‘Inaccurate and racist’ mailer: ‘Don’t let the radical left take the Chiefs from us’ | Opinion

Karen Burch, a retired teacher who lives in Blue Springs with her husband, a retired police officer, was disgusted by what she called the “inaccurate and racist” mailer she received urging her to vote yes on the stadiums tax on Tuesday.

“Don’t let the radical left take the Chiefs from us,” the mailer said, alongside a picture of some Black protesters with KC Tenants. The tenants union opposes Question 1, which will decide whether to issue a 40-year, 3/8-cent sales tax to help pay for a new Royals stadium in the Crossroads and renovations to the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.

“You say ‘radical left’ and then you’re pointing at a picture of Black people protesting?” Burch said in an interview. “Making this a political, hateful thing is totally uncalled for. It’s just trying to cause trouble. Maybe they think we’re all Republican and white” in Blue Springs, said Burch, who is white. But instead of thinking “I don’t like Blacks so I’ll vote for it, I just thought it was terrible.”

The mailer says it was funded by “fans like you,” which is ridiculous, since all kinds of people are Chiefs and Royals fans. All kinds of people are voting yes and all kinds of people are also voting no. Because this is not a political issue. Trying to make it that is way off-base, and racializing this vote is not only low but shows both fear and weakness.

The mailer also says it was paid for by a group called Cornerstone 1791, the nonprofit that owns Liberty Alliance USA, “formed in order to grow the conservative movement in Missouri now and for decades to come.”

KC Tenants issued this statement in response to the mailer: “The campaign’s desperate mailer is not just wrong, it’s racist. The mailer uses photos of KC Tenants members and has ‘angry Black woman’ tropes all over it. … The ‘Yes’ campaign is built on a threat — if we don’t give billionaires $2 billion, they’ll take the teams away. This is just the latest in their campaign of extortion. The people in our Jackson County aren’t falling for it.”

Axiom Strategies, the firm owned by conservative consultant Jeff Roe, is managing the “vote yes” campaign for the Royals and Chiefs. Axiom’s Sam Cooper, who is in charge of that campaign, was national political director for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign and regional political director for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, which Roe managed.

Sometimes, threats do work, but every time we see one of the many ads urging voters to “keep the Chiefs in Kansas City,” it only deepens our commitment to a no vote. Because “do as we say or we’ll literally take our ball and go elsewhere” is so disrespectful of this city and its many faithful fans.

In fact, Burch and her husband already voted absentee, and both voted no, she said. “I’m a big supporter of sports, but they haven’t been up and up. They haven’t given us all the facts, and I don’t personally think they need to displace all those businesses and a church” in the Crossroads, where Royals owner John Sherman wants to build a new stadium. “It’s a billionaire’s vanity project, and I’m tired of being intimidated” with threats that the teams will move if we don’t chip in for whatever they want to do.

Kevin Bartimus, a lifelong Royals fan who at 57 remembers attending games with his dad and sister when general admission at The K was just $1.50, really wants to save the ballpark that means so much to him.

He’s still not sure how he’s going to vote, but he, too, is sure that the mailer he received claiming that the “radical left” was behind the no vote was “phony as hell.”

“It hurts” to think of his team playing anywhere else, he said. In the Crossroads, “there’s no parking and major business will be lost. I’ll still be a Royals fan, but will I go to games downtown? No.”

He posted the “radical left” flyer to members of the Facebook group Save Kauffman (Royals) Stadium at Truman Sports Complex, along with the notation, “Seriously??? Now this is how they are playing?”

Another mailer Bartimus received on the same day, he said, blamed conservatives for trying to take the team away. He tossed that one, he said, so can’t say exactly who was behind it, but “both of them said, ‘Vote yes.’ It’s just crazy.”

Sometimes, crazy works, too. We hope this is not one of those times.