By Mike Pound
Globe columnist
mpound@joplinglobe.com
The whole thing sounded sort of goofy.
It sounded like something that somebody like, well, like me would do. It didn’t sound like something that a governor would do. Well, maybe, if you mean “governor” in the sense that Dick Van Dyke meant it when he would say “Eh Governor” in “Mary Poppins.” But not if you mean “governor” in the sense that self-important newscasters mean when they say in their self-important newscaster voices, “Today, the governor signed some sort of law.”
It sounded so goofy that it made me laugh. What sort of governor caps off his inaugural speech by inviting the whole state to a potluck dinner? Well, appears that Jay Nixon — the new governor of Missouri — is the sort of governor who caps off his inaugural speech by inviting the whole state to a potluck dinner.
What happened was that some reporter, during the campaign, asked Jay what sort of inauguration party he was going to throw. The whole inauguration-party issue was sort of sensitive because the last Democratic governor, a guy named — uh, I want to say David, no Bill, no Bob ... that’s it — Bob, went a little overboard with his inauguration party. If I remember correctly, Bob actually paid to have Buckingham Palace moved from London to Jefferson City and hired the New York Yankees to wait tables. Governor Bob’s inauguration party was so over the top that Donald Trump was embarrassed.
Governor Bob spent a lot of money on his inauguration, is what I’m saying.
So, clearly, Jay did not want to repeat the mistake that Governor Bob made, particularly at a time when the entire state of Missouri is — technically speaking — broke. So, when the reporter asked Jay what sort of inauguration party he was going to have, he, I think as a joke, said he might host a potluck dinner. But, funny thing, after Jay won the election, he decided that maybe hosting a potluck dinner wasn’t such a bad idea. What the governor suggested was that the state would serve up the main dish at the potluck, and everyone else would bring a covered dish.
I thought that was funny. So on Monday, my wife and I drove up to Jefferson City (we actually left on Friday because, as I think I’ve mentioned before, it takes a long time to drive to Jefferson City) to check out the potluck dinner.
First of all, about the potluck. It wasn’t so much a potluck as it was an indoor cookout. Apparently, the idea of hundreds of people bringing covered dishes for a state dinner sort of freaked out health department-type people. The health department-type people were concerned that someone might slip something into, say, a pan of brownies that might cause some people to get sick. Or (caution: 1970s drug reference) to say “Dude” a lot. Also, the health department-type people were afraid that the governor would be stuck with 3,498 Tupperware containers full of three-bean salad.
So what the governor opted to do instead was serve up hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, cakes and cookies. Well, that’s not true. The governor didn’t actually serve up the food. He poured the ice tea. OK, that’s not true either.
The potluck dinner was held in a big ballroom at the Capitol Plaza Hotel. When we arrived at the hotel at 2 p.m., the place was packed. My wife and I saw a bunch of important-looking people wearing what all the important-looking people in Jefferson City wear: long, black coats and dark suits. We also saw a lot of not-so-important-looking people. We saw a lot of people who looked like us. We also saw a few people who looked as if they really needed a good meal.
One of the cool things that the governor did was ask folks who attended the potluck to bring canned goods as a donation. When my wife and I dropped off a large sack of canned goods collected by the Missouri Southern Student Alumni Association, we chatted with two nice women who were collecting the canned goods. The women, Sister Berta Sailer and Kim Davis, were with Operation Breakthrough in Kansas City. The organization helps children living in poverty. The other group collecting canned goods was from Food Outreach in St. Louis.
Sister Sailer and Kim told me they were thrilled that the governor thought to have folks donate to their organization. Sister Sailer said it said something about where the governor’s priorities are.
“Just the fact that this administration knows that there are people who need food says a lot,” she said.
Kim said that without the governor’s invitation, she and Sister Sailer wouldn’t be sitting inside the lobby of the Capitol Plaza Hotel.
“We would be out in the parking lot in the cold,” she said.
There were no celebrities at the potluck dinner. There was no caviar, no champagne. Just some burgers, dogs, baked beans and potato salad. So it certainly wasn’t the fanciest inauguration dinner ever served up in Jefferson City.
But, for my money, it was the best one ever served up.
