SECRETARY OF STATE REBECCA COOK HAS DEEP ROOTS IN CAPE

Gov. Mel Carnahan's choice for secretary of state is Rebecca McDowell Cook, a retired Cape Girardeau lawyer and Jackson native whose family's roots go deep in Cape Girardeau County. It isn't every day a neighbor or friend holds one of the six constitutional statewide offices of government. Cape Girardeau, city and county, has every reason to be proud.

Cook is a graduate of Jackson High School and holds two degrees from the University of Missouri. A mother of two and wife of prominent local lawyer John Cook, she has a demonstrated commitment to public service. Evidence for this comes both from her civic, charitable and professional activities locally, and from her service on the Missouri Board of Education.

Leaders of both parties have previously expressed confidence in Bekki Cook. She was first appointed in 1990 to an unexpired term for a Democratic seat on the state school board by former Gov. John Ashcroft. Last year, Gov. Carnahan reappointed her. Cook's Senate sponsor at the time of that reappointment, Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, expressed confidence in her ability in commending her to his colleagues.

Bekki Cook hails from one of Cape Girardeau County's most loyal Democratic families. The Cooks have long been active in party politics, supporting statewide candidates both with direct donations and by holding fund-raisers in their home. Among the candidates who have benefited from their hospitality are Attorney General Jay Nixon, former Lt. Gov. Harriet Woods, 1992 U.S. Senate nominee Geri Rothman Serot and this year's U.S. Senate nominee Alan Wheat.

The Cook name is also found among Southeast Missouri's most substantial Democratic campaign donors. Campaign finance records on file with the Missouri Ethics Commission in the name of John Cook show donations of $2,000 to Carnahan's 1992 campaign and $8,556.60 to Nixon's.

The main question raised by her intriguing appointment is the pertinent one: Does she have the managerial ability necessary to run an office with more than 100 employees? These are the very qualities the lack of which ultimately brought down her pathetic predecessor, Judi Moriarty, who was impeached. Cook would herself be the first to admit she has never managed anywhere near so large an enterprise. Still, she is far from the first occupant of statewide office to begin without such experience. There is no reason to suppose that, with plans to assemble a strong management team, she cannot admirably discharge her new constitutional duties. How she serves during the remaining two years of Moriarty's term will, no doubt, have an influence on her announced plans to seek election to a full four-year term in 1996.

In the entire history of Missouri government, only four individuals from Cape Girardeau County have held any of the statewide offices. Now a fifth, Bekki Cook, has joined that distinguished company. She has a big job ahead of her in re-establishing confidence in that important office. We join her proud family and her many friends and neighbors in extending warm congratulations, best wishes and Godspeed in her tenure.