Mark Funkhouser

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Mark Funkhouser

Mayor of the City of Kansas City, Missouri
In office May 1, 2007 – May 2011
Preceded by	Kay Waldo Barnes
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	1950 West Virginia
Political party	Democrat
Spouse	Gloria Squitiro
Children	Andrew & Tara Funkhouser
Residence	Kansas City, Missouri
Website	http://www.kcmo.org/Mayor

Mark Funkhouser (born 1950)^[1] is the mayor-elect of Kansas City, Missouri, and a former city auditor for the same.

Funkhouser grew up in West Virginia. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from Thiel College, his M.A. in Business Administration from Tennessee State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Funkhouser became the city auditor in 1988 and relinquished his post in 2006. He also contributes to Local Government Auditing Quarterly and has taught in a number of regional universities. He is also in the process of completing a book covering international government auditing practices.

Announcing his candidacy for mayor of Kansas City, Missouri in late 2006, Funkhouser was eventually endorsed by the Kansas City Star and emerged as one of two candidates following the February mayoral primary.

Funkhouser won the mayoral election on March 27, 2007 narrowly defeating his opponent Alvin Brooks, the Mayor Pro-Tempore. Funkhouser won by a few more than 1,000 votes, and his tenure is set to begin on May 1. ^[2]

During the campaign Funkhouser wore an orange tie as a reference to the Ukraine Orange Revolution and as a symbol for change. From his campaign website: "I've chosen orange as my official campaign color because it is fast becoming a symbol for change in politics -- a shift away from back-room deal making and toward an open style of governance that respects and listens to citizens." He had been very critical of some of the massive spending on big projects during the Kay Barnes administration which has resulted in a surge of construction in Downtown Kansas City including the Sprint Center which still does not have a professional hockey or basketball team. One of his campaign advertisements depicted "pigs at the trough." He was quoted on KCTV:

"We've been buying stuff," he said. "What we don't know is whether what we bought is what is worth what we paid for it."^[3]

His opponent in the contest Alvin Brooks had focused on the city's high crime rate and said that lack of education was the root of the problem and was going to encourage corporations to adopt public schools if he became mayor.