WHO INVESTIGATES STATE OFFICIALS?

"Have Lawyers, Will Investigate."

Psst! Don't tell anybody. Not a soul. If you promise, I'll let you in on what seems a well-kept secret. It is this: The Missouri attorney general's office is not an investigative agency.

The spectacle of Attorney General Jay Nixon's launching an "investigation" of House Speaker Bob Griffin comes on the heels of his ongoing "investigation" of Secretary of State Judi Moriarty. There was also some chatter from the AG's office, earlier this year, about "investigating" former State Treasurer Wendell Bailey. This ritual is, not to put too fine a point on it, amusing.

It seems a well-kept secret, largely unknown to the capitol press corps, but Missouri's attorney general has, quite literally, no jurisdiction whatever in these matters.

The attorney general is the state's lawyer, regularly suing and being sued on behalf of state agencies, defending state statutes, advising executive branch officials, responding to requests for legal opinions and the like. He has absolutely no warrant of any kind to go rummaging through the business of the other independently elected, constitutional offices of state government, conducting "investigations."

I have checked and rechecked this, verifying my understanding of the law with that of two of my senior colleagues, both of whom are lawyers, with a former senator now in his sixth decade of private law practice, and with a circuit judge, a widely known and respected Democrat who formerly held the job of county prosecutor. The law is unambiguous: Violations of state statutes occurring in Jefferson City are exclusively the business of Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Richard Callahan, a respected Democrat. It was Callahan who took matters to the grand jury that indicted Mrs. Moriarty on misdemeanors. Mr. Nixon's highly publicized inquiries, announced in breathless press releases and then updated with solemn pronouncements to the waiting media, are utterly superfluous.

I am personally fond of Jay Nixon and have been since our first meeting when, as a 32-year-old, freshmen state senator back in 1988, he displayed the extraordinary cheek to challenge Missouri's senior United States Senator, John C. Danforth. I published a column saying something nice after having met Nixon that year. Jay and his handlers liked it sufficiently well to quote me -- including my comment in his campaign brochure. (The combination of my comment and Jay's candidacy wasn't quite enough to beat Jack Danforth.)

If Jay is eagerly grabbing a few headlines, that has not been known to be a hanging offense. Still, the next time you listen to a pious lecture from our state's chief legal beagle about following the law, keep this one in mind. Long-time Jefferson City hands, including many with vast experience in the criminal courts, are watching the progress of these "investigations", and snickering.

Peter Kinder is associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian. He represents the 27th district in the Missouri Senate.