Bekki Cook hopes to advocate for seniors

Matt Sanders photo - Democratic candidate for Missouri Lt. Gov. Bekki Cook speaks with Boyce Wooley, a Democrat running for the 159th district representative seat in the Missouri House, Sunday at her campaign stop in Dexter. [Click to enlarge]

During a campaign stop at the Stoddard County Democratic Headquarters Sunday afternoon, Bekki Cook said she would open public dialogue and be a strong advocate for seniors if elected as Missouri's Lieutenant Governor in November.

"The Lieutenant Governor's office is more of a bully pulpit," Cook told the crowd of supporters. "It's more of a place where you speak out and you connect with the citizens of the state.

"One of the groups you connect with the most is seniors. The Lieutenant Governor advocates for seniors. It's a statutory responsibility and it's something I take very seriously as another opportunity in my life."

Cook, who lives in Cape Girardeau and is facing Missouri Senate Pres. Pro Tem Peter Kinder (R-Cape Girardeau) in the November election, said her years practicing law brought her a better understanding of the issues confronting seniors.

She claimed responsibility while Secretary of State for creating a program to help seniors avoid falling victim to fraud by giving them information on schemes that target the elderly.

Cook promised to advocate the importation of prescription drugs from Canada, Mexico and other countries through state legislation.

"I believe that we need to have free enterprise with respect to prescription drugs as we need to have fair tariff and trade issues across the world," Cook said. "Why should prescription drugs not be a part of that?"

Fighting for education

Cook said her agenda will go beyond the statutory responsibilities of advocating for seniors. If elected, she would also weigh in on the hot-button state issue of education funding.

"I'm going to stir things up when I get to Jefferson City," Cook said. "I feel so strongly that we need leadership there and we need to have people speaking out and we need to bring up the issues that surround the difficulties we are experiencing in public education."

She touted former Gov. Mel Carnahan's move of bringing her in to straighten out the Secretary of State's office following the impeachment of Judith Moriarty.

Cook said Carnahan was her political role model and that his commitment to children and education drove her political beliefs.

"That was what made him do the things he did," said Cook, "and to this day it's what makes me do the things I do."

Differences with Kinder

With respect to her opponent Cook said that he has helped create an adversarial tone in Missouri politics -- something she's hoping to fix through reaching out.

"I feel that the Senate has been unduly contentious," said Cook. "I've been appalled by the behavior of the leadership there."

Kinder wasn't the only Missouri Senate leader to earn Cook's scorn -- she also blasted the Democratic minority leader of the Senate, Ken Jacob (D-Columbia).

"The two of them, I thought, were not helpful to the process," said Cook. "And I think it caused everybody to have less respect for one another and the offices they held."

Cook said she, on the other hand, would work to open up relations between parties if elected to the position which presides over that body.

She also attacked Kinder's claim that he was a "citizen legislator," since he served three terms despite claiming to support term limits, which are set at two terms.

"He had the legal right to do that," said Cook. "But he violated his own pledge. These flip-flops are something I'm never going to do. I'm just going to try to be a simple person who represents the people."

Matt Sanders may be reached via email at msanders@dailystatesman.com