IT'S ABOUT TIME ISSUE OF GOVERNOR DUTIES DECIDED

Who's in charge? When the governor of Missouri leaves the state, does he retain control or is the power of the office passed on to the lieutenant governor?

The Missouri Supreme Court has decided the issue once and for all: the governor retains power. Justices cited an 1883 state Supreme Court decision that said the governor keeps his powers, even while outside the state's borders.

The ruling makes sense. In these days of fax machines, cellular phones and beepers, it's much easier for people to keep in touch. With these modern communications, the governor could learn of any emergency in a matter of minutes - even if he were out of the state or country.

That's the way the U.S. presidency works: Bush remains in power whether he's in California or at the North Pole.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Mel Carnahan started the latest round of this dispute. Carnahan alleged he should get the governor's power and perks when Republican John Ashcroft leaves the state.

Actually, the state's political system itself fuels the perennial dispute. In Missouri, the governor and lieutenant don't have to run on the same ticket, as they do in some states. As a result, our governors and lieutenant governors have often been from differing political parties, as is now the case.

It's true this legal quagmire costs the taxpayers dollars to untangle. But there will be a savings: in the past, governors leaving the state have named their second-in-command "acting governor" and that meant the lieutenant governor received the difference in his salary and the governor's pay. That practice costs the taxpayers as well.

This routine came to a halt in Missouri only about a year ago when the "who's in charge?" squabble between Ashcroft and Carnahan heated up.

Carnahan's criticism of the money spent on the legal dispute is absurd. He's the one who brought up the issue in the first place, saying he should be in charge when Ashcroft left the state. It was Ashcroft who then pushed for a legal determination by faxing documents to Secretary of State Roy Blunt from Washington. Blunt refused to certify the papers, citing the legal confusion about who's in charge. Enter the Supreme Court.

Granted, in the scope of things, it's hardly a dire issue. But we're glad to see the matter decided. Now, politicians can move on to the next beef.