ELECTION 1992: MISSOURI SENATE; BETTY HEARNES VS. PETER KINDER

You have asked me to talk about myself, the responsibilities of the office I seek, and my plans to deal with priority issues in that office. I am grateful for the opportunity! I am a former teacher, a wife and a mother. My husband is former Governor Warren E. Hearnes. In 1979, I decided to get involved in government myself. I ran for State Representative for the 160th district and was elected for five two-year terms.

Experience

During that time I served on the Agriculture Committee, Elections Committee, Education Committee, Public Health and Safety Committee and Appropriations Committee for Education, and Transportation. I served as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Correctional Institutions and Problems, and Vice-Chairman of Agri-Business Committee.

One thing I am proud of is my work then to get fair funding for Southeast Missouri State University. Serving on Appropriations, I was able to put in many projects for Southeast Missouri State University.

For the last few years, I have been a student again. I took a course at the Judevine School in St. Louis which trains teachers to teach children with communication difficulties. I have been working intently to bring to Missouri "facilitated communication" and auditory training. These are new teaching concepts opening new worlds to children who have been silent all their lives. I am still intensely interested in seeing that all children and adults can read.

Doing what the district wants done

Now I am running for the State Senate for the 27th District, and I am the first woman from this district to do so. (Incidently, there are 34 State Senators. Two of these are women.)

The responsibilities of a State Senator are clear.

They are to do what the people of their district want done - not what I want done, or what a small clique wants done. A second part of this responsibility is to be practical. Making speeches, sponsoring bills, and getting headlines may be sometimes gratifying, but it is a lot more important to know how to get projects funded and implemented. Doing that means understanding the state fiscal system, not just making noise.

It is also important that a Senator be able to work with other Senators and state officials. Successful legislators are those who have earned respect from their peers, have proven their honesty, and have worked hard. I hope I have done those things. No one should ever believe that a trip to Jefferson City is also going to be an ego trip.

Priorities

Your third request was for my plans to deal with priority issues. These are my priorities:

First, support for education. We can talk about jobs in the area, but we will not attract new industry unless we can provide a job force educated in state-of-the-art technology. This doesn't mean just throwing money at schools. It means replacing obsolete programs, eliminating duplications, cutting down on useless paperwork. It means being realistic. It means giving the teacher time to teach. The foundation formula must be re-written so that Southeast Missouri students get the same support as students in Clayton or Ladue.

A second issue which strongly concerns me is the need for health care. There are too many people in this district who have no health insurance and no health care at all. We can change this. Both of these priorities relate to the issues of improving the economy of the district and bringing more jobs to the area.

There are many other issues that concern me. Pre-natal care, welfare reform, farm problems, care for the aged, drug traffic in Southeast Missouri are just a few. But, I don't just want to write about them. I want to do something about them. That is why I'm running.