COOK HAD CHOICE BETWEEN FAIRNESS BUSINESS AS USUAL

Upon her appointment last month, there was warm praise in many quarters, including this very editorial column, for Rebecca Cook's ascension as Missouri's secretary of state. Pride in a local woman who made good was central to the praise offered here. Like many others in this area, we puffed up pretty large as a good citizen and neighbor assumed the vital duties of one of Missouri's six constitutional offices of state government.

Well, the hissing sound you hear is air escaping from the balloon of our new secretary of state. Called upon to preside over what is usually a ceremonial occasion -- the opening moments of the first day of the House of Representatives -- Cook faced a choice. She could conduct a fair and straightforward election for temporary speaker. Or she could knuckle under to business as usual and bend the rules as they have been bent so often in all the years of one-party control in the General Assembly. Stated another way, she could act in a statesmanlike manner, or she could wield raw political power in the service of one-party control.

In a brutal exercise of bad judgment married to raw power, Cook chose the latter course, and she chose wrong. In the election for temporary speaker, Cook confronted a surprise result: The vote went against majority Democrats by a margin of 83-79.

With every member present having voted, that should have been it. But Cook, taking advice from Speaker Griffin and the House majority whip, Larry Thomason, as well as Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson and Treasurer Bob Holden, kept the voting board open for three astonishing hours. During this protracted period, bedlam reigned as Democratic leaders subjected their handful of dissenters to various forms of persuasion. Finally, after adjourning until Thursday morning, the requisite votes were changed and the desired result was achieved. Ultimately, Griffin was re-elected to an unprecedented eighth term as speaker by the thinnest of margins: 82-80.

Cook's defenders will say that she confronted a situation out of control, far from the purely ceremonial occasion she understood herself to be presiding over. This is doubtless true, but she still chose wrong.

And for whom was Cook's choice made? For Speaker Griffin, currently the target of an investigation by the Organized Crime Strike Force of the U.S. Department of Justice. In a reaction that crosses party lines, reasonable observers are overwhelmingly disappointed in Cook's choice.

Consider an analogy. The timer in a basketball game -- charged with objectivity in the conduct of the game -- chooses up sides. With his team trailing but coming on strong, time runs out. But the timer keeps the clock ticking just long enough for his team to gain a come-from-behind triumph.

Some will say this is politics as usual. They are wrong. House Minority Leader Mark Richardson's characterization of Cook's action -- "a gross abuse of power" -- is on the mark.

The secretary of state's principal duties center on conducting fair elections. From the hour of her appointment Rebecca Cook was great at first impressions, and in her first two weeks she gave every appearance of being up to the challenge of this office. As the incredible spectacle wore on Wednesday afternoon, Missourians were given no reason to repose confidence in Cook's vision of what constitutes a fair election.

Cook can recover from this performance. Still, Wednesday afternoon, she lost an opportunity to present herself as an independent outsider doing a professional job for all Missourians.