Kansas City under legal fire by Missouri AG for discriminatory business contracts

Kansas City is being sued for discriminating against businesses and business owners based on race and sex.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city over its Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) program. The program awards contracts to businesses owned by women or members of minority groups.

The program requires a certain percentage of all city contracts be awarded to those businesses. Contractor bids from companies not owned by someone who belongs to one of the designated groups must be rejected, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office.

“Kansas City has a city-sponsored racism program to decide who gets public contracts,” Hanaway wrote on X. “Blatant race- and sex-based discrimination will not be tolerated in Missouri.”

The lawsuit states Kansas City’s MWBE program violates U.S. Supreme Court rulings and the 14th Amendment, which prohibits discrimination based on race and sex.

“The City of Kansas City, Missouri, unfortunately disagrees with these rules and blatantly discriminates on the basis of race and sex,” the lawsuit reads. “For three decades, Kansas City has distributed government contracts on the basis of race and sex in the name of ‘affirmative action.'”

The city’s 2026 disparity study – a taxpayer-funded report examining contracting with diverse businesses – found there was not a compelling reason to continue the MWBE program, according to Hanaway, further supporting its elimination.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas responded to the lawsuit on social media.

“I had much hoped that Missouri finally had an Attorney General committed to fighting human trafficking, eliminating elder abuse, and protecting Missouri’s seniors from fraudsters,” Lucas wrote.

“Unfortunately, we still do not … The people of Missouri and Kansas City will lose, as talented young lawyers in her office spend their time on another political stunt rather than the safety of Missourians.”

Multiple commenters on Lucas’ post disagreed with him.

“I have been waiting for and expecting this lawsuit,” one person wrote. “I have never been a fan of promoting one person or business based on gender or ethnicity. But the mayor’s statement tries to ‘wag the dog’ and ‘spin’ the story differently.

“Human trafficking, elder abuse and fraud perpetrated on senior citizens have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this issue!”

“What does MWBE have to do with trafficking, elder abuse and fraud?” another commenter wrote. “Seems like you’re losing focus to me.”

Industrial Salvage and Wrecking Co., a family business owned by Charles Cacioppo Jr., who is white, joined Hanaway in filing the lawsuit. The company said it wants to be able to bid for contracts without race or sex being a factor.

One person commenting on Hanaway’s X post said his family also experienced discrimination in Kansas City.

“Reminds of seeing my stepdad’s heart being broken getting passed over so many times for KCFD Battalion Chief because he was white and they wanted someone with brown skin even though he was put in the Hispanic areas to speak Spanish with victims and whatnot in the 90-00s,” the commenter wrote.

Hanaway is asking the court to end the city’s contracting practices and replace them with a system rooted in constitutional equality.

“Kansas Citians deserve a system based on fairness, merit, and equal treatment, not one that sorts people and spends taxpayer dollars based on race or sex,” she wrote.

(Photo credit: screenshot/X/Catherine Hanaway; screenshot/Facebook/Quinton Lucas)