LETTERS: CHEAP, PARTISAN SHOTS

To the editor:

The election is barely over, and here you go again, taking cheap, partisan shots at Secretary of State Bekki Cook. We have ignored your cheap shots in the past in the hopes once the election was over they would end. But the Nov. 27 editorial ("Secretary of state's office still muddled") makes it obvious cheap shots are going to continue, so maybe it is time to set the record straight on a few points.

You talk about the "bumbled state law" that kept Jo Ann Emerson from filing as a Republican. (Actually, your facts are wrong, because Emerson was able to file in the special election as a Republican, but not in the general election.) Bekki's interpretation was that because of the timing of Bill Emerson's death, filing did not re-open. To Bekki and her legal staff, the law was clear: Filing could not re-open. Some disagreed with that interpretation. Republican Party officials complained and brought in big-name lawyers to consider a court challenge to her decision. But no lawsuit was ever filed. Rather than seek a legal resolution of the issue, which would have been the appropriate recourse, they chose to take no action and continue to demagogue on the issue.

You also make an assumption that had filing re-opened, no other Republicans would have filed for the seat. An open filing period would likely have drawn a large field of candidates in both parties. There was wide speculation about potential candidates, including in articles run by the Missourian.

A reference is also made to the initiative petition that the secretary of state "had failed to thoroughly review." Once again, you are drawing conclusions without taking the time to research the facts -- and the law. Signatures collected from initiative petitions are sent to local election officials to verify and sent back to the secretary of state's office to be compiled. By our statutory deadline for determining whether sufficient signatures had been gathered, two petitions related to term limits did not have enough signatures and were not certified for the ballot.

However, state law provides a 10-day period for supporters and opponents of initiative petitions to challenge the review of signatures. Organizers of the petition effort sent a team of people out to county courthouses in one congressional district and found signatures that had not been verified by local election officials that should have been. Because the law gives them the right to have such a review, we assisted in this process. A court agreed that signatures that should have been counted by clerks were not, and one term-limits petition was put on the ballot by a judge.

Your editorial also criticized the time it took to certify Jo Ann Emerson's special-election victory and suggests the matter had not been given "proper attention" by this office. Another cheap shot. Staff in the secretary of state's office communicated regularly with the chief clerk of the U.S. House and Mrs. Emerson's chief of staff, Lloyd Smith, about the status of the certification process. It was completed as quickly as possible in accordance with state law. You also refer to "Cook's extended absence from Jefferson City" as though it was inappropriate. Had you bothered to check the facts, you would have learned that she was attending a three-day conference on information technology. She has developed an information strategy plan for the entire secretary of state's office and wanted to increase her understanding of technology to make sure the plan is implemented properly and state resources utilized effectively.

Your news staff usually finds the time to call to get the facts about stories related to the secretary of state's office. I don't understand why the editorial page writers don't either. It isn't like you don't know me. I worked for your organization 20 years.

But, I guess it is easier to take partisan cheap shots when you selectively seek out the facts.

Ironically, the issues you cited in the editorial were raised repeatedly during the campaign. And, in case you haven't noticed, Bekki Cook won. The citizens of Missouri decided they like the job Bekki was doing and her vision for the future of the secretary of state's office. You are just going to have to learn to live with it -- at least for four years.

No statewide official or its staff is any more accessible to the media than are Bekki and the staff of the secretary of state's office. If you ever want our side of an issue, do not hesitate to call.

Your news judgment and editorial policies are none of my business. But it would be nice, now that the campaign is over, if you would lay off the cheap, partisan stuff -- at least for a while. Perhaps you might show a little hometown pride. Bekki Cook is, after all, the first Cape Girardeau County native in 100 years elected to statewide office. Apparently, that doesn't mean much to you.

JIM GREBING, Communications Director

Secretary of State's Office

Jefferson City