The Dumb Defense

Also conspicuous is McFadden-Weaver's failure to put a lasting member on the Public Improvements Advisory Committee. Members of the committee compile a list of roads, bridges and community centers that need funding. They're expected to be the voice of their districts in what amounts to a horse-trading game of building projects. Yet McFadden-Weaver appointed two people to the committee who did not reside in the 3rd District. A third appointee sat on the committee for only a brief time. The fourth, Carol Coe, is an experienced politician who has served on the Jackson County Legislature and on the City Council. She is also a renowned hothead.

On November 14, Coe was arrested and charged with trespassing after allegedly causing a disturbance at a veterinary clinic.

Wearing his usual trench coat, KMBC Channel 9 reporter Micheal Mahoney leans into the reception desk on City Hall's 24th floor, where City Council members keep their offices. "I've been bird-dogging her," Mahoney says when other reporters arrive.

It's January 3, and City Hall is abuzz with word that McFadden-Weaver is about to be indicted. Reporters are unsure if the councilwoman, once she emerges from her office, will go to the 26th floor, where one of her committees is scheduled to meet, or the 10th floor, where the ethics commission is gathering.

McFadden-Weaver rounds the corner with a small retinue that includes her attorney and her son. Television cameras begin to record. Microphones point like bayonets.

"I'm on my way to 10," McFadden-Weaver tells reporters before boarding an elevator. "Come on down."

Members of the ethics commission meet privately in a back room when McFadden-Weaver arrives. The councilwoman sits at a table and begins to take questions from the pack of reporters. The indictment, she says, comes as no surprise. She is sure she will be exonerated, and she reiterates her belief that she is the victim of "some type of scam." She smiles frequently. "I've lived in complication before coming into office," she says, suggesting that the indictment is just another obstacle to overcome.

"As they say in my business, 'Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free,'" she says, quoting John 8:32, a passage in which Jesus defends himself against charges that he's lying about being the Son of God.

The Scripture may comfort McFadden-Weaver, but more earthly documents have gotten her in trouble with the U.S. government.

The councilwoman has said that she met Emanuel Kind at a minority contractors event. McFadden-Weaver and Kind talked about work she wanted done on her Benton Boulevard home. Kind said he would complete the renovation if she would buy the Lee's Summit house. Kind then introduced McFadden-Weaver to mortgage broker Ricky Hamilton.

McFadden-Weaver made several questionable decisions in the course of the transaction. For one, she entered into a complicated real-estate deal with an ex-con; Kind had gone to prison in 2002 for writing bad checks and is a defendant in several lawsuits. Information on Kind's legal troubles is available on Missouri Case Net, an online database that is relatively easy to use and can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection.

Kind — who now works as a project manager at Greenleaf Construction, a McFadden-Weaver campaign donor — has pleaded not guilty to the charges. "Mr. Kind is entitled to the presumption of innocence," his attorney, Willie Epps Jr., says. "We look forward to defending Mr. Kind against the government's allegations in this case."

McFadden-Weaver agreed to borrow $400,000 on his behalf. The loan application listed her income as nearly twice what she is actually paid. McFadden-Weaver says she signed the mortgage papers in a rush. In completing the paperwork, she signed four separate documents that indicated she would live in the Lee's Summit house. Two of the four documents served no other purpose than for the homebuyer to make the residency declaration, under penalty of perjury.

Kind failed to make payments, and the bank foreclosed. The property sold for only $255,500 when the bank put it back on the market.

Kind and McFadden-Weaver gave differing accounts to the ethics commission as to why their relationship soured and how the house ended up in foreclosure. Kind said McFadden-Weaver wanted more for the house than he was willing to pay. She said he did not follow the terms of their agreement.

In an effort to prevent the foreclosure, McFadden-Weaver sought pity from the credit company. She wrote a letter to the company last summer describing her misplaced trust. She also stated that she had been involved in two "major" auto accidents. The councilwoman neglected to mention that the more serious of the accidents occurred in September 2004 — a full year prior to the purchase of the Lee's Summit house. McFadden-Weaver was hospitalized following the first collision, but she returned to council meetings less than a month afterward. That Halloween, she performed at a fund-raiser with her brother Lonnie. She sang "When I Fall in Love."

Hot dogs cook on a grill outside a compact office building at 75th Street and Holmes. The food is for volunteers willing to help Alvin Brooks become mayor. Inside the office, a team assembles yard signs for the volunteers to take home.