GRIFFIN THINKING HE MAY STEP DOWN: WHY NOT NOW?

Missouri House Speaker Bob Griffin recently made a rather puzzling announcement. Griffin said he might not run for that position next year. One is tempted to answer: "Yes, and we might not swim the English Channel next year, either."

Griffin has held the powerful top House leadership post since 1981 and is the longest-serving speaker in Missouri history. His tenure has been marked by a shrewd and frequently devious leadership style that has squashed all challengers and won many battles. It is fair to say that this style, and the causes in which it has been enlisted, have served Griffin better than it has served the people of Missouri.

Last year, Griffin spent most of the legislative session carrying water for Gov. Mel Carnahan's planned government takeover of Missouri's health care delivery system. Deploying his usual cunning and arm-twisting tactics, Griffin rammed a lousy bill through the House before it died a well-deserved Senate death. The performance was vintage Griffin and displayed all the skills that have made him such a formidable lawmaking presence for so long.

Also on display last year was a seamier side of the long-running Griffin operation. Griffin earned himself a federal investigation that apparently involves multiple federal agencies looking into influence peddling and illicit dispensing of legislative favors. What triggered these probes was a letter Griffin signed to officials of a gaming company he was representing in his capacity as a private lawyer. An initial problem was that the letter was signed by Speaker Bob Griffin in his official capacity and could be read to be threatening the company if they didn't include a Griffin crony among investors in a local gaming operation.

Griffin's protestations of innocent intent are one thing, but they beg an important question: What was he doing representing such a company in any case? If such representation isn't a clear violation of the letter of 1993 laws passed to regulate gaming, it surely violated that law's spirit. Griffin's bad judgment alone should disqualify him from the hugely powerful post he continues to hold.

And yet, even as published reports indicate the federal probes have expanded to include fancy trips to which lobbyists have treated him, among other matters, Griffin hangs on. Despite defection by a handful of its members, the Democratic caucus re-elected the speaker last month by the margin of a single vote. No one is suggesting it was the finest hour, neither for Griffin nor for the House Democratic caucus.

Those days are far in the past. One wonders: Why does he put his party through this? Griffin should do Missourians, his colleagues and even himself a favor. At least while the federal investigation proceeds, he should step down now.