MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - What appears to be an unnoticed typo in Missouri's official government manual would give governor elect Matt Blunt the title of the state's youngest governor.
Blunt actually is the state's second youngest governor -- bested in youth only by U.S. Sen. Kit Bond.
Bond took office as Missouri governor in 1973 at the age of 33 -- just a few months younger than Blunt will be when we assumes the office in January.
But the latest edition of the "Official Manual of the State of Missouri," gives two conflicting ages for Bond when he became governor -- either 33 or 36 years old when he took office in 1973.
The manual is published every two years by the secretary of state's office.
In the latest edition, an historical listing of Missouri governors says Bond's birthday is March 29, 1936. That would mean he was 36 when he took office.
Yet, Bond's U.S. senate page in the same manual, says he was born in 1939. It also reports that Bond was the youngest governor in state history, at the age of 33, slightly younger than Blunt who turns 34 on November 20.
The official manual published during Bond's first term as governor in 1974 confirms this, listing the Senator's birth date as March 6, 1939.
The discrepancy first appears in the 1993-94 manual, the first to include birth dates on the historical listing of governors page. Birth dates were not reported on this page between 1995 through 2000.
Birth dates reappear on the historical listing of Missouri's governors page in the 2001-02 edition, listing Bond's birth date as March 29, 1936.
However, Bond's office said the senator's birth date is March 6, 1939, confirming that Bond was indeed the youngest person to be elected Missouri's governor.
When asked if Governor elect Blunt would prefer to be the youngest person elected to Missouri's highest state office, Blunt spokesperson Spence Jackson said Blunt prefers to be the second youngest since that's the way it is.