MISSOURI WATCH: TAXPAYING PUBLIC DESERVES REMEDIES, NOT EXCUSES

"Good riddance," some say.

This remark and others less subtle have greeted the retirement announcements of at least half the members. of the U.S. Senate whose terms will expire next year. Of the 32 "graduating" members of the upper chamber of Congress, fully half plan to give up their jobs and go home.

These retirements mark the largest departure of U.S. senators in the past half-century. It is safe to say that for many of these departing senators, with their broad areas of experience and expertise, their replacements will hardly be up to speed after their first term. Others will never reach the degree of experience which this class has accumulated, some over a quarter of a century.

Several of these departing senators appeared recently on ABC's "Nightline" and discussed the reasons, not only for retirement but for their disenchantment. The former is understandable, given the hectic schedule sometimes forced on public officials past the ages of 60 and 70. Not all public service is glory; much of it is just plain hard work, which affects any human with limited physical stamina. No, those who decide to quit because they find it physically and mentally exhausting are understandably weary and deserve quieter times.

But what about those who are giving up what is arguably the best job in America because of a jaundiced eye toward serving the public? Why would these senators chuck the importance, glamour, publicity and public respect and adoration that goes with a job many of them dreamed of achieving decades before they ever reached it? Why have so many suddenly tired of membership in the most respected "club" in the country?

On "Nightline" some of the senators let their hair down and discussed in frank and sympathetic terms their retirement decisions. Not surprisingly, the always loquacious senior senator from Wyoming, Alan Simpson, was the most fluent and his reasons were the most shocking. The veteran Republican legislator said he was returning home because he was tired of the partisanship, the public's demands, the need to raise huge sums of cash for re-election campaigns and the intense media coverage of congressional activities.

Another veteran lawmaker, Louisiana's Bennett Johnson, confessed he had grown weary of the press setting the agenda for Congress, although many Americans are unaware that this is really the case. Is Congress so responsive to the news media that it adjusts its work agenda to fit the demands of reporters and commentators? The veteran Democrat thinks so, or at least verbalizes so.

The reasons offered by Simpson and Johnson are believable enough, if one accepts them at face value. But one can be forgiven for suspecting that senators such as Bill Bradley, Sam Nunn, Paul Simon and James Exon have suddenly become disenchanted with being members of the minority party in the Senate. Before 1996 they were members of the majority and all four held important committee chairmanships. When the GOP won control of the Senate, their chairs were occupied by Republicans and the media spotlight diminished. Is there a politician alive who willingly runs from the glare of favorable publicity and public acclaim? That isn't the true nature of the political animal, as we know it.

The Simpson-Bennett complaints are interesting from still another perspective. Most of the problems cited by these and other senatorial guests on the Koppel show can be traced not to public demands but to tacit political countenance. For example, if there is too much partisanship present in the Senate chamber, who is the guilty party? Certainly not John Q. Public, who truly deplores partisan strife in matters affecting the national interest.

If senators have to raise exorbitant amounts of cash for campaigns, did the public will this or did out-of-control political ambitions create the problem? Candidates must raise large amounts of cash because candidates want to spend freely to assure their own elections. The electorate doesn't demand candidates spend millions of dollars to win votes.

Elected officials can, and should, prioritize their own agendas, and anyone who lets the news media dictate what is and is not important in any U.S. capitol is simply abdicating his or her responsibilities.

Congress, not the public, has turned a deaf ear to campaign reform, ending special interest power and less partisan bickering. Opinion polls repeatedly show the public favors such reforms by a wide margin. Public servants lose credibility when they claim to be are victims of their own indifference.

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