EMERSON BALANCES HOME, WORK

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's 19-year-old daughter, Katharine, doesn't want to follow in her mother's footsteps.

Emerson says her daughter doesn't aspire to be a congresswoman because when she becomes a mother she wants to have more time to spend with her children.

Emerson, 50, discussed the delicate balancing act of being a mother, wife and congresswoman at a luncheon Monday during the "Empowering Women" seminar at Southeast Missouri State University's Dempster Hall. About 150 people attended the luncheon.

First role is mom

"My first role is as a mom," said Emerson, who was first elected to Congress in Southeast Missouri's 8th District in 1996. She succeeded her late husband, Bill Emerson.

"You've got to understand your work is not your life," she told the mostly female crowd.

Some Republicans have encouraged her to run for U.S. Senate in 2002 against the Democratic incumbent, Jean Carnahan, but Emerson said after the luncheon that she likely won't enter the race.

Emerson said she likes being a congresswoman, and "if I ran for the Senate, I would never see my family."

Emerson told the crowd that it was tough for her to balance her duties as a mother and congresswoman after her first husband died of lung cancer and she was elected to Congress.

"I was a single parent," she recalled. In her first years in office, her job as a congresswoman often took her away from her Virginia home on the weekends.

Her balancing act cleared up as her children became older, but juggling work and family life became harder again in January 2000 when she married Democratic labor lawyer Ron Gladney.

Gladney practices law in St. Louis. The couple has a house in Cape Girardeau where they often spend time together on weekends.

Emerson said her public job makes it hard to have privacy. When she goes shopping, people recognize her.

They expect her to be smartly dressed. Emerson said people are surprised when they see her dressed in running shorts, a T-shirt and tennis shoes, and buying garden equipment at Kmart.

Still, the congresswoman has learned to live with the lack of privacy.

"It's a small price to pay for doing something I love doing," she said.