I am writing this post against my best interests as far as my major civic activity is concerned.
As president of the City of Fountains Foundation, a partner organization to the Parks and Recreation Department, I lobby city officials, including City Manager Brian Platt, to keep Kansas City’s publicly owned fountains, monuments and sculptures in good shape so we can continue living up to our reputation as
In fact, I had a meeting scheduled with Platt in early October to discuss a particular project, but it turned out he could not make the meeting. Instead, another COFF board member and I met with an assistant city manager.
But today, after reading The Star’s story about the former city communications director’s lawsuit against the city, alleging that Platt urged him to lie to the press, I’m calling for Platt’s head. On a platter.
The story, prominent on the paper’s website (if you have a subscription), reports that Chris Hernandez alleges in his lawsuit that Platt instructed the city communications staff to lie as part of a “media strategy.”
In the civil suit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, Hernandez said he was “not willing to put his credibility on the line” for Platt. As a result of his resistance, Hernandez said, he was reassigned to another city department. (On his Linkedin page, he says he is special liaison officer in the Civil Rights & Equal Opportunity Department. Obviously, that is a major comedown.)
The suit says that in a January meeting, Hernandez and Platt discussed strategies for handling Kansas City news media. In the course of that meeting, Hernandez contends, Platt broached the prospect of lying as a “legitimate media strategy.”
Platt, the lawsuit says, was angry about at least one story in The Star — a story regarding the city’s work on potholes. Platt allegedly instructed the communications staff to call the newspaper and say that “the numbers were wrong” when they were actually correct.
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There’s more, and you can either read the story or go to Case.net and look up the petition for yourself, but here’s where I come down…
Chris Hernandez has been a good newsman and a reliable and straightforward communications manager in Kansas City for nearly 30 years, with the exception of five years when he worked as a TV reporter in Cleveland and Chicago.
I dealt with him several times as communications manager, and he was always helpful. I knew him when he was a reporter for KSHB-TV and, earlier, with WDAF-TV. He was very good.
He has a B.S. in journalism from the University of Kansas. He became city communications director in 2013.
Platt, 37, has been in Kansas city only two years. He came from Jersey City, NJ, where he had been business administrator for four years. It was a big jump from “business administrator” in a city of about 300,000 to city manager in the most prominent city with the city-manager/council form of government.
He was hired on a 9-4 City Council vote, with each of the four Black Council members other than Mayor Quinton Lucas voting against him. Of the four finalists for city manager in KC, Platt had the least experience in city government.
In short, I trust, Chris Hernandez a lot more than Brian Platt. I do not believe Hernandez would accuse Platt of urging him to lie to the media if he had not done so.
Not coming clean with the press is one thing; it happens. But telling your communications manager that lying to the media is part and parcel of a “media strategy”?
No. That’s just plain wrong. It’s outrageous. It’s maddening.
I’ve written, individually, to Lucas and to every City Council member I know personally and urged them to fire Platt.
He must go.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Annnddd…he won’t.
Totally agree with you, Jim! I heard him lie on a radio show in an interview regarding Robbie Makinen and ATA leadership. This story adds to my concern about his ability to run the city!
I’m glad you reminded me about the Robbie Makinen episode, Regina. Some readers will recall that Platt forced Makinen out as CEO of the ATA this past summer after Makinen strongly resisted a demand from Platt that the ATA pay for a $20 million, improved street-lighting system. The Council had approved the program without citing a funding source, and Platt turned to the ATA, which was flush with Covid-relief funds.
That was eye opening, but at the time, I wrote it off as Platt playing hard ball, which city managers sometimes have to do. Now, I’m looking at it in a different light.
I had the same thought. Robbie is a good person.
Of course, we haven’t heard Platt’s side of the story yet. But, assuming Hernandez’s version is basically accurate, the question arises as to how much Lucas knew about what Platt was doing. There’s also a question as to how forthcoming Platt and Lucas will be in publicly responding to the lawsuit at this point.
I think Platt has made some improvements in the way the City gov’t works, but whether the claim that he asked the media staff to lie is shown to be accurate, it seems outrageous for Chris Hernandez to be demoted. I have to wonder how much more about Platt there is for us to learn.
You make a very good point, Vern.
Platt did not return The Star’s call, seeking a response to the news, last night. This afternoon, I got this statement from Platt’s office…
“The City is proud of its verifiable success in road resurfacing and infrastructure improvements over the past several years.
“As an institution committed to transparency, the City stands by any statements and welcomes inspection of any facts related to our transformative work to have already resurfaced 387 lane miles of roadway this fiscal year –substantially exceeding our resurfacing efforts in each of the past five years.
“As the City Manager previously shared, this number has the City on track to meet and exceed 400 lane miles in this fiscal year, which ends April 30, 2023.”
That is a lame statement that obviously does not address the substance of Hernandez’s allegations. To me, this is an indication that Platt is getting little or no support behind the scenes from Lucas or other Council members.
I think it’s also noteworthy that, while the statement came from the “press secretary” in the city communications office, it explicitly said at the top that it was a statement from “the Office of the City Manager.”
Late this afternoon, Mayor Lucas responded to the lawsuit in general, saying, among other things…
“I don’t think that, frankly, I’ve heard anybody on our staff, including the city manager, suggest misrepresentation broadly to the public or to our media that we work with every day…I think the city has been very transparent in everything we have done.”
Note that Lucas says he has not heard anyone suggest misrepresentation; he doesn’t say he does not believe Platt would do that, which would have been a much more resounding defense…I expect some other Council members to make equally distanced comments, if they address it at all, which will effectively leave Platt on a deserted island.
“(Lucas) doesn’t say he does not believe Platt would do that.”
Actually, Lucas did say essentially that when he said “All I know is I have faith that our entire staff is open, honest, transparent.” If that doesn’t say Lucas believes Platt wouldn’t lie, Lucas has taken spin to new heights.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article269774427.html
Nope. That’s still a hedge. Even though Lucas always speaks fast, he knows exactly what he’s saying and seldom says something he’d like to take back.
I’ve always said there are two kinds of people: those who do what they are told; and those who do the right thing. Hernandez, who I know, made a choice to do the right thing and has paid for it. Another example of honesty penalized, not rewarded.
Very good, Steve.
One of the work units in our office used to have sign that said “Do The Right Thing”. I found increasingly during my work career that management became less and less interested in having their workforce do the right thing and just have them do what they were told.
The most concerning about this is that lying is that is now considered “good and standard” practice by top officials and politicians. The development by one political party the last several years of “alternate facts” to cover mistakes/poor decisions is seeping more and more into everyday life.
Consequences for such actions need to come back so the incentive to do so is less attractive.
If the city manager did this, you wonder what else he has been lying about? It is time for him to go if the city either settles or loses in court.
Unfortunately, you’re right, Bill…Widespread public acceptance of Trump’s new-low-normal standard of conduct dramatically and shockingly illustrate your point.
This case will never go to court. It will be settled, so we will not get a clearcut verdict. But you’re right that a settlement would indicate acceptance of culpability by the city. I hope the amount of the eventual settlement will be part of the public record. But I also think Brian will be long gone by then.