HOLDEN CHANGES MIND ON SUPER-CABINET

So we won't have a three-member super-cabinet in the Gov. Bob Holden's office after all.

Responding to a public outcry against the idea, the governor climbed down from a proposal he and his advisers had been planning on since his transition days last winter.

"Just a proposal," said his spokesman. "Nothing was ever set in stone."

The idea, discussed in the Capitol for months, had been to take three longtime Carnahan cabinet members, bring them into the governor's office and have them act in a coordinating capacity between the various agencies of state government: the departments of natural resources, public safety, corrections, revenue and so on.

Mentioned for the posts were Joe Driskill, director of the department of economic development; Dora Schriro, formerly director of corrections; and Quentin Wilson, formerly director of the department of revenue and now director of something called "cabinet affairs." While these three individuals are highly regarded public servants, each was to have been paid $120,000 annually, or nearly what the governor makes.

As the idea was discussed, it came under sharp criticism from state employees who had seen a budget passed that had no cost-of-living increase for them.

(The same budget did, however, contain sweeteners for state employees' health insurance packages.)

This unfolded against the backdrop of the state's first tight budget year in the last eight. Holden had had to cut more than $300 million from the budget.

Seen in this light, it is a wonder that Holden and his top staff thought it would be prudent to establish an extensive new level of bureaucracy in the first place.

The positive side is that this episode shows that the governor will respond to public opinion and abandon a plan he had been committed to when it is shown to be a bad idea.