BIPARTISAN RELATIONSHIP FINDS ROOM FOR GIVE AND TAKE

Jo Ann Emerson and Ron Gladney disagree on politics, but that hasn't hampered their relationship.

There is an easy give-and-take between Emerson, a Republican congresswoman from the 8th Congressional District of Southeast Missouri, and Gladney, a St. Louis lawyer and staunch Democrat whose clients include labor unions.

Emerson and Gladney agreeably disagree on politics and generally agree on everything else.

They plan to get married on Jan. 15 in a civil ceremony in Cape Girardeau. Fittingly, it will be a bipartisan wedding with state Supreme Court judges Stephen K. Limbaugh and Ronnie White conducting the ceremony.

Limbaugh, who is from Cape Girardeau, is a Republican. White is a Democrat, who was at the center of a political firestorm this fall. Senate Republicans led by Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri voted down White's nomination for federal judge.

Emerson and Gladney say they arranged for White and Limbaugh to perform the ceremony in March, long before White's federal nomination became a political issue.

The couple also plan to be married in a second ceremony in Washington after their honeymoon. That ceremony will be held in the House chapel. The Rev. James Ford, who plans to retire as House chaplain on Jan. 27, will perform the ceremony.

Ford was chaplain at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point years ago when Gladney attended the school.

Emerson and Gladney plan to live in Emerson's Cape Girardeau home in the 1600 block of Themis. But Gladney plans to keep his Clayton condominium and continue to practice law in St. Louis. Emerson will keep her Washington-area residence, but she plans to spend most weekends in Cape Girardeau with her soon-to-be husband. She seldom stays in Washington on weekends even now.

Spending time together isn't easy with their busy schedules and careers. But they keep in touch by telephone. "We talk maybe four or five times a day," says Emerson.

Emerson and Gladney both grew up in political families. She grew up in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Md. Her father, former Boston Braves baseball player Ab Hermann, directed the Republican National Committee during the 1960s.

Gladney grew up in Kansas City, where his father, Sam Gladney, served as treasurer of the Jackson County Democratic Party and headed the Congress of Democratic Clubs in the area.

Emerson was married to Bill Emerson for 21 years. Bill Emerson was the longtime congressman for the 8th Congressional District. When he died of cancer in 1996, she ran for his seat and won.

Bridge leads to romance

Emerson and Gladney first met on May 27, 1998, at a St. Louis-area restaurant to talk about problems with the new Mississippi River bridge being built at Cape Girardeau. The bridge is named for the late Bill Emerson.

Charles Kruse, who heads the Missouri Farm Bureau, helped set up the meeting. Kruse was well acquainted with both Emerson and Gladney. Kruse and Gladney served together in the Missouri National Guard for 23 years.

"I think I was different than he expected," Emerson says of her first meeting with the labor lawyer. Gladney had assumed she would be cold and unapproachable. She wasn't.

Both Gladney and Emerson shared concerns about Flatiron, the bridge contractor. The company wasn't experienced with building bridges over rivers, they say.

Emerson says the state was preparing to fire the firm when the company agreed to pull out of the project.

The two enjoyed each other's company. "The sparks started flying immediately," recalls Emerson.

"She started taking charge," Gladney adds.

Gladney recalls Emerson kept pointing with her finger as she spoke. "When I get passionate, I do that," Emerson says.

Gladney kept grabbing her finger, but she persisted.

Some six weeks later, Gladney called and asked her out. "I was just intrigued to begin with," he says.

They went to Bommarito's restaurant on the Hill, an Italian neighborhood in St. Louis.

"I flew in from Washington," remembers Emerson. After dinner, he drove her to the Bloomsdale exit on Interstate 55 where a member of her staff picked her up and drove her back to Cape Girardeau.

"We had fun," says Emerson of that first date. "We had a lively discussion."

There were few dates at first, largely because Emerson was in the middle of an election campaign.

After the election, she joined Gladney at the Operating Engineers union Christmas party in St. Louis.

"That is a very inexpensive date," jokes Gladney, who extended the invitation three months prior to the party.

Emerson was the only Republican politician at the labor-union party. She attended the party again this year. Emerson says she was welcomed more warmly this time.

Gladney, who was divorced in 1992, proposed to Emerson in February, and she accepted.

Emerson admits she felt a little guilty at first about remarrying. Her late husband was popular in the congressional district.

But any reservations quickly disappeared. Emerson says she has received numerous cards and letters from constituents who welcomed her decision to remarry.

Relationship blossoms

Gladney has accompanied Emerson to some Republican events in the Bootheel. On those occasions, he spends time talking to Emerson's Democratic supporters. They're "Emocrats," he says.

"I don't make him go to too many Republican things," she says. For her part, Emerson says she won't attend any Democratic political functions. As a Republican congresswoman, she doesn't think that would be right.

Gladney has his principles too. "I won't write a check for any Republican except Jo Ann," he says.

He wants to see Emerson re-elected in 2000 and the Democrats take control of at least one of the two houses of Congress.

The couple's relationship blossomed even amid the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.

She voted for impeachment. He was unhappy with the president's sexual affair with a White House intern, but opposed the impeachment effort.

Emerson says she and Gladney have a lot in common.

Both like to cook. Both are devoted to their children. He has four children. She has two daughters and two stepdaughters.

"I think both of us are very family oriented," says Emerson. "We like to spend time at home with family."

She says her fianc is "sincerely sensitive." "He has a big, huge soft heart."

Gladney says Emerson is a "much more private" person than most people realize.

They also love political discussion. Even with politics, they agree on some matters. Both oppose abortion and advocate a strong military.

They even enjoy their political differences.

"It will be fun," says Emerson. "It will never be boring."

THE COUPLE

Ron Gladney

Age: 50

Home: Clayton and Cape Girardeau. He plans to keep his condominium in Clayton and commute as needed from Cape Girardeau after the wedding.

Career: Labor lawyer with the St. Louis law firm of Bartley, Goffstein, Bollato and Lange since 1979, and he has been active in Democratic politics since the 1980s. Served in the Army for five years in the 1970s.

Family: Has three daughters and a son from a previous marriage. Divorced in 1992.

Jo Ann Emerson

Age: 49

Home: Cape Girardeau and suburban Washington.

Career: U.S. representative for the 8th Congressional District of Southeast Missouri since 1996. Worked for the Republican Congressional Committee in the 1970s, as a lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association in the late 1980s; and then as senior vice president of public affairs for the American Insurance Association in the 1990s.

Family: Married to Bill Emerson from 1975-1996. Has two daughters and two stepdaughters.