DRISKILL GREETS CHALLENGE; NEW AGENCY HEAD REFLECTS ON CAREER

JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri Senate is expected on Tuesday to unanimously vote to confirm Gov. Mel Carnahan's nomination of Joe Driskill to head the State Department of Economic Development.

When the Senate acts, a notable career in the Missouri House of Representatives will come to a close for the 37-year old Southeast Missourian. Driskill will move from his fourth floor office in the State Capitol across the street to the Truman Building. There, he will take charge of a department with 1,000 employees and the direct responsibility for improving job opportunities in all parts of the state.

And while Driskill claims he is ready to make a job change and feels well prepared to tackle the responsibilities that await him across the street his move from the legislative branch of state government is not without sadness.

"In some ways, I've kind of grown up here. I've grown up with some people who are very much my elders, and I have a great deal of respect for them," said Driskill, who was first elected in 1982. "What I will miss most about this place are the people; some of the finest people in the world serve here. One of the other things I will also miss is serving with people from every corner of the state.

"I've tried to reflect sometimes in the past that this is an extraordinarily unique opportunity to know the state of Missouri. There is no other way even being governor I think you don't have that view of the state which you have if you really care, serving in the General Assembly. I have served with people from every walk of life: there are plumbers, bankers, lawyers, teachers, wealthy people, poor people truly a cross section of the people of this state."

During his 11 years in the House, Driskill has prided himself on representing the views of his district and focusing on a variety of issues that affect the lives of people he represents. Because his district, which has included parts of Butler and Bollinger counties, and Wayne and Ripley counties, is one of the poorer areas of Missouri, rural economic development has been a focal point of his legislative career.

The interest in bringing jobs to rural Missouri helped Driskill earn the chairmanship of the powerful House Commerce Committee three years ago ... and it helped make him the logical choice to head the economic development department after Carnahan was elected governor last fall.

The new job also offers Driskill a chance to spend more time at home with his young family. He and his wife, Jan, whom he married in the middle of his 1982 campaign, have two children, ages 5 and 3.

When Driskill first walked into the capitol as a 26-year old freshman representative in 1983, he was a bit in awe of the process. State government was not new to him, however. In 1977, as a University of Missouri student, he was an intern for state Sen. John Dennis during his first session in office; he worked as a lobbyist for Common Cause on election reform in 1978; and after working for Carnahan in his successful bid for state treasurer in 1980, he worked on his staff for 15 months until resigning to run for representative.

"I knew how the process worked, I knew the capitol well, I knew legislative procedures and a number of people in the House and Senate," said Driskill. "But I was rather in awe of the process and some of the people who were here."

Former Rep. F.A. "Cap" Findley of Poplar Bluff, is who Driskill regards as his "mentor" in the House.

Other colleagues like Marvin Proffer, Robert Ellis Young, Wayne Goode, Bill Webster and Bob Griffin were intimidating, and Driskill learned from them. "More than now, there were people here who were viewed as statesmen, who were viewed as very, very powerful figures. People you didn't cross ... maybe it is 10-11 years in perspective, but I don't see people in that light now."

Perhaps his view on maturing as a legislator is the reason for that new perspective, but Driskill feels prepared to tackle his new job, and he is committed to bringing new approaches to job growth in Missouri.

"I'm going to be intimidated by the fact the job is staggering and the department has gotten to the point where I'm not sure it does as good a job as it should. There are monumental problems to tackle," observed Driskill. "I'm intimidated because the problems are monumental. I am not intimidated by the job ahead. I am challenged by that.

"I have never supervised 1,000 employees before, I have never shepherded a $100-odd million budget, but I have sure seen a lot of people who have well and poorly."

Driskill, who now has a home near Poplar Bluff, grew up in Ripley County in a political family. His father was county clerk from 1950-66, including the first 11 years of Joe's life. His mother was a secretary for the Farmers Home Administration office in Oregon and Ripley counties for 41 years.

