Tony Botello, Tony's Kansas City, On Recent Elections and News of the Day | 8-7-26

What does one trip to Israel do? One trip changes people's faith, their identity, their perspective. One trip changes the response when people chant from the river to the sea. One trip changes how people see right and wrong. One trip changes the idea of home. One trip changes everything. And one donation is all it takes. It's a Friday morning in Kansas City, and I thought Tony Patea would be a great guest, Tony'scantacity.com, cutting through all the nonsense of the news in this town, because I said, hey, we got a big election week. There's a lot going on to talk to Tony about. Little did I know that we'd be also talking about the indictment of Jackson County Executive Phil Lovoda. How about that, Tony? Good morning. Good morning, Pete. It's great to be here. Now, I've... Kind of reviewed a little bit what you said and just talked about it. And like the angle that you're coming from is just like it's kind of a viper pit down there. And you're right. You're not wrong. I mean, I think even Lovoda comes out. It's like, oh, it's just another horrible thing. Yeah. I forgive me. I'm going to show my age here and show that, you know, I like to read. Bonfire of the band bandages, it's 1987. They kind of work in this quote, and it comes from, I had to look this up. I don't have this stuff off the top of my head. It comes from, and from about 1985, New York Appeals judge Saul Watchler famously said that a good prosecutor can get an indictment against a ham sandwich. And so that's my little graphic today. I've got a little, thank you, AI. I got a little photo grabbing a little ham sandwich. I thought it was funny. But so I don't know. You know, whenever the feds are involved, you have to be very respectful. You have to take it seriously. But if trading jobs, if that's really the deal here. they don't have enough jail space for all the politicians they're going to need to throw in there. Yeah. I mean, it's really weird to me. I'd like to see this explain more because we need to know the rules of the game we play. I pretty much thought that that was, it's very surprising to me. I thought that was how business was done. So my understanding and talking to a couple of people last night was like, all right, if Trump says to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Joe Biden says to Kamala Harris, hey, You drop out of the race and, you know, we'll get you a job. They're not elected officials yet, so it's kind of, that's how business goes. But because Phil is already the county executive, that's where it gets a little sketch in terms of using that political power to influence an election. But I agree with you. I mean... I think most people are looking at this and being like, well, isn't that how business is done in politics especially? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, if this starts a new era of, you know, because the county's turning over, there's going to be a lot more elected officials. Stacey Lake was really surprised victory on Tuesday. And maybe this is good things. Maybe we're going to see a new.

era of transparency and they're going to replace that uh uh the the monument of jackson with like a unicorn and we can all sing and dance around it that would be wonderful I have, unfortunately, I'm very, very skeptical and how this plays out. I don't think, I think Phil will make, you can always count on Phil Lovota to make his case. Yeah. But I don't know. I, it really seems kind of, and I notice in comments on social media reaction, can't judge by that, but I do notice a lot of skepticism with people expressing our same. I don't think the folks are turning on Phil Lvota over this. Right. I just don't. I think that. They look at him and they say, hey, this guy's come in. He's done what he's promised to do. He's fighting the property tax issue. And he's fighting for us. And I think Jackson Countyans feel like they haven't had that person in a long time in this county do that. And they're looking at this and they're like, okay, and? I don't know. I just, I don't think the public sentiment has changed at all the last 24 hours on Phil Lovoda. Well, from what I see, too, I mean, you have to give Phil his credit. I certainly wouldn't want to be in this knife fight, but coming out and throwing Duran right under the bus and saying like, hey, the feds are going to be listening to your conversations. So make sure, you know, you'd be a dot your T's when you talk to Duran. That's not. You know, I tend to try to be practical. That is not a reputation that anybody wants in all the, you know, questionable dealings that politicians have with developers and activists and all the people that they need to talk to. You don't want to come out. And that's what filled a vote. It's not me saying it. It's him. Yeah. That's what he did and saying like, yeah, this guy was wearing a wire. Yeah. That's. That's pretty groundbreaking stuff to me. So like I said, we can count on Phil to make his own case. Yeah, I agree. By the way, you're not being investigated that you know of, right? No, but I got the ham sandwich line. I was like, I'm going to use this. If I can not weep while they indict me for whatever. I mean, if these are the new rules like me spitting on the sidewalk or stealing a loaf of bread or a snack cake. Okay. Yeah, when the if. I hope never. I will try to be clever and weep as I note that ham sandwich fat. I just, I don't need the feds blasting into the studio right now. Levota was in last week filling in for Kisman. He did a really nice job. I didn't know the feds were, you know, sniffing down his neck when that was happening. So I could have been a disaster here at the KCMO Talk Radio Studios. Yeah, and I'm not very fast. I can't run very far. They would catch me before I made it out of the parking lot. Yeah, so it wouldn't even be, you know, it's theater of their mind. They would hear the wrestling on the radio. They wouldn't see me moving at about 1.5 miles an hour full speed. Yeah, yeah, you know.

