GOV. CARNAHAN IS HURTING RURAL LAW ENFORCEMENT

Once again, the chief law-enforcement officer for Missouri missed a golden opportunity to help Missouri's rural law enforcement. On July 13, Gov. Mel Carnahan vetoed Senate Bill 892, which would have required the state to reimburse county sheriffs for part of the medical expenses incurred while housing state prisoners in county jails. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ed Quick, D-Clay County, was a good bill that was passed with bipartisan support. Although the bill would only have covered medical expenses incurred after a prisoner was found guilty, it was certainly recognized by sheriffs and county commissioners statewide as being a step in the right direction. Of course, the opinion of most sheriffs and commissioners is that full reimbursement should take place.

Here is an example of how it works:

A man is arrested in Cape Girardeau County and charged under Missouri state statutes. He becomes a state prisoner. Let's say the man is found guilty. The state says, OK, Cape Girardeau County, you housed our prisoner for 90 days prior to delivering him to us. Therefore, we are going to pay you $22.50 a day for his board bill, which totals $2,050. We are also going to pay the sheriff $353 in fees and mileage for delivering our prisoner to us. By the way, that $5,700 hospital bill the prisoner incurred while staying with you -- well, that's your problem.

SB 892 would have at least reimbursed county sheriffs for the medical bills incurred by a prisoner after he was convicted. This is still far from being what should be done, and that is total reimbursement for total expenses incurred. It's no different than if my child spends the night at a friend's house and has an appendicitis attack. Would it be right to say to the other child's parents, "Well, since he was staying at your house and you took him to the hospital, you have to pay for his hospital bill." Duh. I don't think so. This is exactly what Missouri has been getting by with for years.

This is not the first time the governor has hurt rural law enforcement. In 1999 he vetoed Senate Bill 335, which contained the Sheriffs Crime Reduction Fund. The veto of this bill caused some rural counties to lay off deputies and caused cutbacks in other counties' anti-methamphetamine initiatives. Again, this was a Democrat-sponsored bill by Sen. Harold Caskey of Butler, Mo. The bill had overwhelming bipartisan support to the point that the Senate voted to override the governor's veto. The attempt to override the veto failed in the House of Representatives, and the bill was dead.

After the veto of SB 335, I was present at a meeting in Hayti, Mo., between the governor's staff and rural Bootheel sheriffs, prosecutors, judges and county commissioners. I was one of three Republicans present in a group of over 40 elected officials. Needless to say, my fellow commonsense conservative Democrats from the old school gave the governor an ear-ringing message as to how badly he had hurt rural law enforcement in the Missouri Bootheel. It is no surprise that both of Missouri's gubernatorial candidates, Bob Holden and Jim Talent, have sent word to Missouri's sheriffs that, if elected, they will sign this bill.

While I'm at it, there is another issue that makes me see red. During the past five years, I have watched Missouri's methamphetamine problem grow to one of the worst in the nation. I have also watched the governor and Legislature give lip service as to what the state is doing to combat meth. Lip service is passing laws to help fight the battle without passing measures to arm the troops. State dollars committed to the fight against meth by this administration are almost nonexistent. Our U.S. senators and representatives are sending the bulk of dollars being used to fight Missouri's meth problem back to Missouri from Washington, D.C. The majority of these funds are in the form of Edward Byrne federal grants.

The governor likes to talk about how his administration has funded meth trailers and build storage bunkers across the state. He likes to talk about how through the state Narcotics Assistance Program he has given assistance to local drug task forces and DARE programs. What he forgets to mention is one minor detail: Almost all of NCAP's funds are federal dollars from the Byrne grant money. Missouri's citizens should be outraged that their local law-enforcement officers have had such meager assistance in state funding to fight the meth problem. Give credit where credit is due. All you have to do is follow the dollar. Look at the state budget for extra funding measures to fight meth, and you too will see it's almost nonexistent.

In closing, let me say that I am a Republican, but I am not blindly loyal to any political party or person. In fact, I helped elect Governor Carnahan in 1992, and I feel he is a decent, God-fearing man. I also feel he has surrounded himself with uninformed staff members. The governor I helped elect continues to hurt Missouri's rural law enforcement with vetoes and bad judgment. If my governor is not asleep at the wheel, he is certainly operating under the influence of bad advice.

John Jordan is the Cape Girardeau County sheriff.