GOVERNOR CAN'T CHANGE WHAT HE TOLD THE JUDGES

Last week one of our editorials, "Using judges for politics," scored Gov. Carnahan for "extraordinarily bad judgment" when he asked Missouri judges to work against Amendment 7, the Hancock II amendment.

Gov. Carnahan called the Southeast Missourian last week to lodge a strenuous personal protest, saying he merely spoke against the amendment and avoided urging judges to take sides. Determined to correct our mistake if in fact one had been made, calls were made to the Associated Press whose reporter was responsible for the story that led to the editorial. What we discovered is that the AP reporter recollected the governor's speech exactly as we characterized it.

The governor was wrong in the original instance, and he is wrong now in attempting to change, retroactively, impressions of what he said to the judges.