Who is left to bring the funk?

Kansas City Auditor Mark Funkhouser has submitted his resignation. I won't speculate what his motivation is. I can't blame him if he's just walking away from all the hassle. Mayor Barnes and Councilman Eddy have been vocal critics of Mark. I guess they don't like the results of Mark's audits. I've always been amused by this. Heaven forbid that an auditor would have anything negative to say! Funkhouser has suggested that the council appoint senior audit manager Gary White as his successor. I guess that's the equivalent to the kiss of death as far as Barnes and Eddy are concerned. They have indicated they are "leaning toward a national search for a replacement." Here are my gripes about this. 1. I wish Mark was not leaving. He has been the standard of professionalism at City Hall through years of idiocy and corruption. No one can impune his integrity. 2. It is terrible policy to immediately look outside for a replacement. Especially to verbalize that intent in public. It sends a message loud and clear to city employees. "You have no hope for advancement." "You are not qualified to rise any higher in your career." That is not how I was taught to run a highly motivated organization of professionals. Memo to aspiring city employees. Give up hope. 3. A "national search" will undoubtedly involve hiring consultants, spending lots of money that we don't have, and bringing in two or three candidates to fill out the slate around the person already earmarked for the job. 4. City Auditor is one of the positions that the City Council hires. The current council is considering a speedy replacement search, instead of allowing the incoming council to make that decision. In my opinion they're all too busy running for mayor to pay attention to a serious decision like this. I'll miss Mark Funkhouser and his deadpan way of delivering financial information. I'll miss his infinite patience in trying to explain basic finance concepts to a council that doesn't know an Internal Rate of Return from a tax return. Mostly I'll miss the unquestionable impartiality he brought to the job and his refusal to be politicized. Whoever takes his place will have a hard act to follow.