HOW LIBERAL IS ALAN WHEAT?

The ever-articulate former President Gerald Ford once remarked of a dear, departed colleague, "Old Joe would be turning over in his grave if he were alive today." I'm moved to the same observation about many of the old moderate/conservative warhorses who led the invincible Missouri Democratic Party to so many victories over so many years.

The Missouri Democratic Party is making history, having chosen for the U.S. Senate a man who can be fairly described as the most liberal candidate ever nominated for statewide office by either major party. Previously, that distinction belonged to former Lt. Gov. Harriet Woods, a two-time senate loser now graduated to a cozy chair on talk shows such as MacNeill-Lehrer, where she dispenses a brand of left-wing feminism more at home along the Potomac than across the wide Missouri.

Roll Call magazine is an independent, Washington D.C.-based publication that proudly calls itself "the magazine of Capitol Hill." A recent issue of the highly respected Roll Call performed the signal public service of rating all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives on a scale in which #1 (California Rep. Maxine Waters) is the most liberal member, and #435 is the most conservative (Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, was something like #371.).

On this informative scale, Rep. Wheat distinguished himself as the 13th most liberal member of the most liberal U.S. Congress of recent years. In the same neighborhood were members such as #7 Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the single avowed socialist Member of Congress. Rep. Wheat, who has represented his Kansas City district since 1982, was 10 members to the left of arch-liberal Rep. Bill Clay, D-St. Louis, the dean of the Missouri delegation. The evidence:

Missourians (including huge majorities of blacks) overwhelmingly back the death penalty. Alan Wheat has consistently opposed it. This year, he voted to abolish it through a quotas-in-sentencing bill called "The Racial Justice Act", which is opposed by 30 state attorneys general, including Missouri's Jay Nixon.

Pay and perks? In office since 1982, Wheat has, according to primary opponent Marsha Murphy, voted 12 times to raise his pay -- an average of once for each year in office. He has opposed every effort to cut funding of free mailings for House members and even opposed efforts to eliminate the operators on the House's automatic elevators. He opposes term limits, grafted onto the state constitution by a 72 percent supermajority of Missourians in 1992.

Gays in the military? Wheat voted "aye" and opposed a more conservative, prevailing amendment by Rep. Ike Skelton, the last remaining Harry Truman Democrat in the Missouri delegation. Desert Storm? Wheat voted against President Bush's request to commit troops.

Gun owners' rights? Wheat is consistently opposed, going so far as to oppose an amendment to a crime bill to express the Sense of Congress that the Constitution guarantees all citizens the right to keep and bear arms. His vote in committee was decisive in preventing the pro-gun amendment from going to the floor.

Social issues? Wheat has some amazing votes on Dial-a-porn, on sex offenders, on militant gay rights. He favors not only abortion on demand, but also taxpayer funding of same, which is opposed by more than 60 percent of Americans.

Alan Wheat is a check bouncer, having bounced 86 checks in the House bank scandal, which ranked him 68th of the 325 House kiters. He voted not to investigate Rep. Dan Rostenkowski in connection with the House Post Office scandals that have led to the latter's indictment. Applying to Congress the same laws that apply to all Americans? Wheat is opposed.

He is a consistent voice for higher taxes, more spending and the ever-larger bureaucracies of the failed liberal welfare state.

Mr. Wheat's unswerving devotion to the left-liberal agenda did not go unrewarded; he early won a coveted seat on the all-powerful House Rules Committee, traffic cop for legislation moving through that chamber. From this spot, he quickly became a skilled Washington insider.

Now, trumpeted by ads that acclaim his "traditional values", he wants to be your United States Senator.

Peter Kinder is associated publisher of the Southeast Missourian. He represents the 27th district in the Missouri Senate.