GOVERNOR RACE: SCHOEMEHL SAYS VISION CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

(Second in a series)

Whenever Vince Schoemehl talks about why he wants to be governor, he usually relates a narrative of how government made a difference in his life.

He recalls that in 1962 a group of state legislators told the governor they would not approve his budget unless it included more money for higher education, including funds to establish University of Missouri campuses in St. Louis and Kansas City.

The St. Louis mayor subsequently earned a degree at the St. Louis campus.

As the third of 11 children in the, Schoemehl was the son of a house painter and wallpaper hanger and had to work his way through college.

After a year at the University of Missouri-Columbia, he was unable to afford tuition and board and dropped out. He transferred to the St. Louis campus, which enabled him to live at home while working toward his degree.

Working his way through, it took seven years for Schoemehl to finish college. He said his last college loan was paid off the month he became mayor.

Schoemehl, 45, served five years on the St. Louis board of aldermen and is serving his 12th year as mayor of the city.

Working his way through college taught him two things, Schoemehl said.

"First, it taught me if you work at something and believe in it, you can get it done," he said. "The other thing it taught me is that there is an important role for government to play in giving opportunities for people and their children.

"If it wasn't for those guys insisting back in 1962 that there was going to be a University of Missouri at St. Louis and at Kansas City, for kids like me children of working families who couldn't afford to send their kids away from home I don't get elected mayor, and I'm not here now. Maybe I'd be better off somewhere else, but I don't think so."

Schoemehl insists government can make a difference if it "pays attention to what's important. You can make investments in things that change people's lives."

But Schoemehl said that for government to make a difference, the person on top has to be willing to show leadership and uproot the status quo, take chances, and above all always have a clear vision of where he's headed.

It was a feeling that the city's leader lacked vision that prompted Schoemehl then virtually an unknown young alderman to challenge Mayor Jim Conway in his re-election bid of 1981.

Schoemehl announced his candidacy a year before the election, which he said prompted critics to jeer him for starting too soon.

But he said that with name recognition with only about 2.5 percent of voters, he had a long way to go before they would elect him.

"The incumbent had served one term and just didn't have vision for the city," he said. "He didn't know where he wanted to take it. He didn't articulate where he wanted to take the city. Everything was adrift, sort of haphazard.

"My slogan was `For a Proud St. Louis' I started talking about how we had to make the city a place people could be proud of. How we had to invest in the downtown and create a new set of economic opportunities," Schoemehl added.

"I didn't have either of the daily newspaper endorsements and I didn't have any of the business leadership behind me. But I put together a grassroots organization from the ground up and we carried 27 of the 28 wards in the city. I won with 63 percent to 31 percent for the incumbent."

That campaign taught Schoemehl that hard work pays off, he said. The mayor learned that to be elected, you have to get out among the people.

That might explain why Schoemehl has actively campaigned across the state for the past 2 year in his bid for governor spending nights and weekends on the campaign trail.

"The television ads become supportive measures to that network of people that you put out there," he said. "Politics all this electronic media massaging aside politics is still a people business."

Schoemehl first considered a gubernatorial campaign in the 1988 race, but ruled out the quest because of commitments to St. Louis that needed his attention.

But after winning re-election in April 1989, he began laying the groundwork for his present campaign.

As mayor, Schoemehl said his greatest achievements have been managing the city's finances and bolstering the downtown economy.

"The city of St. Louis was about to go bankrupt when I took over, and we operate a very stable government there now," he said. "It's been hard, very tough. I had to shrink the size of the city work force to get an out-of-control budget under control. But we made it work."

Schoemehl said such things as the development of Union Station, St. Louis Centre, the Adams Mark Hotel; and efforts now under way to expand a convention center, build a new football stadium, a light rail system, expand the airport and develop a performing arts district all have helped revive St. Louis' downtown district.

"The 1990s are going to be the most dynamic decade in the history of St. Louis since the 1890s, when we were getting ready for the World's Fair," he said.

Schoemehl said he believes such accomplishments are what set him apart from other candidates for governor.

"They have experience, and I have accomplishments," he said. "It's just the difference between being in basically a support position versus being in a line position. All these things I had to do. It's not theory. It's reality with me.

"Everybody else talks about what they want to do. I think I can talk about what I have done and how I would apply the principles of management and government operations to accomplish those things. I don't think there is any other candidate who can do that."

Asked about the distrust many citizens have for elected officials, Schoemehl blames it on a lack of leadership. "We've been 20 years without a national agenda and 20 years without a state agenda," he said.

"Warren Hearnes is the last governor that knew how to hit an inside curve ball. He had some ideas about what needed to get done and he knew how to go about doing it," said Schoemehl.

"I know not everybody in the world likes Warren Hearnes, but I have a great deal of admiration for him. The guy had some vision for what needed to get done and had some guts."

The mayor is hoping his long and aggressive campaign will enable him to offset the natural distrust many rural residents have toward St. Louisans. Schoemehl said he's confident that he can meet the diverse needs of all citizens.

"There is nothing more diverse than a city," said Schoemehl. "Dealing with diversity is the forte of every American mayor, because that's what you've got to do to make things work."

Schoemehl also is counting on voters of Missouri to look for a governor who's new to Jefferson City, with new ideas and a proven record.

"People of this state want jobs, they want an education system that works and they want a health care system that will work for them," he said.

"It's time to send somebody to Jefferson City willing to fight for something that matters, willing to shake some things up, willing to step on some toes if that's what it takes.

"This rock-along, go-along, get-along government that we've had for the last 12 years has forgotten about our children and grandkids. I'm going to re-connect this government to its people."

The worst part about his chosen career, Schoemehl says, is the time it takes away from enjoying his family. Even without the campaign, days start early and end late. He and his wife Lois have two sons, ages 14 and 12.

"Those poor kids think this is normal," he quipped.

Is the time away worth it all? "Sometimes you wonder, but you have to be committed," he said. "This won't go on forever. You have to strike sort of a more balanced lifestyle when you are not campaigning, but this last 90 days has been really tough."