09-01-2009/Update: 09-04-2009 EX-COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR STABS FUNKHOUSERS As the old saying goes, "He has all the attributes of a dog---except loyalty." That might be an apt description of Joe Miller, former communications director under KCMO Mayor Mark Funkhouser, who seems to have started a cottage industry attacking the Mayor and his wife repeatedly in the news media. He was in the post about 18 months. Miller's latest hatchet job was in the on-line magazine Salon.com (9/1) where he once again dishes dirt on the Funkhousers in an article titled "The Oddest Couple in Politics." Just about everything in the article is a re-hash of information Miller has revealed in previous media interviews, except a new story of how the Funkhousers were possibly preparing to get a divorce so they could work together: "I can only imagine what would have happened if Mark and Gloria had carried out the plan they had at the time of my departure: They were going to -- I kid you not -- get a divorce so that they could circumvent the clause banning spouses from volunteering to work for spouses at City Hall and allow her to return to her desk outside his office." Mayor Funkhouser appeared as a guest on Kansas City Star columnist Steve Kraske's "Up to Date" radio show on KCUR (9/3) and said he was not going to respond to "the prattlings of a former employee. "I don't have anything to say about anything he has written...I'm just not going to comment." It should be noted that Miller's continued attacks on the Mayor and his wife are a direct violation of ethical guidelines established by the Public Relations Society of America: Core Principle: Client trust requires appropriate protection of confidential and private information **Safeguard the confidences and privacy rights of present, former, and prospective clients and employees. ** Protect privileged, confidential, or insider information gained from a client or organization.
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