MISSOURI WATCH: TODAY'S NEGLECT OF TOMORROW'S PROBLEMS

As elected officials in Jefferson City were busy taking sides on the recommendations contained in this year's Carnahan State of the State report, Missourians were left with virtually the same questions they had before all the political panoply got under way. Despite the applause and the partisan nit-picking, the state as a whole was pretty much left with the same problems it was facing before the regal Capitol ceremony began.

That's the way it is with State of the State addresses, and by now most Missourians are about as excited over what is promised and what is denied as they are over the prospects for a conference-winning football season at Missouri University.

The problem rests not with the individuals involved, be they Republicans or Democrats, but in the system that has been devised to further political careers at the expense of the more important problems of the general public. For whether it's generally recognized or not, our elected officials are more interested in getting an annual budget balanced than they are in what's in each budget. The awful truth is that one state budget pretty much resembles the last one---except the totals are usually somewhat higher. In the case of the latest budget for the next fiscal year-(1997) which begins July 1, the total is about $700 million higher.

One of the great weaknesses of the present system is the absence of continuity between the terms of our chief executives. Although not mentioned in the Constitution, Missouri governors are not only the chief executive officer (CEO) but, perhaps more importantly, they are the chief policy and planning officer of the state. Since this is an invisible duty, some governors are better at this task than others; the tendency of the average chief executive is to worry about what's occurring during his own watch and to overlook the fact the state will still be operating once he leaves the Capitol.

One can cite several programs inaugurated during various administrations that were introduced, amid great fanfare and publicity, whose fate was one of total obscurity by the time the next term or next governor came around. Perhaps it's asking too much for politicians to worry about problems they will never have to address, but for Missourians who will have to deal with solutions to serious dilemmas, it just seems part of the job. Any preparation for problems beyond the next 12 months is generally accidental, not purposeful.

Missouri has usually sought solutions to long-standing problems only when conditions became intolerable or became too large to be ignored. For example, the old school foundation formula was so flawed and so blatantly inequitable that it was finally challenged by the victims---school districts that were in danger of going bankrupt. Crime was ignored for so long in the state that until it became a national problem, it was perceived in Jefferson City as merely a component of urban life. There were few steps taken, at least partly because they were perceived as being too expensive at the time, although when one considers the high costs of crime today, the expense was minimal. Had we spent even a portion of what we're now investing in new prisons and expanded corrections payrolls, we could have better curtailed the startling growth of lawlessness now being endured throughout the state.

The absence of planning to utilize capital improvements for general state needs is another expensive example. Countless buildings, built at public expense and once deemed essential, have either been demolished or abandoned. Since 1964, taxpayers have paid for three major youth centers for mentally ill children, but not a one of them is now in operation. The irony is that another agency, Department of Social Services, is now in the process of building several new youth treatment centers.

There are countless other examples of poor planning, or no planning at all, yet our elected officials are seldom held accountable for this glaring absence of foresight. In his State of the State address the other day, Governor Carnahan called for two planning groups, one for transportation and the other to consider what steps should be taken as states assume more federal programs through block grants. Both of these panels are long overdue, and their eventual findings may not be known until the state is knee-deep in problems that have been around much longer than the day the governor delivered his address.

Despite political indifference, the future is important if only because more than 5 million Missourians are going to spend the rest of their lives there.

~Jack Stapleton of Kennett is the editor of the Missouri News and Editorial Service.