"I can remember in my very young days to have Gov. (Warren) Hearnes sit at the breakfast table in our house and talk about the affairs of state, and various other politicians who would come through Doniphan at that time. In those days, things were a lot more informal, where statewide candidates came to your house and had supper or breakfast with you, and paid their respects," said Driskill.

Hearnes and former Sen. Thomas Eagleton are the most notable politicians Driskill recalls knowing as a boy. "It was quite an environment to grow up in. Being from a small town and getting to meet some of these people ... it was fascinating."

As national committeeman for the Missouri Young Democrats, Driskill can also recall having a long conversation at a convention in St. Louis in 1976 with "this short, shy governor of Georgia named Jimmy Carter. Nobody would pay attention to him early that year."

When Driskill graduated from high school in Doniphan, he enrolled at the University of Missouri-Rolla with plans to become a chemist. Mathematics were a problem for Driskill, however, and so he transferred to Columbia where he majored in political science and later got a master's degree in public administration.

Driskill became president of the University of Missouri Young Democrats Club, and began attending College Democrat meetings around the country, broadening his interest in politics and government.

In early 1979, Carnahan spoke at the law school in Columbia and Driskill met him for the first time. Driskill was impressed with the candidate and the values he represented. He was offered a job, which "paid a small amount of money but had a heck of a lot of hours."

Driskill drove Carnahan around the state during the race and lived in the Carnahan family home in Rolla. Immediately after Carnahan won, Driskill joined his staff as administrative assistant. But a short time later, Driskill got a promotion.

"I became the government securities investment officer, which is a fancy title for someone who did all the short-term investments in the state, which is most of the money we had," explained Driskill, who was 24 at the time. "Sometimes I had more than a half-billion dollars of the state's money in my control every day.

"I never saw a greenback the entire time I was there," Driskill added. "I worked hard, since the treasurer had expressed confidence in me as a very young person and inexperienced. We worked to modernize the office and absolutely maximized the amount of return the state got on its money."

In 1981, Driskill said the state's return on its investments was 20 percent.

In early 1982, with re-districting creating a new legislative seat in his home area, Driskill decided it was time to leave the treasurer's office.

"I really had no desire to run for state representative until I found there would be a new district drawn in an area I knew a lot about," he said.

"I thought I could go out as other idealistic people thought and convince people I had the ability to do well in the office."

Driskill entered the race as a distinct underdog, and readily admits, "in hindsight, it was probably pretty silly for me to have run."

In the Democratic primary he had three opponents. The lone Republican candidate had strong support from the party's state committee.

Coming back home to run, Driskill also was accused of being a carpetbagger. "I committed early in the campaign that I was going to live and work in the district, raise my family there; it was something some people thought I would not do," he recalled.

But with an aggressive campaign that focused on the need for new jobs in the district and meeting the people, Driskill won the primary by a wide margin and then captured the general election with over 60 percent of the vote. He survived minor challenges in 1984 and 1992.

Driskill believes his philosophy as a legislator is the result of his small town roots and what he learned from his father.

"My father always worked very hard to make people of the county happy and do his job well. He tried very, very hard to know all the people in the county, to go to all the meetings and events possible, if it was an election year or non-election year," said Driskill. "What stuck with me is if you want to succeed in political office, you have to be committed to knowing the people you represent, knowing their concerns and accurately reflecting them.

"During the more than 10 years I have been in office, I have put literally tens of thousands of miles on my cars over the course of that time, being in all parts of my district. I pride myself in knowing a good portion of the 30,000-plus people I represent."

While Driskill has been active legislatively during his career, first and foremost, he believes his top priority is constituent services.

"It has been one of the deciding factors, however, in me wanting to do something else. It has become a process of cumulative frustration over the years I suppose," said Driskill. "I absolutely love trying to help my constituents, but after a while, you have heard so many pleas for justice, so many absolutely horrible tales of bad luck, so many situations where state government cannot help and I cannot help, that it has become very difficult for me to want to stay around here and continue to carry that load.

"It is rewarding when you can help, very frustrating when you can't."