MISSOURI WATCH: HORSE RACES AND LEGISLATURES

Never bet on horse races or legislatures, but if you have to make a choice, bet on the horses.

Helped along by a sea of newsprint, broadcasts and video tape, this year's session of the Missouri General Assembly came to its regular constitutional end -- and what a blessing it was. Lawmakers are often at their worst, or if you prefer, their best, when the final bell is about to sound and they are at the point of physical and mental collapse.

Although this session has been called unique because of the special session call, there really has been nothing extraordinary about the January-to-May journey of the 197 men and women who make up this year's first annual session of the biennial General Assembly. By nothing extraordinary, I mean the session has had its ups and downs, its good and bad moments, its periods of statesmanship and times of partisanship.

The session has seen the enactment of good legislation, some not so good and some just plain stinky.

It has had its moment of public concern and minutes of selfishness. It has, in a word, created a different climate for nearly 5.5 million citizens to enter, and it has also created a climate not much different than existed when members convened in the Capitol back in January.

Lord knows, this session has had its critics, but again, there is nothing extraordinary about this. Legislatures attract critics like watermelon rinds attract flies in August. It is the nature of representative bodies, for they are largely composed of men and women who- hold dreams of making the state better while creating a favorable image for their actions.

In any group of 197 persons, there are bound to be the intelligent, the less than intelligent and, all things being equal, a few mental lightweights. Unless you are a lifetime member of Mensa, you will encounter such a mixture within almost any group you can name, a service club, your office, your church members, and yes, even your annual family reunion picnic.

It is one thing to offer critical observations of an elected body that must make critical decisions under sometimes critical conditions. It is something else to conclude that a particular session of the General Assembly is inherently superior or inferior to others.

Most legislatures share the same reputation: they are seldom better and almost never worse than the last one.

And there's a reason for this.

The reason, after watching Missouri assemblies for more than half a century, is really rather simple: every session exists in a time frame different from every other. The conditions that impacted on this year's session didn't exist last year and there's a good chance that this year's environment will not exist next year. Like everyone else, elected officials on the third floor of the Capitol react to events which are occurring now, which means they focus on problems that most need solving and obstacles that appear closest -- at the moment.

And anyone who has lived for any time at all fully recognizes the transient nature of all matters politic. A few examples will make the point:

-- During Gov. Mel Carnahan's first year in office (1993) the principal need advanced by most persons in public life was finding ways in which badly underfunded schools could receive greater assistance. Readers may recall that in that year, Missouri seemed forever destined to pay millions of dollars over and above the School Foundation Formula to meet the extensive costs of federal desegregation orders. This was money that had previously been kept off the regular budget rolls for a number of reasons, so the challenge faced by the assembly then was finding additional millions to end a very real shortchanging of the vast majority of school districts in the state.

-- In 1993 crime was becoming one of Missouri's growth industries and lawmakers, responding once again to public needs of the moment, began creating longer and more severe sentencing of convicted felons. It was the "lock-em-up/throw-away-the-key" era and John Q. Public relished its inauguration.

-- In 1993 the Republican Revolution in Washington was still a glint in Newt Gingrich's eye, so the Great Society was still on track, angering taxpayers with increasing intensity.

Four years later, when this year's General Assembly came to town, these conditions had changed, and while adjustments had been made in preceding sessions, it was obvious the state needed to begin not in the environment of 1993 but the one in 1997. Neither the games nor the players were the same.

And that environment was most assuredly different. A glimpse of the end of federal court orders could be noticed, requiring major budgetary adjustments and more equitable distribution formulas. The convicted felons Missouri began locking up after the 1993 session were increasing faster than anyone had imagined, creating yet another criminal justice emergency. The GOP "contract with America" had already been signed, sealed and delivered, and its provisions called for hundreds of adjustments, few of which Jefferson City even knew about, much less had planned for.

Undeniably this session has had its bad moments and its less-than-perfect minutes, but its members have attempted to deal with today's environment in the best possible manner. No one denies the session has not always succeeded, but no fair minded Missourian would disclaim all of its work nor honestly denigrate the intentions of the vast majority of its members.

When all is said and done isn't this really all those of us who aren't required to make the hard public policy decisions have a right to expect? If you want something better, the best advice I can offer after half a century of watching legislatures is if don't like the results, go out to the track and get in the race yourself.

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