MINDING THE MONEY: INAUGURAL DEBTS AND TOBACCO LAWYERS

The arrival of the May 18 adjournment was met with considerable relief among those of us who spend four and a half months in Jefferson City doing the work of the General Assembly.

The first Republican Senate majority since Harry Truman was president seems to have acquitted itself reasonably well, by most reckoning.

It is said that a Chinese curse holds, "May you live in interesting times." And so it was -- not that any plea for pity is advanced here.

A key fact lending context is that we didn't assume majority status in the usual manner, in a November election followed by 60 days leading up to the January start of the annual session.

Rather, special elections held in late January yielded Republican wins in two of three races and an 18-16 GOP majority. Our senators weren't seated until Feb. 5, by which time the session was a month old. Passage of 202 bills was right at the 15-year average for sessions of the General Assembly, for those who judge by that yardstick. For those who don't, you're left with subjective measures as common as blackberries in July.

One of the strongest performances in a strong House freshman class was turned in by state Rep. Jason Crowell of Cape Girardeau. Not only is he a well-informed and articulate spokesman and a zealous advocate for our interests, but he demonstrated a keen eye for an issue overlooked by most.

It was Jason, and Jason alone who, way back in January began focusing on the need for full disclosure of all the donations and expenses for the governor's inauguration. Southeast Missourian readers saw it first, as Jason was only four months ahead of everyone else in town, with the story of a $417,000 unpaid debt finally exploding on the front pages of the state some two weeks ago.

The tale of a debt some three times larger than we had earlier been told played out as Missourians began to get word that the state didn't have the cash to run the fountains on Capitol grounds.

This was right before The Associated Press reported that Gov. Bob Holden proposed to create three new positions in the governor's office, a Super Cabinet, at $120,000 each, not counting benefits.

The enthusiasm for all this among state employees, who didn't receive a cost-of-living increase in the 2002 budget, is well-contained. Democratic lawmakers haven't been rushing forward to defend it either.

So the governor says he will call us back into a brief special session in September, simultaneously with our annual, two-day veto session. Purpose: To address the issue of prescription drugs for the elderly, one of the issues on which we adjourned without agreement on a final measure.

My idea, at a time of tight state budgeting, was to add a means of helping pay for the drug benefit: To wit, the little matter of the state's accessing the excess fees to be paid to Missouri's outside counsel in the tobacco litigation. Could be a hundred million dollars or more.

"Good idea," said the editorial page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, this past week, in a piece representing a blue-moon convergence of opinion with this writer.

What about it, Governor?

Maybe we could even spare a few hundred thousand for that debt, the retirement of which will doubtless be under way while you're deciding whether to sign or veto bills. Meet me half way, and we'll see what we can do.

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the chairman of Rust Communications and president pro tem of the Missouri Senate.