UP TO LEGISLATORS TO STOP GOVERNMENT-BY-EDICT

Where to begin in discussing the decision by Gov. Bob Holden to enact collective bargaining for public employees by executive order?

* That the timing raised eyebrows, coming late on a Friday afternoon in the lazy part of summer right before a holiday weekend, followed by a statement issued by the governor who wouldn't make himself available to answer reporters' questions.

* That the manner of enactment -- by executive order -- is the wrong way for the state to decide issues of such great moment.

Collective bargaining bills have been introduced annually for at least 30 years in the General Assembly. None has ever gotten very close to passage. In fact, none has ever passed either the House or Senate.

In recent years, despite an enormous push by Gov. Mel Carnahan, who wanted to sign a bill, the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives defeated the proposal by the vote of 88- 72. The year before, the Democratic majority in the Senate defeated the bill by a vote of 18-15.

But even Carnahan, as pro-labor as he was, pulled up short at the thought of issuing such a decree from the governor's office, even though he considered it.

Holden's executive order caused the Springfield News-Leader to remind the governor that he was elected governor, not king. If governors possess such powers, why do we need elected representatives of the people to serve in the legislature?

Few observers had ever thought a governor possessed such powers. Research is under way by various state lawmakers to determine a possible line of legal attack aimed at overturning the order.

* That something like 30,000 state workers even those who refuse to join the union -- will be forced to pay approximately $19 a month to the union as a service fee. This is wrong and fundamentally un-American, an infringement on their rights.

* That the policy itself is a terrible one for state government. It is a recipe for growing government even faster, for higher taxes and less efficiency, for labor strife and increased power for union bosses. It usurps the power of the people to determine state policy through their elected representatives, handing it off to unelected arbitrators and union bosses.

Holden's arrogant, incredibly high-handed action deserves condemnation. We hope that state lawmakers will succeed in attempts to stop this power grab by a governor increasingly out of touch with the people he is supposed to represent.