and Popper and I were fortunate enough to help make it extremely memorable. I will always remember sitting beside Joe as we fashioned that compelling tale about The Monday Morning Club. I provided the bulk of the facts, and he weaved them into gold. The story started on the front page and “jumped” inside, taking up another two full pages. We used to call those “double trucks.” Stories of such length were few and far between.

Joe was about 74. I believe he lived in Weston. Survivors include his wife Judith. (An obit has not yet appeared in The Star…Sorry, I couldn’t find a photo.)

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Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

5 Responses

  1. on January 17, 2019 at 3:04 pm mikerice64

    The Monday Morning Club expose was one of the best things I have ever read in The Star. It revealed a lot about this city’s power brokers and the machinations of local politics. As a reporter who covered the bare-knuckled politics of Independence in the 1990s, I often re-read that story to get an idea of who the players were and whether they were operating eastward.


  2. on January 18, 2019 at 9:19 am Mark Peavy

    Did you see anything in this morning’s paper about the discussion on KCI at yesterday’s City Council and airport committee meetings? There was a front-page story about KCI Partnership saying it could build the airport for $1B less than Edgemoor, and there was a story on page 4A about the City Council approving funds for development on the east side. But, there was nothing that I can find describing the discussions about the airport at yesterday’s City Council sessions. To me, that is a big omission on the Star’s part.


    • on January 18, 2019 at 12:29 pm jimmycsays

      That was such a ridiculous story…and front page!

      How easy is it for a losing bidder — actually “proposer” — to say, “Oh, we’ll do it for half the cost…and we’ll throw in a runway!” ??

      This thing is going to be torturous every step of the way. We don’t need additional side swiping.


  3. on January 18, 2019 at 10:05 am Leigh Elmore

    Not for publication. Didn’t know if you heard about the death of Debra Skodak and Brian Burnes’ son on Sunday. Natural causes. Saw it on Facebook.


    • on January 18, 2019 at 12:26 pm jimmycsays

      Yes, I was aware of it, Leigh. Thanks for sending, though; I don’t catch everything.



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