MURPHY PROMISES EFFICIENCY AS PART OF U.S. SENATE RACE

Marsha Murphy hopes to parlay social progressivism with fiscal conservativism to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. Also needed: "a few million dollars," she concedes.

The county executive of Jackson County brought her campaign for the Democratic Senate nomination to Cape Girardeau Monday, using "career politician" as a derogatory phrase and promising to exact more efficiency from the federal government.

Of the odds-on Republican nominee in the race, Murphy said former Gov. John Ashcroft "did not have a vision for this state."

Murphy's airport press conference was the seventh of eight stops in a campaign swing around the state. From Cape Girardeau, she flew to Joplin.

She was flanked during the Monday visit by her parents, Mary and Jim Gray of Springfield. One area Democratic officeholder turned out for the session, Scott County Presiding Commissioner Durward Dover.

As part of her kick-off tour, Murphy outlined her reasons for running and some of the issues she would emphasize as her campaign develops.

A self-styled reformer, Murphy's campaign speech emphasized the frustration she felt with "the arrogance and abuse of power" she saw in Jackson County, prompting her to run for county executive in 1990.

After her election, Murphy claims she put an end to "corrupt, back-room politics" while trimming fat from the county budget, putting in place a plan for long-term economic growth and stepping on a few toes within the courthouse establishment.

One article supplied by the Murphy campaign team said detractors had dubbed the county executive "Sally Hussein."

On Monday, the Democratic hopeful embraced her station as an outsider. Murphy, 45, says she would limit herself to two terms in the U.S. Senate. "I would go and serve and come back home," she insisted.

Murphy, who attended a weekend seminar in St. Louis presided over by U.S. Attorney Janet Reno, emphasized crime in her remarks, saying the issue caught Washington politicians by surprise in recent months.

The federal government wastes billions of dollars each year in combating crime, the candidate asserted, feeding its own bureaucracy instead of funneling money to state and local law enforcement agencies.

"Fighting violent crime is primarily a state and local responsibility," said Murphy in her campaign statement. "Yet, only a fraction of the federal crime budget goes to state and local law enforcement agencies."

She said that the Jackson County prosecuting attorney handled 6,000 felonies last year. With the same number of lawyers, the U.S. attorney prosecuted 50 felonies. "Something is wrong there," Murphy said.

Also as part of her proposals to fight crime, the candidate decried unfunded federal mandates that drain local budgets of dollars that could be spent on law enforcement; supported vigorous deportation proceedings against illegal aliens convicted of crimes; urged rehabilitation opportunities for non-violent drug offenders as an alternative to jail.

On other issues, Murphy:

-- Endorses welfare reform that would prompt recipients to engage in employment training, education or job placement. She claims a similar Jackson County program has a waiting list of 600.

-- Favors health-care reform that doesn't break the back of small businesses, featuring managed competition that will keep the health-care system rooted in the private sector.

-- Supports a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and a line-item veto for the president.

Other Democrats vying for the August primary nod are U.S. Rep. Alan Wheat, a Kansas Citian like Murphy; state Rep. Steve Carroll of Hannibal; and St. Louis attorney Gerald Ortbals.

Murphy said that once the candidates start getting out their messages out, it won't be hard for voters to tell the Democrats apart. Of Wheat, she said, "There is a major difference in the way we approach economic issues."

Asked about the cost of running a U.S. Senate campaign, in a concentrated primary field and with a seasoned Republican candidate waiting, Murphy initially offered that it would be "expensive." On further reflection, she said it would cost "a few million dollars."

A campaign aide pointed out that Murphy would not repeat the mistakes of 1992 Democratic Senate candidate Geri Rothman-Serot, who seldom strayed away from the state's urban centers. Murphy will have a presence throughout Missouri, the aide insisted.

Murphy grew up in Springfield. After college, she taught high school in Kansas City public schools. In 1975, she entered law school and later assumed a practice of labor law.

She served as a deputy campaign manager in Missouri for the Dick Gephardt for President campaign in 1988. She was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1984, 1988 and 1992.

Murphy is married to Dr. Robert Morantz, a neurosurgeon, and has two stepchildren, ages 22 and 20.