TALK OF POLITICS CLOUDS PRISON SITE

CHARLESTON -- Politics could stand in the way of a state prison for this job-starved town, some lawmakers suggested.

State Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau said three lawmakers have implied that he could hurt Charleston's chances to land a new state prison if he proceeds to push the Legislature to override Gov. Mel Carnahan's veto of a bill to ban partial-birth abortions.

Kinder is a Republican and Carnahan a Democrat. Charleston is in Kinder's Senate district. Kinder is the chief sponsor of the abortion bill.

The final decision on where to put two new, 1,500-bed men's prisons rests with the governor.

But Kinder said Tuesday he would move to override the veto when the veto session opens a week from today in Jefferson City. He said he doesn't believe Carnahan would reject Charleston as a prison site because of the override efforts.

"I think he is an honorable man of integrity, and I don't believe he would link these two issues," Kinder said.

Carnahan spokesman Chris Sifford said the governor also believes the prison site and vetoed bill "are separate and should be kept separate."

But rumors have circulated in the state capitol, suggesting that the two issues could be linked. "Rumors are wild in the capitol. They always are and they are that much more so in the off season," Kinder said. "I think some of this is probably coming from the folks who want Trenton," he said.

Charleston was the top choice of a joint legislative committee when it met in early July. Nine of the 12 members voted for the site. Licking and Trenton tied for the second spot, with seven votes each.

Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, chairs the committee. He backs putting new prisons in Charleston and Licking. He plans to vote that way when his committee meets next week.

Staples believes the committee only needs to decide on a second prison site, with Charleston remaining the top choice. But he said other members of the committee may want to vote on all three sites again.

Staples said he was among lawmakers who raised the subject of prisons and veto overrides with Kinder, while not directly urging Kinder to take a certain course.

Even so, Staples said he would vote to override the veto if the issue comes up. "I can't speak for the governor and I can't speak for previous governors, but I would say that it would make a governor very, very unhappy when his veto is overridden," said Staples.

He said the governor isn't obligated to follow the committee's recommendations.

But Kinder said he has no reason to believe Carnahan would reject the Charleston prison site over the abortion issue.

He said he talked to Brad Ketcher, the governor's chief of staff just over a week ago. Ketcher asked Kinder if he would accept compromise legislation that would ban partial-birth abortions except in cases involving the health of the mother.

Kinder said he told Ketcher that he wouldn't support that compromise. He said he pointed out that a majority of the state's lawmakers oppose the inclusion of a health exception.

Kinder said Ketcher didn't even raise the issue of the Charleston prison site. If Carnahan had wanted to link the two issues, Ketcher presumably would have mentioned it, Kinder said.

Former state representative Betty Hearnes of Charleston is leading the city's effort to land a prison. Hearnes said she too had heard talk in Jefferson City that Kinder's political battle with Carnahan could hurt Charleston's chances. But she said she doesn't believe the abortion issue will enter into the governor's decision or that of the legislative committee.

Hearnes said Charleston is in heavily Democratic Mississippi County, which has voted for the Democratic candidate for governor in every election since at least 1900.

"I think Charleston is No. 1," she said of the prison sites.

The area has high unemployment, one of the criteria considered in the prison-selection process.

"We've got our land. We've got our package together. We've got a work force to do the job," she said.

The city of 5,085 residents has offered at no cost to the state extensions of water and sewer lines, new electric power connections and an arrangement with a nearby community college for prison employee training.

Still, Hearnes said she wished the rumors of political intrigue hadn't surfaced. "You always worry when anything muddies the water in any way," she said.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.