MISSOURI WATCH: HORSE-AND-BUGGY CONSTITUTION

Although it was not his intent, the recent announcement by Missouri Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson that he was accepting part-time employment provided a much needed wake-up call for many of the state's citizens.

It would not be stretching the truth too much to suggest that many Missourians, upon reading the announcement, may have boldly proclaimed that Wilson's career move was illegal, unconstitutional or even unethical. Such is the lack of knowledge about how the most important governmental entity in our state is constituted and how it operates.

As a reminder to those who may have forgotten, or never knew, the Missouri Constitution was written to permit such part-time employment by the second highest ranking executive officer in Jefferson City. The constitutional duties of the office of lieutenant governor, while specific, are brief, concise and hardly encompassing. His or her first stated duty is to serve as the ex officio president of the Senate, which means he presides over the routine business of the chamber.

His second legal responsibility is to break tie votes in the state Senate, and while the constitution also gives him the power to debate questions when the legislative body meets as a committee of the whole, as a practical matter he has no voice in deciding matters that are properly under the domain of lawmakers.

His second duty, as so stated in the latest (1945) Constitution is to assume the office of governor in the event of the death, resignation or removal of the elected chief executive. Outside of a few designated committee appointments that have no great import on the state and a few self-assumed duties that an incumbent may select, the office has no other requirements.

It isn't hard to deduce from this polity paucity that whoever occupies the office won't really be missed if someday he chooses not to show up for work. As a matter of fact, one could conclude that the most important daily official act of Roger Wilson is to determine that Mel Carnahan is alive and well. It is also logical to conclude that the reason the office doesn't have more official responsibilities is that the framers of Missouri's nearly 54-year-old constitution couldn't think of anything else that needed to be done.

Those who were upset upon learning that Wilson had accepted part-time employment with a private firm probably never knew that those among his predecessors who were lawyers also engaged in their profession while serving in public office. As a matter of fact, some lieutenant governors spent more time in their law offices than in the state Capitol. In fairness to these members of the bar, they weren't missed, nor did the state suffer from their absences.

The unintended consequences of Wilson's moonlighting is that at least a few Missourians must have realized, perhaps for the very first time, that the more than half-century-old constitution of our state is outdated and about as relevant to public service in 1999 as the Constitution of the United Confederacy of America in 1859.

Lt. Governor Wilson's principal contribution at this point is unquestionably the subliminal message that our state operates under ancient rules -- some of them transferred from the very first state document of 1820 -- that are out of date, unnecessarily wasteful and verifiably useless.

Instead of tackling the obviously important function of rewriting one of the longest, outdated constitutions in the nation, Missourians have chosen to revise certain portions of the 1945 model, pretending they didn't notice the many anachronisms it contained and postponing the arduous, lengthy process of writing a modern, relevant document. We have patched the 1945 constitution more times than an old tire, pretending we were keeping pace by inserting new paragraphs for old ones, while assuming the remainder of the document was acceptable.

But there is a multitude of change needed if citizens are going to receive the best possible governance from Jefferson City. Whether the question is the obscene number of counties in the state or the basic funding sources for public education, the present Constitution is, understandably because of its age, silent, regressive or simply outdated.

Missouri has a constitution written a quarter of a century before computers were ever in use; it has a health-delivery system that is almost as ancient as the Hippocratic oath; it lacks the facility of permitting innovative governmental services that could better be performed elsewhere at much lower costs; it has a legislative body that is so large that it often fails because of size; it mandates functions that are no longer needed and which drain the public treasury of sparse capital.

Missourians can amend and amend and amend their basic state document and never correct its inherent liabilities. This goal can only be reached by rewriting an overly long, overly irrelevant, overly restrictive constitution, recognizing that times have changed since World War II, that state government has become the most important agency for delivery of services in a new age, and that earlier misconceptions about what functions should be performed within the state Capitol are no longer valid.

We should end intrusive state restrictions on counties, cities and other ruling entities. Jefferson City has no business meddling in the municipal business of St. Louis or Kansas City, and it has no legal claim on telling towns and villages what ordinances they can enact and which shall be prohibited.

Outdated government is as bad, or worse, than no government, and there are times Missourians have difficulty distinguishing between the two.

~Jack Stapleton of Kennett is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.