Who runs Kansas City — the mayor or his wife?

In an interview at the couple's home on Thursday, Squitiro declared she has "never met a more manly man" than her husband, suggested her critics are annoyed by her brash personality, and said the couple's team approach is her way of helping him succeed.

"I am working 70 hours a week for no monetary gain for myself to serve my husband because he has made promises to the people of this city that he's going to keep come hell or high water," she said. "And I'm here to serve him and make sure he keeps his promises."

Wife is a former birthing coach
Known to supporters as "The Funk," the 6-foot-8 Funkhouser is a former city auditor who got elected mayor on his fiscal prowess and his promises to pay more attention to poor neighborhoods and stop pampering developers. Squitiro is a former birthing coach who orchestrated her husband's run for City Hall after the couple fired his campaign managers.

"The idea that once we won the prize, I was going to dump her and say, 'See you, honey, in four years. Go on back home and bake cookies, fold some laundry. I'll be there when I get there,' is absurd," he said.

But Squitiro quickly gained a reputation as a controlling influence on the mayor and a divisive and meddlesome figure at City Hall. Funkhouser's chief of staff, Ed Wolf, resigned earlier this fall, complaining, "It was kind of like having your mother-in-law go along on your honeymoon."

As for the allegations in the lawsuit, the couple's lawyers said that Squitiro routinely gave affectionate nicknames to staffers and that the word "Mammy" came from Squitiro's adding an "e" sound to the word "Ma'am." In a sworn statement, Squitiro acknowledged making sexual references but insisted they were jokes.

The episodes have been part of a bumpy 18 months for Funkhouser.

He was criticized for accepting free use of a hybrid car from a local Honda dealership. He unknowingly appointed a member of the Minutemen, an anti-illegal immigration group, to the city parks board, prompting civil rights organizations to pull their conventions from Kansas City.

And last winter, his wife wrote a holiday letter to friends recounting in detail the mayor's prostate exam. The letter was leaked to the Star and made the rounds on the Internet.

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