At a state funeral Tuesday for Christopher "Kit” Bond, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth said Bond chose to “offer his talents” to the state as an elected official because he genuinely wanted to help his fellow Missourians.
“Kit Bond was an exceptional person who was blessed with many talents,” Danforth said at the public service in the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City. “He was very smart. He was highly educated. He had boundless energy. He wanted for nothing. He could have clung onto what was his and lived comfortably only for himself. But that was not what he did. He invested his talents, put them at risk, and he produced such a great return for our state.”
Bond died last week at the age of 86. Since then, Republicans and Democrats have reflected on how the GOP official’s two terms as governor and four terms in the U.S. Senate helped make Missouri a better place.
Gov. Mike Kehoe praised Bond’s ability to steer federal funds to Missouri, which played a major role in building bridges and cultivating research at universities. But he also said glory and self-adulation didn’t define his more than 40 years in elective office.
“He kept Missouri's interests at heart, both in office and out, making our state a better place to live, work and raise a family,” Kehoe said. “His legacy lives on, not only through policies, laws passed, our bridges and buildings named in his honor, but in the countless lives he touched along the way.”
John Ashcroft, who like Bond served as both governor and U.S. senator, said that his former colleague could be fiery in defending his political allies. That includes a memorable moment when Bond hurt his hand from pounding on a podium after a judge kept polls in St. Louis open during the 2000 election.
But Ashcroft also said Bond played a major role in his decision not to contest his defeat in the 2000 U.S. Senate race. That was the unprecedented contest in which Gov. Mel Carnahan had died, but his name remained on the ballot and he ended up defeating Ashcroft.
“When I called upon him for advice. He was transparently direct,” Ashcroft said. “He advised me to respect the voters' verdict when I lost the U.S. Senate race in spite of significant procedural and constitutional issues that might be raised. He said the voters had spoken. It was good advice. I stood down. Kit was right.”
Democratic praise
Bond often voted with his party on major policy issues and judicial nominations while serving in the U.S. Senate. But Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver said he worked closely with Bond to steer money to Kansas City and eventually developed a friendship with his Republican counterpart.
Cleaver added that he never campaigned against Bond throughout his career, which included two terms as Kansas City’s mayor.
“Working together as friends was a propellant that allowed us, with others, to alter the landscape of Kansas City,” Cleaver said.
Other Democrats echoed Cleaver’s praise, noting that Bond never saw political party as a barrier to getting things done for the state.
In an interview last week, former Congressman Lacy Clay said he first met Bond after he won election to the Missouri House in 1983. He said he was able to work with the Republican governor to get funding steered to St. Louis.
“He was a policy person. He wanted to improve government,” Clay said. “He wanted to bring services to people. He wanted to make the quality of life better in the state of Missouri.”
Former state Rep. Chris Kelly entered the Missouri House during Bond’s second term as governor. The Columbia Democrat said that while it may have been necessary to work with a General Assembly that Democrats controlled, Bond’s bipartisan work wasn’t just based on practicality.
“He cared very deeply about the pulse, about the community, the state of Missouri,” Kelly said. “But he also liked the process of representative democracy. He would get in there and give and take, and it was something that he personally enjoyed. And it paid off, because he was so damn affable, people wanted to help him.”
