Posted on Fri, Oct. 26, 2007
Documents reveal Funkhouser’s efforts to appease La Raza
By DEANN SMITH and LYNN HORSLEY
The Kansas City Star

A week after La Raza pulled its convention from Kansas City after failing to reach an agreement with Mayor Mark Funkhouser, documents show the hard-fought efforts to prevent that from happening.

According to the documents, Funkhouser was prepared to ask Frances Semler, his park board appointee, to refrain from a leadership role in an anti-illegal immigration group.

The National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil-rights group, ultimately did not accept that concession, however, saying Semler would need to resign from either the park board or the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.

Through the Missouri Sunshine Law, the documents obtained this week by The Star from the mayor’s office included e-mails and faxes between Funkhouser, the president of La Raza, local Hispanic leaders and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who was involved in the negotiations.

The documents show Funkhouser signed off on a request from the National Council of La Raza to have Semler issue a statement saying her membership in the Minuteman group was “a bold statementâ€