KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The fight to raise the minimum wage was taken to City Hall on Monday. Some clergy members from metro churches and community activists hand-delivered a petition to raise the minimum wage for Kansas City workers.
But the interview turned when FOX 4’s Abby Eden asked about an attorney general lawsuit involving Brandon Miller and Bishop Tony Caldwell for running a scam involving house-flipping.
Dr. Vernon Percy Howard Jr., said he and others were ready to turn in a petition to the city clerk. Dr. Howard said it was a fight for dignity for workers in Kansas City.
“We were required to have 100 signers to City Hall today by 5:00, today. In just two or three days, we have approximately 500 notarized signatures that we are bringing to the city clerk’s office in Kansas City, Missouri,” he said.
But before they did that, FOX 4 had to ask why a group fighting for economic dignity included Bishop Caldwell, who’s being sued by the Missouri Attorney General for allegedly scamming people this group claims to protect.
People like Oderia McCallop, who was interviewed last week by FOX 4. She’s a single mother who said she gave Bishop Caldwell’s company, Tri-State Holdings-32 LLC, money for a renovated house, which she says she didn’t get.
“When I gave up that $500, I felt good because I thought those people were giving me something I never had. Honesty will take you a long way, but that didn`t happen,” McCallop told FOX 4 last week.
But when we asked Bishop Caldwell and Dr. Howard about the lawsuit, they weren’t interested in talking about it.
“That was unethical, and you’ll pay for that,” Dr. Howard said.
In the end, FOX 4 waited for Bishop Caldwell outside City Hall for 15 minutes, as we told him we would, but we didn’t see him again. When he spoke to a FOX 4 reporter last week, Bishop Caldwell said he too was a victim in this situation.
