Second group pulls convention from KC over Minuteman issue

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A national civil rights group has decided to pull its 2008 convention out of Kansas City because of actions by the city's mayor.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was expected to announce the decision Tuesday morning, The Kansas City Star reported in its Tuesday editions.

The group says Mayor Mark Funkhouser showed racial insensitivity in June when he appointed to the park board someone who is a member of an organization that opposes illegal immigration. The SCLC also was upset that Funkhouser tried to oust City Manager Wayne Cauthen, who is black, without first consulting with the City Council.

"I am here to raise hell," Charles Steele Jr., president and chief executive officer of SCLC, told The Star on Monday.

He said his group likely would hold its convention in New Orleans instead.

Funkhouser appointed Frances Semler, a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, to the park board in June. He has stood by her ever since -- even after the National Council of La Raza announced in October it was pulling its 2009 convention from Kansas City because of Semler's appointment to the board.

The mayor said he doesn't think SCLC's decision would affect the national NAACP's decision on whether to hold its 2010 convention in Kansas City. But although local NAACP members are committed to having the convention in the city, national officials have said they are reconsidering because of the Semler controversy.

Funkhouser said he was disappointed in SCLC's decision, but remains committed to Semler.

"I think this park board is more responsive to minority issues than any before it," the mayor said.

In addition to the Semler issue, Funkhouser has been criticized for trying to oust Cauthen. And Funkhouser's wife, Gloria Squitiro, has been accused of calling a black mayoral aide "Mammy."

"We are standing on principle," said the Rev. Nelson "Fuzzy" Thompson, head of the local SCLC chapter which recommended the national convention be moved out of the city. "He is mayor of the whole city. ... We hope this will send a message clearly to the mayor that we want to see real diversity and inclusiveness."

La Raza President Janet Murguma, a Kansas City, Kan., native, said she was happy with the SCLC's decision.

"I hope the mayor will take steps to address these issues," Murguma said. "He must see it is going to have deeper repercussions than just one convention."

The SCLC convention had been expected to draw more than 2,000 attendees, Steele said.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com