KINDER'S COMMENTARY: MILT SVETANICS: A LOBBYIST AND ONE OF THE FINEST MEN I'VE KNOWN

In popular mythology, lobbyists working the halls of your state and federal capitols are unquestionably "bad." Unless, that is, you're a Realtor and the lobbyist represents Realtors, or you're a hairdresser and he or she represents hairdressers, or unless the lobbyist is from a self-styled, public-interest watchdog group favored by liberal editorial writers. Under these circumstances, lobbyists are "good." Few notions are more commonly shared.

Anyone who holds to this cartoon-character view of the world never met Milton F. Svetanics Jr.

Milt suffered a cardiac arrest on March 10, was revived and lingered in a St. Louis hospital before dying this past week at the age of 61. He was quite simply one of the very finest men I have ever met.

With his Democratic background and my Republican, it might not have been this way. Milt had been a 12-year member of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen from the late 1960s on. Through those years he worked closely with a fellow alderman named Richard Gephardt to form the so-called Young Turks, a group of dedicated reformers in city government. Later in a long career in public service, his friend and former three-term St. Louis Mayor Vince Schoemehl persuaded him to leave his longtime job in the law department at General American Life Insurance Co. to serve him as chief of staff. He held that crucial position from 1989 to 1993.

Schoemehl, a positive but mercurial leader of enormous energy, was known for a style typified by a sign on his office wall that said, "Ready, fire, aim!" In Milt's obituary in Friday's Post-Dispatch, Schoemehl is quoted as saying that Svetanics' low-key approach in dealing with difficult issues "inspired a lot of confidence" among political and business leaders across the metropolitan area. This gets it right, but I know Vince would agree that it just scratches the surface. Any leader of Schoemehl's great inspirational talents, but who is simultaneously given to occasional outbursts of screaming temper, would always need a man of Milt Svetanics' quietly unflappable style.

I didn't know Milt in those years but rather became acquainted with him only upon arriving in the Senate in 1993. Upon meeting him, like everyone else I took an instant liking to the soft-spoken gentleman. Milt would appear in your office with a kindly smile on his face and a case to make. Quietly and efficiently, with total mastery of his subject, he would acquaint you with the issue at hand. Unlike many lobbyists, his appearance in your office was a welcome event. Milt enjoyed a sense of humor and a good joke as much as anyone. When business was done he would suggest getting together at a Cardinal ballgame, a Blues or Rams game. No one was better company.

Milt was one of the guys in Capitol halls who would go out of his way to compliment you if he thought you had done especially well in floor debate, and this whether you had been discussing one of his issues or not. Another touch of class.

Former Mayor Schoemehl says they should name the new terminal at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for Milt. Count me as an "aye".

From his obituary I learned that Milt and his wife of 38 years, JoAnn, had five daughters and a son who had blessed them with 14 grandchildren. I also learned that as a lifelong Catholic layman and St. Louis University alumni, Milt formerly headed the St. Louis Archdiocesan Pro-Life Committee. It figures. Speaking up for the voiceless was consistent with his style.

St. Louis and Missouri have lost one of our finest.

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the president of Rust Communications and is a state senator from Cape Girardeau.