Twist your hit before you got there anyway. Oh, my gosh. Tony Viteo, Tony's Kansas City is joining us here in the show. I just, there's no doubt in my mind that it all ties back to these bribery cases involving Manny and Duran. And that's how we got to this point with Livota. No, and we've had, we've had many years. I think you listed them. I mean, you go back Catherine Shields. You go back Mike Bernie Sanders. You can have Frank White, that debacle. I hope. That maybe the best hope that I have for Stacey Lake is that she moves past the palace intrigue. And she might have to because the truth is, she isn't no very many people. She really is coming in as a neophyte. She's not going to have the background. And so her best bet and my hope for her is that she plays above board. Yeah, these are the last four Jackson County executives. Phil Levota. Now indicted. Frank White before that recalled. Mike Bernie Sanders before that indicted and convicted. And before that, Catherine Shields, indicted after she was in office and not convicted. Right. Again, I remember. I tried to find this. They were dancing on the courthouse step. They literally were dancing. I remember seeing the clip. It may be a Mandela effect. I can't find it. But yeah, they beat that case. So as a lot of people have noted during this press cycle, it's, you know, an indictment is one thing. A conviction is another. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. All right. The Stacey Lake win. Listen, she's going to be the next executive. All respect to the Republican Allen Role thing. It's going to be Stacey Lake who won the Democratic primary. She beat out Dan Tarwater. She beat out Bill Baird. People thought Bill Baird might win, but I'll tell you what. Man, the stories I heard about that guy, the former Lee Summit Mayor, no one likes that guy as far as I can tell. Especially when you get down to the neighborhood level. Yes. With the connection to the schools, I think there's a lot of what you're hearing. You're right. And across all demographic levels. People in Eastern Jack who are telling me that they took a Democratic ballot on Tuesday, the Republicans, to vote against Bill. Like, that was happening. And these are people, Democrats, Republicans. I didn't realize how. How much people just didn't care for the guy? I heard some wild stories the last couple of days. But anyway, you surprised by that outcome or no? I'm surprised at Quentin doesn't know Southeast Kansas City. And I... Who? Quentin Lucas? Yeah. Because his endorsement was for Baird. And what I like about Stacey Lake and what I like about South East Kansas City is if you really look and I want to be... Of course, I'm being respectful and just... telling people what I understand about how the voting in Kansas City is it in Southeast Kansas City, it's my majority of the people who come out to the polls are black women. And they have, then they lift each other up. That is where Park Shaw's support will be coming from. They have supported a lot of black women because they.

Vote. You go to any voting district out in southeast Kansas City. It's black women. They lift each other up and they want to, you know, give one of their own a shot. And that, and Quentin has never understood that about this city. And it's very intriguing to me. It seems to be something that you would want to cater to. Wait, what examples, what other examples are there of Quentin not understanding black women? Well, I think one of his opponents, oh, her name is escaping me, but she was the former council. Alicia Canada. Yes. Thank you. I liked her a lot. She was, she was really good. She kind of had a populist approach. And she, I liked, I thought she was great. Yeah. And on paper doesn't make any sense. She's just a prosecutor. And, you know, she might not seem prime time. She was on city council though. Yes, she was. She was on city council. But. For a lot of people, to me, I thought she was going to be a city manager. I thought she might be our first African-American female mayor. I thought that she had a very, very good future. She still might. But that was somebody, I was like, not only Quentin, but freedom did not understand how southeast, people in southeast Kansas City really vote. And it's that granular, hyper-local neighborhood politics that I think that might be missing from this whole election is people. voting because they talk to each other and because they share similar interests, you know, and it's not necessarily social media. I like that there's still neighborhood politics in this town. Yeah, that's a good point. Alicia candidate, as I recall, she finished third in that race behind Jolie Justice and Quentin Lucas. Let me just, yeah, she did. Wow. Steve Miller, Scott Wagner, Scott Taylor, Phil Glenn. Remember those names? Jermaine Reed? That's a throwback right there to 2018. It is. It's a flashback Friday. We're never going to have, at this rate, we'll never have a Northland mayor. I just don't see it happening. But, yeah, Scott Wagner was, I think, our last great hope for maybe getting a mayor that represents the Northland. Yeah. Well, West Rogers is going to make a run at it, and he's already got some big shots lining up behind him. He does, and he seems, you know, he seems very apt to take... to kind of present himself as a universal candidate. I just, I talk to my crumogenely, Clay County people, and they don't really, I don't think he has as much support there as somebody like maybe Scott Wagner did. Ah, interesting. Okay. All right. Well, we're going to take a break with Tony. I want to get to more of what has been a wild news week around this region, town, and state. We'll get to more of it. Tony Beto, Tony's Kansas City.com in studio on KCMO.

