Kansas City, Mo. ? Mayor Kay Barnes is boycotting an annual prayer breakfast for area leaders, citing remarks construction magnate Bill Dunn Sr. made in last year’s keynote speech.

This year, retired Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is giving the keynote speech Wednesday at the Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast in Kansas City, an event for all mayors and administrators in the Kansas City area.

In 2005, Barnes was displeased by Dunn’s speech, in which he lamented “a sharp downward trend” in the nation’s values and denounced illegitimate births, same-sex marriage, activist judges and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Barnes sent a letter to representatives of the nonprofit Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast Committee objecting to the speech. She asked the committee to change its bylaws so the principal speaker could be an elected official. She also offered to give this year’s speech – an offer the committee rejected, prompting Barnes to say she wouldn’t attend the event.

A spokeswoman for the mayor, Lara Schopp, said Barnes’ “biggest concern was that people think it’s her event. She was taking a lot of heat personally for an event we had nothing to do with.”

Event organizers point out that the event, though in Kansas City, is about more than one mayor. Debra Shultz, president of the Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast Committee, said 26 mayors and about 950 people have signed up to attend this year’s breakfast.

“We’re moving forward,” Shultz said.