BITS AND PIECES FROM THE FIRST WEEK OF SENATE CO-SHARING

Notes from a momentous week in Jefferson City, the first time in 54 years that a Republican had taken the oath of office for the top job in the Missouri Senate:

The Quick and the good: My counterpart in the leadership of the Missouri Senate is Sen. Ed Quick of Clay County. The soft-spoken Quick, a longtime union firefighter, is a perfect gentleman known for his amiable demeanor. A pro-choicer on abortion who backs collective bargaining for public employees, he is no special friend of the Second-Amendment rights of gun owners. Despite our differences, we are getting along splendidly amidst the unprecedented challenge of discharging our shared duties.

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A virtue of necessity: There is little reason to expect that much legislation will emerge from this year's Senate meat grinder that isn't the result of bipartisan consensus. All committees will have equal numbers of members from both parties, and all will have a co-chair from each party. No bills will be turned in for floor action without both the Democrat and Republican chairmen signing off. It's a new way of doing business and leaves plenty to be desired, but, with no alternative, we're doing our best to make a virtue of necessity.

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Praise from unlikely source: A little-noticed but noteworthy event of the week was when Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, took the floor for a speech on opening day. The colorful Ozarks Democrat went out of his way to lavish praise on former Sen. John Ashcroft for the classy and gentlemanly way in which Ashcroft conceded his November defeat following the tragic death of Gov. Carnahan. Senators in Washington, take note.

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Wilsonian humor: An unforgettable highlight of the first week was Gov. Roger Wilson's lighthearted speech to a joint session of the House and Senate. He began by saying, "I'm going to have fun this morning. Whether you do or not is up to you." There followed close to 30 minutes of pure Wilsonian cheer and good humor, punctuated but little by the bittersweetness of parting after 24 years in public life for the good Democrat from Boone County. Here's Wilson on "how things haven't changed," after walking into a packed House chamber, shaking hands up the length of the aisle to the rostrum: "Four people asked me for appointments on the way into the room!" Wilson recalled the quip of former Sen. Emory Melton, after Melton had ruthlessly amended another senator's bill for hours on end, and the sponsoring senator asked Melton if he weren't now satisfied, to which Melton the rock-ribbed conservative responded: "Well, bad breath is better than no breath at all."

On the serious side, Wilson took time to propose construction of a new riverfront museum on that side of the Capitol which would give us a magnificent new entrance to the stately building. It would house a Lewis and Clark commemorative exhibit in time for the bicentennial years of that great adventure, 2003-04. In Wilson's proposal, the new structure would also house a memorial to the late Gov. Mel Carnahan. A complicating factor: A looming tight state budget year, or years.

Freshman state Rep. Jason Crowell, as quoted by this newspaper, is right: Roger will be missed.

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the president of Rust Communications and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.