From Rewood to Liberty, you're listening to Mondo in the morning on 957 FM, KCMO Talk Radio. Tony Pateo of Tony's Kansas City's in studio with us on a feature Friday here on KCMO Talk Radio. All right, Tony, the two amendments in Missouri went down in flames. The passing of basically ballot issues in Missouri that went down. And then, of course, the elimination or phase-out of the income tax in Missouri also went down in flames. Mayor Lucas was on my show yesterday. He's convinced that this means Missouri's going to trend purple again. Is that just the mayor having wishful thinking for his own political future or is he right? He could be right. And it's a great theory. And I like that Democrats are like, oh, we're pumped up. And it's a solid theory except. when you get down to my Missouri State Representative, who is a lovely guy. And he wears pearls, and he has a pantsuit. And he's beautiful, beautiful, like very, like, permed hair. He once described himself as a non-binary rock star. And so, and he's great back. Everybody loves Steve Witkoff. Steve Witkoff. He has a great band. And there's a great band. He has a great band. And there's a great. He has a great. punk fan and I vote for him because his his partner is like it's you know summer is I saw his partner once and he was passing out door hangers it was like 105 it was this muggy 100 to 5 degree heat so while I may because I try to keep an open mind I don't judge people and so while I think that's impressive um I don't know if that plays in Belton And so what I'm trying to say here to you is that Quentin has a great theory except when we get to candidates. There was an open spot. Mike Kehoe was vulnerable. We saw in this amendment he really didn't do the groundwork and build a coalition to lead amendments for his tax amendment, which was him really going at a limb. It's not like Mike Kehoe is a mastermind, but the Democrats ran a lady who was very, very nice, who ran on rollerblading an abortion. And that just doesn't play in Missouri. Rollerblading an abortion. That's right. What was her name? I'm blanking on who she was. Crystal Quaid, I think. Crystal Quaid, yeah. Rolling blading an abortion. Oh, my gosh. So on paper, Quentin is correct. Yes, the Democrats do, might have an opening and a wedge except when you get down to their candidates. And while I may love nice pearls and pantsuit and a man, I know that my neighbors in Missouri don't feel the same way. You know, this is the problem for the party, right? I mean, they've emasculated themselves to the point where dudes are just not going to vote for them. Right. They're just not, okay, with the guys like Steve Witkoff Thomas, who is not even, I guess, a dude? Is that what you're telling me? I know I was a biological dude, but you're telling me he's not identifying as a dude? I'm saying he has great fashion sense. Okay. All right. Yeah, he's got a little pink photo here in his legislative picture I'm looking at. But whatever. Is it the one with the pearls? Yes. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's quite a picture. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I mean, you're right. These are not, these are not Missourians. They just, Missouri's not going to vote for this nonsense.

