POLITICAL TENURE: LANDSCAPE IS CHANGING

Recent days brought news of two veteran Southeast Missouri lawmakers' plans. If reports are accurate, 1998 will have them moving in opposite directions.

State Rep. Gene Copeland, D-New Madrid, has long been the dean of all 197 members of the General Assembly, having been first elected in 1960 and every two years since. Copeland's announced retirement will herald the end of an era marked by such tenures, and by the near-legendary, outsized influence of Bootheel politicians in the fortunes of Missouri. Since voters approved term limits in 1992, no careers in the General Assembly will ever again last longer than eight years in either House or Senate.

The genial Copeland, until recently the longtime House Democratic Caucus chairman, is well-liked on both sides of the aisle. In his last race in 1996, charges arose concerning an alleged vote-buying scheme said to be perpetrated by certain Bootheel Democratic operatives. Although Copeland's name was continually mentioned in news accounts, it is important to remember that no responsible party alleged Copeland's direct involvement in the alleged scheme. The matter went before a federal grand jury last year in Cape Girardeau, but to date no charges have been filed.

State Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, has been one of the most colorful members of the Legislature since his election to the House in 1976. In 1982, he challenged an incumbent senator and won easily, as indeed he has ever since. In September, the 62-year-old Shannon County lawmaker announced his retirement, but he has since made it known he is considering reversing that decision and running for re-election one last time. If he does, he will be a heavy favorite. Staples has been adept at larding his 20th senatorial district with state appropriations. Prisons have been built or announced during his tenure at Farmington, Potosi and Bonne Terre.

For better or worse, never again will there be these decades-long tenures wracked up in the General Assembly.