Peter Kinder says he will be full-time lieutenant governor

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder wants to put the issue to rest -- that he will not rest if he's elected as Missouri's next lieutenant governor, despite what he describes as a misunderstood comment he made in June that suggests he doesn't see it as a full-time job.

"I will be a full-time lieutenant governor," Kinder said Tuesday during a campaign visit to Marble Hill's Senior Nutrition Center. "I will be working what I have been -- not less than 40 to 50 hours a week, and it's usually more like 60."

In a newspaper article on June 26, Kinder, a Republican from Cape Girardeau, was quoted as saying that he thinks "the office is what you make of it. I do not propose to make it full time." His opponent, Democrat Bekki Cook of Cape Girardeau, has latched onto the quote in recent media releases.

But on Tuesday, Kinder said he was talking about the job in a historical perspective, noting that most lieutenant governors over the years have maintained full-time law practices while serving in the office, including Thomas Eagleton and Mel Carnahan.

"I was musing about the history of the office," Kinder said. "I never meant that I would do anything except a full-time job."

The lieutenant governor's position pays $77,000 a year.

While at the Senior Nutrition Center, Kinder told a small crowd that he will be an advocate for Missouri seniors.

Kinder said he fought for and passed the Senior Rx bill, providing pharmaceutical coverage for low-income Missouri seniors. He said that in 2003, he sponsored and passed the Elderly Protection and Nursing Home Reform Act, which increased fines for senior abuse to $25,000.

"Seniors are safer in care centers and nursing homes because of the passage of that act," Kinder said.

Kinder said he hopes to create a commission on waste, fraud and abuse, which would be chaired by the lieutenant governor.

"I cut the budget by $1.5 million," he said. "That's $1.5 million that can be put into health care, that can be put into senior programs, and we are doing so. I want to be turned loose on the executive branch."