GOVERNOR'S TEMPERAMENT COMES INTO QUESTION

Earlier this month, a St. Louis television camera man filed suit against Gov. Mel Carnahan alleging assault and battery, false imprisonment and defamation. The highly unusual move against a sitting governor arose out an April 12 incident at the Jefferson City airport.

Larry Washington of KTVI in St. Louis filed suit in Jefferson City seeking at least $75,000 plus punitive damages for the alleged assault as well as defamation for remarks Carnahan later made about the incident. Washington claims he suffered a back injury, incurred lost wages and had to pay for medical treatment. On April 12, Washington and reporter Elliott Davis were at the Jefferson City airport preparing a story on the state's airplane fleet. Carnahan unexpectedly arrived for his departure in one of the planes, and Davis attempted to interview him.

The videotape shows that Carnahan at first greeted the news crew. But as the tape shows, Carnahan put his hand over the camera lens and tried to cover Davis' microphone. Sgt. Elbert Marshall of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Carnahan's bodyguard, is accused of pushing Washington away from Carnahan to a wall in a hangar. Carnahan issued an "apology" to Washington and Davis on April 21. Washington's lawyer, John Pleban, rejected the apology, saying it sounded "more like a political speech."

Probably the most troubling aspect of this bizarre incident is that Carnahan's story changed in questionable ways or is in conflict with the known facts. His statement that the news crew shoved the microphone in the car window and "hardly let me get out of the car" is disproven by the videotape. Subsequently, the governor's story changed several times in ways that give rise to his veracity.

Finally, the whole matter gives rise to questions about the governor's temperament. A man who demonstrates such hair-trigger temper, and who is prepared to sic tax-paid bodyguards on reporters doing their jobs in a respectful manner, will have plenty of Missourians wondering about his fitness for the U.S. Senate seat he is seeking this year.