LAWMAKERS EXPECT QUIET VETO SESSION; TWO AREA LEGISLATORS ATTEND LAST VETO SESSION

State lawmakers don't expect to make headlines when they convene Wednesday for the start of the annual legislative veto session.

That's fine with state Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, who said the annual veto sessions were worthwhile even when there isn't any attempt to overrride a governor's veto.

"You have to understand that what we are doing even though we may do nothing is absolutely essential to our form of government," Thomason said Monday from his Capitol office. Veto sessions keep governors honest.

"If we didn't do this, the governor could veto anything he wanted," Thomason said.

The session, mandated by the state Constitution, begins at noon Wednesday and should be completed by midday Thursday.

This veto session should be tame compared to last year's controversial session, Southeast Missouri lawmakers said.

State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said: "It will bear no resemblance to the veto session of last year" when Kinder's efforts to override Gov. Mel Carnahan's veto of a bill to ban partial-birth abortions fell a vote short in the Senate.

This time around, there are no hot-button measures to garner legislative support for an override.

Under the state Constitution, the governor can veto entire bills or use the line-item veto to remove all or part of funding appropriated by lawmakers for specific programs or services.

This year, Carnahan used both kinds of vetoes sparingly, vetoeing only nine regular bills and trimmed little from the state budget.

Of the bills he axed, only the measure to increase legislative pensions was a high-profile issue.

Many lawmakers, including some who had voted for the bill, urged Carnahan to veto it.

Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson, said lawmakers won't seek to resurrect the pension bill in the middle of an election year.

"No one is going to touch that one," he said.

Even though the veto session itself should be quiet, lawmakers still will find plenty to talk about.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers will attend party caucus meetings.

Kinder said political fund raisers in Jefferson City often are held during veto sessions in election years.

Schwab and state Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, said the veto session gives lawmakers a chance to touch base with colleagues they haven't seen since the legislative session ended in May.

"It is kind of nice just to get back and check base with everybody," Schwab said.

Kasten said, "It is good time to get back into our offices and see where we are."

Kasten said lawmakers often informally discuss possible legislation they might want to propose in the next session.

Many lawmakers will have their eyes on the November election. Republicans hope to take control of the Legislature. Democrats hope to maintain their majority-party status.

For two Southeast Missouri lawmakers, Thomason and Rep. Gene Copeland, D-New Madrid, the veto session will be their last.

Copeland, the subject of a federal investigation into vote-buying in Mississippi County in the 1996 election, is leaving office at the end of the year.

The dean of the General Assembly, Copeland has served in the Legislature for 37 years. He was first elected to the House in 1960.

Copeland announced earlier this year he was ready to retire. A former campaign worker for Copeland recently was convicted in connection with the vote-buying scheme. No one else was charged in the case.

Copeland has insisted all along he wasn't a party to any effort to buy votes.

Thomason, who has served 10 years in the House, is quitting at the end of this month to take a state job that pays more than twice what he currently makes.

"This is my swan song," Thomason said of the veto session.

Beginning Oct. 1, the 49-year-old Thomason will take over as executive director of the Highway Reciprocity Commission. He will oversee a division that registers interstate truck drivers and collects motor-fuel taxes from those drivers.

Thomason's new salary will be $67,548. He plans to work in Jefferson City and commute home on weekends.

Thomason said he has enjoyed his role as a legislator.

"The constitutional side of government, the things you do because they are important to do, that is the part I love to death," he said.

But Thomason said the job takes a heavy toll on lawmakers. "In order to get to do this, you have to make yourself subservient to a lot of other things," he said. "You can't let your family come first. if you do, you are going to go back home. The average business person could not possibly serve. You become subservient to the job."