Updated to include email exchange with Stigall and mayor's office *.

For more years than he can remember, Bill Grigsby was the master of ceremonies at the Mayor’s Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at Crown Center.

Good ol’ Grigs. Smiling. Jovial. Kansas City’s biggest booster, and entirely non-controversial.

“I did it for a lot of mayors,” Grigsby said. “That is, until Funkhouser came in.”

Yep, Mark Funkhouser vowed to shake up the tree lighting ceremony the way he’d shake up everything else.

Which brings us to this year’s ceremony, a week from today. Funkhouser has for the second time in three years picked one of the most polarizing figures in town to ring in the holiday season.

Chris Stigall.

And if you’re not familiar with Stigall’s morning radio program, count yourself lucky.

The former aide to Republican Congressman Sam Graves is so vociferous in his commentary that he makes Rush Limbaugh look soft.

While Stigall’s reach ordinarily extends only to KCMO listeners, he’s caught national attention lately as a fill-in host for the likes of Michael Savage and Lou Dobbs.

On “The Savage Nation,” Stigall suggested “eerie-eerie similarities” between the Obama administration and the Nazis.

Sitting in for Dobbs in September, Stigall hit the president’s plan to speak to schoolchildren, saying “I wouldn’t let my next-door neighbor talk to my kid alone; I’m sure as hell not letting Barack Obama talk to him alone.”

There’s more.

 And as someone in a similar line of work, I recognize Stigall’s right to his opinions – even if they’re often wrongheaded, narrow-minded and despicable.

Especially distasteful, I thought, was his tone when discussing American Muslims after the Fort Hood shootings.

But why pick this bomb thrower as the master of ceremonies for an event supposedly meant to bring the community together, unless you have an ulterior motive?

And I’m pretty sure this mayor has one that, unfortunately, is purely political.

Neither Funkhouser nor his staff offered comment when I put that to them in an e-mail the other day.Stigall, meanwhile, wrote that “I would hope people could put aside politics for an evening … especially during the holiday season.”

Of course, it’s impossible to set aside politics when politicians are involved. Every move sends a message.

The message here is that Funkhouser needs the support of the people who listen and agree with the likes of Chris Stigall.

The “knuckle draggers,” as Stigall refers to them affectionately.

After all, the only people Funkhouser can rely on as he heads for a re-election bid are those who still think of him the way he likes to think of himself: As the rebel out to upset the status quo.

That’s Stigall’s target audience.

Therefore, picking him as master of ceremonies is a cynical move for a supposed Democrat in a nonpartisan office who needs right wing support to get re-elected. And it falls right in line with Funkhouser's decision to engage GOP political consultant Jeff Roe some time ago and later to install one of Roe’s proteges as his communications director.

That’s how I see it, anyway. And no, I’m not jealous. I wouldn’t pick me to emcee the tree lighting, either.

Too controversial.

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* Because Stigall has chosen on his radio show to misrepresent my email to the mayor's office as "hateful" and that I somehow distorted the essense of his response to me, let me set the record straight by reprinting that entire exhange.

From: "Mike Hendricks" To: stigall@kcmo710.com

Chris, this is a copy of an email I sent the mayor's office yesterday. As you can see, the emphasis is on the mayor's judgment in choosing you as emcee, rather than selecting a neutral figure such as Johnny Rowlands (last year) or a Grigsby, who emceed for many years.

If you have a comment, I'd be happy to consider including some of it in my column. (Some because space, like airtime in your busness, is always limited.)

Cheers,

Mike h 

--- On Wed, 11/18/09, Mike Hendricks  wrote:

 

From: Mike Hendricks

Subject: hendricks has questions about stigall

To: kendrick_blackwood@kcmo.org

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 4:31 PM

Kendrick,

I just wanted to confirm whether it was the mayor or someone else who suggested and/or named Chris Stigall as the emcee for this year's tree lighting ceremony. Stigall did it two years ago, I know.

But why a repeat performance, and why such a divisive figure? Since that earlier appearance, when Stigall and Funkhouser were both barely a year (or, in Funk's case, less than a year) in their jobs, Stigall has gone onto make quite a name for himself.

As a fill in host for hatemonger  Michael Savage he said "there are eerie, eerie similarities" between Obama and figures such as Hitler and Stalin.

With regard to Obama's speech to school kids on the day after Labor Day, he said while guesthosting on the Lou Dobbs radio show  that  "I wouldn't let my next door neighbor talk to my kid alone; I'm sure as hell not letting Barack Obama talk to him alone."

On another edition of the Savage show (and remember Savage is the guy who said US Muslims all ought to be deported) Stigall suggested that Obama needs his Blackberry so he can take instructions from Bill Ayers.

There's lots more and, like Stigall says, he has a right to exercise his free speech. Go forth and babble, I say. If he doesn't like Obama, I could care less.

But what message is the mayor sending by making such a polarizing figure the emcee at a feel-good event like the Mayor's Christmas Tree lighting? I can understand his rationale for going on the guy's show each week, given that Mark is  willing to go on other shows, when they'll have him.

Outreach and all that.

But this is different. I can't see how it helps further the success of the Christmas tree fund..

What I read into it is politics.

Your explanation? I plan on writing a column about this for Friday's paper. My deadline is mid afternoon Thursday.Thanks.

Mike Hendricks    

From: "Chris Stigall" stigall@710kcmo.comTo: (Mike Hendricks)I would hope people could put aside politics for an evening. In some ways this event is a lot like Christmas dinner. We may not agree with one another's politics, or even whether or not Uncle Joe should have taken a third wife, but we all agree that its important to come together for the good of the community.   Especially during the holiday season.  As the only local talk show host living in Kansas City, I'm proud to be a part of this important, time-honored Kansas City event.  At a time when so many folks are hurting, I consider it an honor to try and help in any way I can.Sincerely,Chris Stigall