Friends remember former Rep. Mel Hancock

November 07, 2011|by Chad Plein, KY3 News | cplein@ky3.com

springfield, Mo. -- It was once written about Mel Hancock's arrival in Washington, D.C., that he didn't like the acoustics in the House chambers. He said it made it difficult to hear what was being said but, then again, 90 percent of what's being said isn't worth hearing.

"I think he was afraid of Washington," close friend Larry Dixon said. "He wanted to not become a Washington man, he wanted to remain a Missourian, so he'd come home every weekend."

"He was a citizen legislator," said George Connor, a political science professor at Missouri State University. "He didn't become a lifelong politician. He was a good representative, meaning he represented the people."

From 1989 to 1997, Hancock served in the U.S. Congress. His legacy, however, is his grass-roots campaigning for the Missouri Constitution's Hancock Amendment, which capped state and local governments' revenue based on Missourians' personal incomes.

"There was no way one man could do what he did," Dixon said of Hancock traveling across the state, getting hundreds of thousands of signatures to put his proposal on the statewide ballot in 1980.

Today, the Hancock Amendment is still present in the Missouri Constitution, but not much else of Hancock can be seen. Only a modest stretch of I-44 has his name.

"He wasn't a guy who sought after memorials or buildings," Dixon said. "He was a patriot."

Hancock just lived by a certain belief -- one his father wrote about in a letter that Hancock would later come upon.

"One man being able to change the world, and I think Mel was carrying that around with him," Dixon said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Shug (Hancock's widow) and family," current 7th District Rep. Billy Long said. "Mel was a true statesman in the House of Representatives and a dear friend and neighbor. His legacy will forever be a part of Missouri through the Hancock Amendment and service to his constituents."

“I considered Mel Hancock a close friend and a valued advisor for over 30 years," said Sen. Roy Blunt, who succeeded Hancock in the U.S. House. "In everything he did, Mel was dedicated to creating better and less government. I join all Missourians in sending our thoughts and prayers to Mel’s family and friends.”

Connor says, to be fair when talking about Hancock, you have to bring up Hancock II. It was a piece of legislation he introduced because he felt more could be done financially within the state to redefine the definition of personal income and government revenue. Hancock II's language said it would be more difficult for politicians to evade. In November 1994, it was voted down at the polls.

Hancock, 82, leaves behind a wife and three children.

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