ST. LOUIS -- Casting Republicans as anti-union, Democratic Gov. Bob Holden on Monday sharply dismissed as "phony baloney" a GOP-controlled panel's findings that he may have exceeded state and federal law in authorizing collective bargaining for some state workers.

In his first public reaction to last week's Senate committee report that raised questions about Holden's June 2001 executive order, Holden called the conclusions of the "trumped-up committee" expected and irrelevant.

"Big surprise -- they didn't agree with me," Holden told gatherers for a St. Louis convention of the Missouri AFL-CIO, billing himself as organized labor's "staunch supporter" while suggesting some GOP leaders in Jefferson City are beholden to "Gucci-clad lobbyists."

"Whose side are they on?" Holden said. "Republicans don't like unions, they don't want people to unionize. They don't want workers to have a say in (work place) decisions. Republicans can bring on their worst. This governor will never back off his stance of helping working people.

"Republicans in the Missouri House and Senate are showing their true colors and anti-worker feelings."

While Holden said Republicans "have no plan for our state budget" mess, Missouri Republican Party executive director John Hancock countered that Holden only has worsened matters.

"His fiscally irresponsible behavior that is typified by unionizing the state work force with a stroke of a pen is part of the reason the state of Missouri is suffering its worst financial crisis in recent memory," Hancock said. "Holden's caving in to labor bosses deserves to be looked into by the legal system to see if taxpayers or state employees are being penalized through this action."

Holden, state GOP spokesman Scott Baker added, "is nothing more than a puppet for the big labor bosses."

"The bottom line is this is something the Legislature rejected for decades," Baker said. "Then Bob Holden gets in there, and at the behest and direction of union bosses passes this against the will of most state workers."

The report, released last Thursday and approved by its five GOP members but not signed by Democrats on the panel, said that Holden's order circumvented the Legislature, which for years had rejected legislation authorizing collective bargaining for state workers.

The report also criticized so-called fair-share fees, authorized under Holden's order, in which all workers in a bargaining unit would have to pay fees to support negotiators, even if they are not union members.

Unions long have represented some state workers but lacked many of the powers available in the private sector. Holden's order, which gained favor with part of his political base but infuriated many Republicans and business groups, allows unions to enter into binding arbitration with state administrators on such things as employee grievances or work policies.

Funding decisions for employee salaries still rest with the Legislature, and state workers still have no right to strike.

Holden's order affects governor-controlled agencies, but also allows some agencies overseen by boards or commissions to adopt the collective bargaining powers. It does not affect public school teachers or law enforcement officers.

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, and others sued Holden a year ago raising many of the same issues mentioned in Thursday's report.

A Cole County judge dismissed the lawsuit in December, ruling that no state worker had yet been forced to pay fair-share fees. The case has been heard by a three-member panel of the Western District Court of Appeals in Kansas City, which has yet to rule.

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On the Net

Missouri Senate: http://www.senate.state.mo.us