The Squitiro mess: "The national media is fascinated by this"

I got an email yesterday from Chip Franklin's producer at news-talk powerhouse AM 600 KOGO in San Diego. I'm on with Chip every Monday to talk TV, but his producer wanted me to come on the show today to talk politics. Specifically, Kansas City mayoral politics. Despite the best efforts of the Kansas City Star, the story of our Mayor McCheese problem remained a local one through the unethical gift car, the immigrant-fearing parks board member and even Mammygate.

But now that the Gloria Squitiro case has grown to epic dimensions, with each new chapter weirder than the one before, the story has finally, inevitably, gone national. The mayor and his wife recently made multiple appearances on network TV to defend his decision to keep her on his staff despite official censure and his truly bizarre gambit of moving City Hall to the Funkhouser home in south Kansas City.

Here's the audio of my conversation this morning with Chip, who said afterward, "The national news media is fascinated by this."