BILL PLANS LAST CALL IN CAPITOL; FOSTER WANTS ALCOHOL BANNED IN STATE CAPITOL

State Rep. Bill Foster wants to ban booze at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City.

The Poplar Bluff Republican introduced a bill this session that would ban alcoholic beverages in the Capitol or on its grounds.

The bill, co-sponsored by nine House colleagues, received a hearing in February before the House Miscellaneous Bills Committee. But the bill hasn't made it out of committee and won't this session, lawmakers say.

Foster isn't discouraged. He said he will introduce the bill next year.

He and supporters like Glenn Koenen, who chairs the Missouri Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, see it as a brewing issue that won't go away.

Koenen said alcoholic beverages have no place at the Capitol.

"It should be a shrine to government, not a beer hall," said Koenen, who directs a food pantry and emergency help organization in the St. Louis suburb of Valley Park.

Alcohol is allowed on the upper floors of the Capitol where state lawmakers and other elected officeholders have their offices. Some lawmakers regularly stock their office refrigerators with alcoholic beverages or soft drinks provided by lobbyists. Others spend their own money on beverages.

State Rep. Patrick Naeger, R-Perryville, doesn't see anything wrong with lawmakers having a few beers when they are working late at the Capitol. Lawmakers sometimes spend 12 to 16 hours a day at the Capitol when the Legislature is in session.

"I enjoy a beer every now and then if I am working late in my office," he said.

Lawmakers, he said, should drink responsibly.

State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, usually has beer or wine in his Senate office refrigerator. Kinder said he typically buys the beer or wine, although he has taken beverages from lobbyists on occasion.

"I have had different lobbyists bring me a case of beer from time to time. I don't see anything wrong with it either," he said.

Kinder said he has offered drinks to visiting constituents in his office after 5 p.m. Kinder said he sees little abuse of alcoholic beverages at the Capitol.

He doesn't see a need to ban such beverages.

Kinder said there is less of a party atmosphere in legislative chambers than was the case a decade ago. "There were senators who used to drink a fifth a day," he said.

Foster doesn't drink alcoholic beverages. "I have never tasted a drop of beer in my life," he said.

But he said he isn't trying to regulate people's private lives. Lawmakers would still be free to drink at the numerous receptions held by lobbyists at hotels near the Capitol.

Foster said he doesn't have a problem with such drinking as long as it doesn't occur at the Capitol.

"I just think it sends a wrong message to bring it in here when we insist that other state workers can't do that," he said.

Alcohol isn't allowed in other state buildings, Foster said.

Lawmakers can be found drinking in the Capitol, particularly in the evenings, he said.

"When we have night sessions, it is very common that they actually drink out on the floor," said Foster.

Koenen said a former Senate intern told a St. Louis radio station that one of her jobs was to bring a glass of scotch and water to a senator each day at 4 p.m., even if the lawmaker was involved in floor debate.

Koenen and other supporters of House Bill 467 said schoolchildren who tour the Capitol have seen dollies loaded with beer and liquor wheeled down the aisles. Koenen said the children have been pulled off Capitol elevators or made to wait while dollies loaded with alcoholic beverages were given priority.

Koenen said most businesses don't allow employees to drink on the job. Legislators, he said, should be no exception.

Koenen said he and other supporters in a grass-roots coalition have distributed over 3,000 fliers around the state in support of Foster's bill.

"Almost everybody I have talked to is absolutely shocked that lawmakers can drink at work and lobbyists can give them free alcohol," he said.

"In a state where we have laws against drunk driving and drunk boating, maybe we should have a law against drunk legislating," said Koenen.

Some lawmakers have a drinking problem, he said. Koenen said some go to evening committee hearings after drinking too much.

"Time and time again I have seen people on both sides of the aisle who have had more than a social drink at dinner," he said.

Alcoholic beverages are delivered weekly to some lawmakers' offices, Koenen said. "Alcohol-industry lobbyists are the worst, but other industry lobbyists have been known to drop off a bottle or a case," he said.