Yeah, when you get outside of Kansas City, does it go over on the west side where we have like a pasta place? It always weirds me. I don't know if you have any opinions on this, but like it's like, you know, they'll serve apricot pasta. They figure it out a way to serve pasta without any Italians. It's weird. But so in Kansas City, that will play. 20 minutes out, it will not. Yeah, yeah. And really, honestly. Like this guy with Thomas, he couldn't win mayor. He may win your subset of Northeast Kansas City. Right. Right. But he ain't winning Kansas City even either. No. So they've got a candidate problem. Yeah. Like, honestly, I'd be curious. Well, he went too far left. If Jason Kander came back to the middle, that's the kind of dude that might be able to win back Missouri on some level. Yeah. Yeah. And I hate to, again, I get to talk demographics a little bit with you. And I'm sorry, but. The Missouri Democratic Party needs white dudes. Well, no, no, no. But, yeah, but like, like red-blooded American white dudes, not Steve Witkoff Thomas white dudes. Right, right. I mean, it's not, they don't have a white dude problem. They have. The type of white dude problem. That's what they've got. Yeah. Somebody that Joplin will vote for. Somebody the Belton will vote for. Somebody that people 10 minutes outside of Kansas City will vote for. And like I said, when it comes down to it, their last time out where they had a great shot, they ran on abortion and rollerblading. Yeah. Well, see, here's the thing. This is where I'll disagree with you. I don't think they had a great shot two years ago. Really? I mean, it was a presidential year. Trump's on the ballot. They were not going to win that election in Missouri. But we come back to it. Later, and Mike Kehoe, you tell me, I mean, you have to inform me with this. Is Governor Mike Kehoe lighting the Republicans on fire with his leadership? No, you know, listen, he was going to win, but he won by 20 because of Trump. He rode Trump's coattails. Right. As the whole party has for the last few years. I'm not saying that the Missouri GOP is like amazing at what it does, but, you know, they've ridden these Trump coattails and the MAGA movement. And they've done okay, but they haven't lit the world on fire to your point. But the Missouri Democrats are their own worst enemy. Yes. That's the problem. Yeah. And I think that's what I'm trying to say is that the candidate problem is really when we get down to it is. And the issue problem. I mean, they can't tell you what a dude is. They can't identify a man and a woman. They're caught up in the national culture wars. And that's never going to play in Missouri. Yeah, that's true. And I don't know where. They realize that. I think identifying it maybe as a candidate problem might be the first steps. You have some good people who can change stuff. I challenge anybody to go to a Missouri Democratic Party. I mean, the group think is amazing. Yeah. Can Quentin be the guy that turns around the party statewide? He could. I mean, he does have, he does try to walk the line. But then when you get really. into the weeds. You have people challenging him because he's not progressive enough. So I think, and in Kansas City, that really takes the air out of everybody's sales. You have to pass these purity tests. And, you know, in the GOP, I kind of see a reflection of what you're talking about in, as far as Jackson County, in Jeff City, with these amendments four and five. Is it, did these come out of a groundswell of support or from this insular palace entry group think like, oh,

Our consultants think this is a great idea. This is great. Or is just something Missouri voters like, oh, man, I'd really want an everything tax. Yeah. Man, I can't wait until you work out of these tax schemes. I've been thinking all day about that. That's not something that Missouri voters, like you said, real Missourians really want. I got a minute. What's the story this week that we haven't talked about that's the top of mind for you? Really? I think we'll talk about it more going forward. The Democratic Socialists. I think if you look at this week's review and social media, even with, here's the basics. With Democratic socialism and with candidates like Willett, you cannot win a campaign. As far as we come, you can win it on social media. You can't win it by having great videos and lots of followers and people telling you the same thing. Again, what we see with Dems and the Republicans is you get these little echo chamber. bubbles and people think it's the biggest thing in the world and they don't realize there's a world outside of it. That's why I like my blog because like 90% of the people disagree with me and I think I'm an idiot. And I love it because I don't want to hear people tell me I'm right. Yeah. Tony, great to see you, man. Good to see you, Pete. Thank you. Tony Pateo. Tony'scantaccity.com. Read him there. What does one trip to Israel do? One trip changes people's faith, their identity, their perspective. One trip changes the response when people chant from the river to the sea. One trip changes how people see right and wrong. One trip changes the idea of home. One trip changes everything. And one donation is all it takes. The U.S. Soccer Podcast. These players are battered and exhausted, but you don't hurt like this if you don't care about this team, about this country, about this game. You can feel the intensity, the goals, the energy that, wow, look at us. Here in the U.S., I have got some news for you. There's so much more to come. My name is Megan Klingberg, and we're just getting started. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henkel. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. What does one trip to Israel do? One trip changes people's faith, their identity, their perspective. One trip changes the response when people chant from the river to the sea. One trip changes how people see right and wrong. One trip changes the idea of home. One trip changes everything. And one donation is all it takes.

Mike Drop, hosted by former Navy CEO, Mike Ridland. What is your take? Was it what you expected? Oh, it was the best thing ever. It was something I always wanted to do. If you show me a clear goal, I'm like, okay, I can do that. Master Chief. He's like, you realize there's about 1% chance that you make it through. 1%. That's all I need Master Chief. My platoon went home early, and I just went up to my chief, and I was like, I'm not going home. Turns out I'm staying. That's when we go to war. Yeah. I was like, okay, I could get used to this. Mike Drop, follow and listen on your favorite platform. What does one trip to Israel do? One trip changes people's faith, their identity, their perspective. One trip changes the response when people chant from the river to the sea. One trip changes how people see right and wrong. One trip changes the idea of home. One trip changes everything. And one donation is all it takes.