COOK WANTS JUDGE POSITION

Cape Girardeau could be home to two sitting Missouri Supreme Court judges if retiring Secretary of State Bekki Cook is named to the state's highest court later this year.

Cook said she will apply for a coming vacancy created by the resignation of Ann Covington.

Cape Girardeau resident Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. has served on the Supreme Court for the past eight years. A Republican, he was appointed by then-Gov. John Ashcroft.

Cook, 50, spent part of Friday -- her last work day in office -- talking to reporters about the possibility she might be picked for the Supreme Court. A Democrat, she coordinated Gov.-elect Bob Holden's transition into office. Holden's inauguration is Monday.

Candidates for the Supreme Court are screened by the state's seven-member judicial commission, made up of the Supreme Court chief justice, three lawyers and three other people. At the end of February, they will present three choices to Holden, who will make the final decision. The application deadline for Covington's position is Feb. 2.

Justices are up for retention by voters in the first general election after their appointment and again every 12 years. They must retire at age 70.

Limbaugh encouraged her

Cook said, although they are of different political parties, Limbaugh long has encouraged her to consider seeking a judgeship on the high court. Reached at his Cape Girardeau home Friday, Limbaugh declined to comment on Cook's decision to apply for the judgeship.

His term will expire on Dec. 31, 2006. Limbaugh is the third Cape Girardeau County resident to serve on the Supreme Court. The late Judge S.P. Dalton served from 1950-1964, and the late Judge James A. Finch Jr. served from 1964-1978.

Cook's former law partner, John Oliver Jr. of Cape Girardeau, said Cook would be a good addition to that list.

"I think it is fantastic," he said. "She is a top-notch lawyer with a razor sharp, analytical mind."

Oliver said Cook regularly won legal battles that pitted her against male lawyers in court. "She spent 12 years down here whipping men day in and day out," said Oliver.

Covington, whose resignation takes effect Jan. 31, was the first and only woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

Cook said the resignation opened the door for her possible appointment, because she believes Holden would want to ensure the high court has at least one woman on it. "I felt this was my shot, my one chance in a lifetime," she said.

She doesn't think it's inappropriate to seek a judicial appointment from the man she helped set up in office. It was done before when Ashcroft, a former governor now nominated as U.S. attorney general, appointed his chief of staff, Chip Robertson, to the Missouri Supreme Court in 1985. Robertson has since left the court.

Cook, who has two children in college, has said she wouldn't accept any position in state government that would keep her in Jefferson City and stands by the statement. She said the Supreme Court position would allow her to live in Cape Girardeau and see more of her husband, John, a Cape Girardeau lawyer.

"It doesn't always require a physical presence in the Supreme Court building in Jefferson City," she said.