Wolfe, James F

Wolfe, James F

Oral history

Missouri--History, Local

Missouri--Politics and government

Oral histories

Missouri Politics

Politics

Political History

Political Oral History

United States

Missouri

Jefferson City (Mo.)

http://cdm17228.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/ohc/id/579

Bob got arrested for drunken driving, he had one story for the press and his colleagues (in his Dear Colleague letter), and that version did not coincide with what he had told the policeman when he was arrested. He was specifically questioned, “Have you been using medicine?” “No.” [tape meter, 200] But the next day he attributes it to his heart pills. I wrote a story. It appeared in both the Globe and in St. Joe. I’m sure he didn’t care about it being in the Joplin Globe. He wouldn’t have cared about it being in the New York Times. He did care about it, though, because St. Joe is thirty miles from Cameron. He made a speech up at St. Joe to some Democratic club. This assertion was mentioned in an AP story and, of course, in the St. Joe paper. And he gave copies of his speech to local newspapers, and one (I believe at Plattsburg) ran the entire speech. And it’s this long [indicating thickness with forefinger and thumb]. I wasn’t just incidental mention. I was at least a major subject of the speech. Also, a friend sent me a tape that’s JW = James Wolfe

WS = Will Sarvis 37 supposed to be a rendition of his speech, though I’ve never played it. I’ve got it. But that was a line out of the speech. And a friend (I guess that year, then) had her then-daughter-in-law cross-stitch that. It was a birthday present. I regard condemnation by Bob Griffin as a badge of honor. Bob was corrupt, but like most things around here, he was petty corrupt. He couldn’t even do that major league. My theory about Griffin is, he’d always gotten little things from lobbyists. According to the stories you heard, he’d be at a resort

Tan-tar-a, maybe. And he’d go to one of these overpriced shops they have and say, “Oh. What a nice looking sweater.” Whereupon the lobbyist would buy him the sweater. And he got golf weekends and little things like that

maybe a law case or two where he didn’t have to do much. But I don’t think money was Bob Griffin’s major motivator. I do think that, at some point, he looked in the mirror and said, “Bob. You can’t be Speaker forever. You’ve got to do something for your old age.” He got embroiled in this gambling matter, which again was not specifically what he was convicted for, but opened the subject up. [tape meter, 250] If it hadn’t been for Bob Griffin, there would be no casinos in their ponds today. Now the casino companies made some terrible business judgments building these $100 million casinos. But at the time they were seeking the legislation, they were anticipating doing these things, which they thought would be very, very profitable. And if Bob Griffin had been given $10 million, it would have been cheap if they had been able to make the kind of profits they thought they were going to make. Maybe $50 million. I do not think -- we’ll never about him

as a matter of fact, I don’t know about you. For all 38 JW = James Wolfe

WS = Will Sarvis I know, you have a secret overseas account in seven or eight figures. But I sincerely doubt it, and I mean no disrespect. And I doubt it about him. I don’t think Bob has any serious money. Power. Lording it over people. Being toadied to. And, as they say, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac,” which he exploited fully. WS: Well, Mr. Wolfe, for the time being I’ve run out of questions for you. But I’m sure I haven’t tapped the well as deeply as I might have. If you would like to add anything that I haven’t asked you, or make any closing remarks, please feel free. JW: Why don’t you ask me about term limits, and then fifty years from now or twenty-five or whenever, the late Jim Wolfe will be seen, then -- at least on that subject -- as a very wise man. WS: Okay. Let’s hear it. JW: I think I intimated I thought the quality of the Legislature had declined. Part of that opinion, of course, can be attributed to anybody as well. You know, “The good old days, things were better.” Whatever. But I think it’s true. And I think part of that -- not all of it -- is already the influence of term limits. I think it’ll be harder to get good candidates

to some degree, at any time. For someone to run for public office, you have to feel that that public office is important

whatever it is. The very existence of a term limit amendment to the constitution is saying, “This is trivial. This is transitory.” Why would anyone do anything that you knew you were going to have to quit doing in eight years? [tape meter, 300] Except possibly, the president of the United States, or governor. And those are not good parallels, because anybody that’s served eight years as governor is a potential candidate JW = James Wolfe

