Hearne: Anatomy Of A Bad Election

Countdown to a meaningless election, anyone?

On June 20th, uninspiring KC mayor Quinton Lucas will take on – wait for it – mayoral wannabe, Clay Chastain.

That’s how far Kansas City’s political fortunes have fallen.

We have a mayor who accused a black woman opposing him in the primary of racism for daring to criticize one of his political positions. Running against a dude who, way-back-when lived here but has been hiding out in Virginia for decades, while vying for the title of KC’s top gadfly.

How lame is that?

So lame that iconic Westport businessman Bill Nigro didn’t even recall that Chastain had cut his teeth here as the “savior” of Union Station. That was long before Chastain left town with his lawyer wife Valerie, and began to hassle KC mayors like Emanuel Cleaver about his Light Rail plans and running for mayor from a different zip code.

And so lame that, Quinton was so abhorrent to Nigro he wrote in talk show host Pete Mundo for mayor in the last election. This time out though, Nigro says he plans to vote for Quinton. That after Chastain’s suggestion six months back – following a shooting in Westport – that its bars close at midnight.

“I’m just saying that everybody who votes for Clay Chastain is somebody who doesn’t like Quinton Lucas,” Nigro explains. “Last time he got 20 percent of the vote, but now probably everybody in Westport isn’t going to vote for him.”

Once upon a time Chastain was viewed by some artsy types as an idyllic dreamer.

“Ten years ago, while Union Station rotted and the ‘civic leaders’ trying to save the landmark looked lame-ass at best, Chastain seemed like a hero,” wrote Pitch editor C.J. Janovy in 2003. “Relentlessly driving his petitions, he stood outside grocery stores and forced everyday people to care about the city’s gigantic monument to failure.”

Three years earlier, the Pitch’s Patrick Dobson wrote, “in the early 1990s when transportation options for a renovated Union Station began to be discussed. Activist Clay Chastain’s efforts to give the station some of its old life back with rail and bus connections, and even an aerial tramway to the Liberty Memorial, started a fire that only now burns brightly.

“After being rebuffed on Union Station by civic and elected leaders, Chastain began an effort to put light rail and a systematic approach to public transportation before Kansas Citians. Chastain was somewhat prescient, even if business leaders did not like his methods.”

Valerie (Chastain) Teachout

Those were the days…especially if your name is Clay Chastain.

I vaguely recall the Pitch even endorsing one of Chastain’s ad nauseam proposals.

“At one point in time, a lot of people in Kansas City had faith in Clay Chastain,” Nigro says.

No mas…

For years while at the Kansas City Star I bucked the popular view of Chastain as a mindless loser who couldn’t let go of the past or control his behavior, and gave him a soapbox.

Even then, I tried to pin him down as to what it would take for him to stop trying to micromanage Kansas City from afar. He almost – but never quite said – that he would ever step aside.

So again, on June 20th, Chastain gets another opportunity to become KC’s next mayor…

As to what happens next who knows?

Both numbers I had for The Man of Clay were inactive, as were the two Nigro gave me. The cell number I had for Clay belonged to his wife Valerie.

Speaking of which. not sure what may or may not have happened, but I tracked her to a pair of law firms in Virginia, where I learned she now goes by Valerie Teachout – not Valerie Chastain. Left a message, but had not heard back by this deadline.

Could it be that Sir Clay is now a bachelor again?