Mayor: I'm the victim in harassment case

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Mark Funkhouser says he feels like he is the aggrieved party, regarding what he calls untrue discrimination charges leveled at him.

Funkhouser and the city of Kansas City are targets of a suit filed by a black female former city employee, who says Funkhouser's wife, Gloria Squitiro, racially and sexual harassed her, The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday.

In a deposition released Monday, Funkhouser denied any wrongdoing, saying: "I do feel this minute sitting here today as if I were the aggrieved party. I feel like I have had my name … drug through the mud over something that did not occur."

Squitiro, testifying in a separate deposition, said she sometimes used innocent sexual innuendo as humor while in the mayor's office but she insisted she never made any racial or sexual slurs. Squitiro's insurance company has agreed to settle with Bates for $45,000 but the case continues against Funkhouser and the city, the Star said.