Friends, foes, remember Hearnes at passing

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Former Gov. Warren Hearnes was remembered as a champion of education and mental health causes, a consummate politician who sought to clean up some of the worst partisan practices in Jefferson City and a professional public servant who put politics aside when the need arose.

Interviews with family friends, Democratic Party political allies and colleagues as well as those who opposed Hearnes at election time provided depth to a career that began with a local triumph in a 1950 Missouri House race and ended with a disappointing defeat as he sought election as a circuit judge.

In between, Hearnes was majority floor leader of the Missouri House from 1957 to 1961, secretary of state from 1961 to 1965 and governor from 1965 to 1973.

Cathryn Adams, who was Hearnes' personal secretary from 1955 to 1973, said she was impressed with him from the beginning. Adams, a Cape Girardeau native, was the secretary for Rep. Arthur C. Magill of Cape Girardeau at the time.

"He was a very intense young man and very political," Adams said. "He was very good in the legislature, and he knew how to get things passed."

In the moves to higher office, Adams remained with Hearnes. "I admired him because he was good at what he did."

Hearnes had a way of enlisting loyal followers who remained faithful over the years. He met Gene Walsh, a St. Louis County lawyer, in 1953 when Walsh joined the Missouri House. In 1965, Walsh and about a dozen supporters ran Hearnes' campaign in St. Louis County and Walsh went to Jefferson City as the governor's legal assistant. Walsh said he intended to hold the job for six months; he stayed for 20.

"It was an interesting time," Walsh said. "Hearnes was an intersting fellow, and he wanted to do so much good it was a joy to be around him."

Hearnes was a hard man to cross. His revenge on Democrats, who he viewed as allies, after a 1971 income tax increase showed that. But when the time came to put aside politics, such as when now-U.S. Sen. Kit Bond in 1973 became the first Republican to hold the governor's chair in almost 30 years, Hearnes made sure the transition went smoothly, Bond said Thursday.

"I have the highest respect for him," Bond said. "He and I were political opponents, but after the election he was the finest gentleman."

Gary Rust, chairman of Rust Communications and a lawmaker from 1973 to 1979, said: "I thought very highly of him. He was very straightforward with me, even when we disagreed."

Two Democrats who entered politics after Hearnes left public office said they have been influenced by his example and have benefited from the political leadership shown by both Hearnes and his wife, Betty Cooper Hearnes. Former governor Roger Wilson said he respects Hearnes for being willing to put his political future on the line for a cause, such as the 1971 fight over taxes. "Most of the time to accomplish anything big you will see some hardball played, whether it is Warren Hearnes or any other governor."

Hearnes changed politics in Missouri by successfully bucking the traditional Democratic Party hierarchy, Wilson said.

One of the Hearnes' family closest friends, Gracia Backer of New Bloomfield, Mo., in southern Callaway County, said one of her earliest memories is of her father backing the maverick Hearnes in the 1964 primary. That was a dangerous choice, Backer noted, because most state jobs were political patronage and her father worked in state government. "In those days, if you didn't support the right candidate, you would be fired."

Backer has a political career that made her the first woman to be majority floor leader in the Missouri House. In 1988, she managed Betty Hearnes' unsuccesful bid for governor. Today she is director of the Division of Employment Security.

Hearnes stopped the "lug," essentially a political tax on the salaries of state employees that went into the treasury of the governor's political party, Backer recalled. She and Betty Hearnes became friends in the Missouri House, and Backer said Betty Hearnes helped her understand the virtues of political loyalty.

"The one thing that Betty taught me and that is my mantra, 'you dance with the ones who brought you,'" Backer said. "I learned that."

And that loyalty was on display whenever Backer visted Charleston, which was frequently. Warren Hearnes had endured federal investigations -- he was officially cleared -- and political defeat. But Betty Hearnes always has tried to keep his legacy alive as an example to Missouri, Backer said.

"I learned there was no bigger defender of Warren Hearnes than Betty Hearnes," Backer said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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