KC attorney enters mayoral race

Another Kansas City attorney is looking to unseat Mayor Mark Funkhouser.

Mike Burke is now the second area lawyer to put in a mayoral bid for the February 2011 election, as Sly James of the Sly James Law Firm in Kansas City has been raising money for his campaign all year.

Burke, president and chief executive officer of the 13-attorney Kansas City firm of King Hershey, last week established a campaign committee with the Missouri Ethics Commission and this week divulged intentions to run.

A former City Council member in the 1980s, Burke has remained active in city government.

One of Burke’s clients is the Kansas City Port Authority, of which he used to be a member. He also recently helped rewrite the city’s zoning ordinance as former chairman of the Public Improvement Advisory Committee.

James, who practices plaintiff’s personal injury, medical negligence, nursing home negligence and civil litigation at his three-attorney firm in Kansas City, hasn’t officially announced his candidacy for mayor.

But he formed his “Sly James for Mayor” committee in January and so far has raised $297,658, with $212,336 on hand, according to Ethics Commission records.

James recently was appointed to the boards of the Jackson County Ethics Commission.

He also previously was appointed to the board of the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority by former Mayor Kay Barnes and to the board of directors of the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City.

Read more on this story in Wednesday’s papers.