LETTERS: CONSTITUTION CAN'T BE LIMITED BY STATE STATUTE

To the editor:

State Sen. Peter Kinder believes a governor of Missouri has no authority to appoint a lieutenant governor if that office is vacant. For support, he quoted a statute, which was quite familiar to me, in his Nov. 26 column.

I believe, however, that a governor does have that authority, and I earlier quoted in the Southeast Missourian a section from the Missouri Constitution which supported my view.

The senator did not mention that there is a long line of cases in Missouri that says the General Assembly cannot pass a law which pares down the constitutional authority of a governor. I agree with those cases, and Kinder does not.

In fact, there is a general principle of law which Kinder also failed to mention: The law does not favor the limiting of constitutional grants of power by legislatures passing statutes.

However, I think the senator and I can agree on one thing: No Missouri court has yet ruled on the specific question as to whether a governor has the authority to appoint a lieutenant governor if that office is vacant.

I doubt Kinder and I will be able to settle the issue in the newspaper.

JUDGE BILL HOPKINS

Marble Hill, Mo.