Limbaugh to administer oath to Blunt and Kinder

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Supreme Court Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. will swear in the state's new governor and lieutenant governor next month.

Governor-elect Matt Blunt and lieutenant governor-elect Peter Kinder, both Republicans, asked Limbaugh to perform the key duty during the Jan. 10 inauguration ceremony.

"I am honored to be asked by both of them," Limbaugh said. "I've known Peter all my life, and I've known Matt Blunt for most of the time I've known his father, which has been a long time as well."

Limbaugh and Kinder are both lifelong Cape Girardeau residents. Blunt's father, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, was Missouri secretary of state when Limbaugh joined the Supreme Court in 1992.

Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson said Limbaugh was an easy choice for the job.

"Judge Limbaugh comes from a very respected and distinguished legal family in Missouri," Jackson said. "He and the governor-elect have enjoyed a friendship that has strengthened over the last four years."

Limbaugh's services in administering the oath of office to top-ranking state leaders are in high demand this year. He will also swear in state Rep. Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, as House speaker following Jetton's expected election to that post on Jan. 5.

Whereas American presidents by tradition are sworn in by the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, it isn't uncommon for someone other than the leader of the state high court to preside over the inauguration of Missouri governors. In 2001, Gov. Bob Holden took the oath from his brother, Greene County Circuit Court Judge Calvin Holden.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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