KINDER'S COMMENTARY: WILD HORSES, GRIFFIN, KENTUCKY

"Wild and free, let them be," said Rep. Bill Emerson as the House of Representatives passed his bill to guarantee that a herd of wild Ozark horses will remain that way. Emerson's long campaign to pass this bill, which has made him a hero throughout his southern Missouri territory, is finally crowned with success in the House. The bill heads off action long planned by the Interior Department, which has been trying to boot the horses off the land since 1990. Now it's on to the Senate.

Way to go and well done, Bill.

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Yesterday's news about Missouri House Speaker Bob Griffin, D-Cameron, was yet another blow, among so many, to the credibility of Attorney General Jay Nixon. Three county prosecutors -- all of them Democrats, like Nixon and Griffin -- signed a joint report saying that the speaker broke no criminal laws in his work on behalf of clients interested in riverboat gambling. The prosecutors are Richard Callahan of Cole County, Robert McCulloch of St. Louis County and Claire McCaskill of Jackson County.

Back in February, Nixon had issued a press release claiming he had evidence of numerous criminal violations by Griffin. The prosecutors admonished the attorney general -- who had come to each of them begging to be given status as a special prosecutor to pursue Griffin -- for making his allegations public. They further said that criminal charges can't be brought "when only supported by rumor and speculation." While Griffin may have been guilty of poor judgment, the three said, "Nevertheless, criminal prosecution must be based on something more solid than poor judgment" and that they found "nothing that would support a criminal charge for misuse of his office."

Tuesday's report by the prosecutors followed by several months another reversal for the attorney general. Nixon had also pursued members of the Kansas City law firm with which Griffin had formerly been affiliated. Then Nixon got to court on these misdemeanor charges, only to be laughed out of it by an associate circuit judge.

I have said it before, and I'll say it here again: At some point, the recent trend toward criminalizing politics by publicity hounds must be brought to a halt. It is to be hoped that the prosecutors' report rebuking Jay Nixon will be a way station on the road back to fairness and sanity in this area of enforcing the criminal law, where prosecutors wield such enormous power over the lives and reputations of others.

The actions by these county prosecutors don't affect the long-running federal investigation into Griffin's affairs. Speculation is increasing, however, that the grand jury inquiry will at length end with no action taken against the long-time House speaker.

Speaking of the feds, they should either bring an indictment or fold up their shop. The Griffin inquiry has dragged on long enough.

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Republicans in Kentucky were disappointed Tuesday in their efforts to convince voters to commit an unnatural act: to put a Republican in the governor's mansion.

Earning the highest vote for a Republican nominee in 28 years, Republican Larry Forgy narrowly lost (51 percent-49 percent) his bid to become the first GOP governor of Kentucky since 1967. Forgy's contest had become a closely watched race that he had said would be a "referendum on school reform" in that state, whose 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act was a model for Missouri and other states.

Proponents of Kentucky-style outcome based education will doubtless claim a victory for their plan's being endorsed by voters. The High Priest and Priestesses of Big Education might consider two vital cautionary notes. First, the Democratic winner, Paul Patton, didn't defend KERA in its current form. Responding to sharp Forgy attacks, Patton cautiously moved to pledging that if elected, he would "Fix KERA." It remains to be seen what that means.

Second, Forgy's bold campaign against KERA did produce that large Republican vote, saying essentially that half the electorate is deeply suspicious of what the education establishment is ramming down our throats. The officials of Big Education in Kentucky, Missouri and other states should be chastened into reconsidering whether they have the vital grassroots support for what they're doing to our schools.

~Peter Kinder is the associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.