We all know who’s really calling the shots

This one is too funny to be real, but it is. A harmless joke a fire station groundbreaking:

Kansas City Fire Chief Smokey Dyer looked at Mayor Kay Barnes and several City Council members sporting hard hats and poised with ceremonial shovels. Dyer gave the command to turn dirt, and they did.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and that is give the mayor and the council orders,” Dyer joked.

But Councilwoman Bonnie Sue Cooper was quick with a reply: “We don’t have to follow them,” she quipped.

Bonnie Sue, the thing is, you usually do follow the KCFD’s orders. The firefighters’ union is the most powereful special interest in the city, and the City Council almost always does what they are told to do.