WS = Will Sarvis 39 for something else, or he or she can exploit it one way or the other

financially, emotionally, whatever. I don’t know what your hobbies are, but would you take up fishing or golf if it were immutable that you would have to stop fishing or playing golf in eight years? Maybe about the time you got good at it? Where you really enjoyed it? Would you do an altruistic thing? Would you be the hospital volunteer? The volunteer at the drug rehab center? A missionary to Ghana? If you were going to have to quit in eight years. Would a woman take up crocheting? Or learn to cook well? If you had to quit in eight years. Would you interrupt your life to do something you knew you had to quit doing? I think the answer is self-evident. The effect will be to make money more powerful than it is now. One reason is, that nobody will have established a real brand name. And the interest groups -- whether it’s pro or con on abortion, or some economic matter -- will have to invent new aspirants all the time. The lobbyists, the legislative staffers, the bureaucrats, and possibly the press, will have the institutional memory and just the common, everyday knowledge that legislators now may have. [end of interview

tape meter, 348] INDEX abortion controversy, 26-28, 30-34 Ashcroft, John, 9 Barnes, Francis M., III (Bud), 12 Bild, Frank, 19, 20, 35 Binaggio, Charles, 6 black caucus, 8 Blunt, Roy D., 26 Bond, Christopher S. (Kit), 9 Brancato, Jasper M., 6 Bush, Hilary A., 9 Carnahan, Melvin F., 25, 30, 32 Cason, William J., 10 Clay, William L., Sr., 20, 21 Dalton, John M., 9 DeFeo, Louis, 28 Donley, Van E., 12 Donnelly, Phil M., 9 Doutt, Sam, 6, 7 Dowd, Edward, 4 Equal Rights Amendment, 29, 30 Freedom, Inc., 8, 34 Gallagher, Harry W., 4, 6, 8 Ganey, Terry, 24, 25 Gant, Mary L. (Newquist), 6 Gephardt, Richard A., 20, 21 Gralike, Donald J., 15, 16 Griffin, Robert F., 40-42 Hearnes, Warren E., 9, 10 Higgins, Otto P., 2 Howard, Raymond, 15 Hulshof, Kenny, 26 Jacobs, Elijah, 1 Jones, A. Clifford, 10, 30 Joplin Globe, 3, 8, 40 Kansas City Star, 2, 3, 5, 32, 34, 35, 38-40 Kenney, George W., 1 Kirkpatrick, James C., 12 Lauer, Lois, 2, 3 Lazia, Johnny, 6 Lindecke, Fred W., 23, 24, 27 lobbies and lobbyists, 29 Melton, Emory, 11, 17-20, 35, 36 Morris, William S., 4 Nordberg, Ben, 6 Page, Paul (Pete), 12 Presta, Alex, 6, 7 religion and politics, 28, 29 Rothman, Kenneth J., 11 Royster, William R., 5, 6, 34 Scarritt, Nathan, 4 Schechter, Maurice, 10, 11, 30 Schlafly, Phyllis, 29 Schneider, John D., 36 Sermon, William, 4 Spradling, Albert M., Jr., 10, 17 St. Louis / Kansas City interaction, 36, 37 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 23, 24, 26, 32, 35, 40 term limits, 42-44 urban / rural interaction, 35, 36 Walsh, Thomas A., 13, 14 Waters, William B., 10, 17, 18 Webster, Richard M., 10, 11, 13-22, 26, 35 Webster, William L., 24, 26 Woods, Harriett, 21-23, 27 Young, Robert A., 21, 22 Young, Robert Ellis, 11

James F. Wolfe

Will Sarvis

none

Heartland Hub

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