click on photos to view slideshows

Members of the Missouri House receive $23,491 per year plus expenses. Not exactly incentive in itself to live the representative's double life. For Joe Heckemeyer and Pat O'Connor, both sons of former House members, politics is in the blood. They balance physical work with the complex negotiations required to pass laws.

Joe Heckemeyer was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1994 to represent the 160th District, a primarily rural district in southeast Missouri. Born in 1966, Joe was one of the youngest members of the House before being defeated in an election a year after the story was shot. He lives in Sikeston and represented about 31,000 people in Mississippi, New Madrid and Scott counties. Joe, a Democrat, got into politics because of his father, Tony Heckemeyer, who served four terms in the Missouri House beginning in 1964, and is now a Missouri Circuit Court judge. Joe and his brother Andy jointly work the family farm, raising chickens, row crops, cattle and timber.

Pat O'Connor is a member of both the Missouri House of Representatives and the Pipefitters Union in St. Louis. Both pipefitting and politicing run in his family. There has been an O'Connor representing the people in Bridgeton continuously since 1962. Pat O'Connor's father, Patrick, began his tenure in the Missouri House of Representatives in 1962. When he died in office, his wife, Pat's mother, took over his seat in the House. When she retired in 1986, Pat was elected to represent what has become known as the O'Connor district.

Tim Schoon is currently the assistant chief photographer for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Utah. He did internships with the Muskegon Chronicle, The St. Joseph News-Press and the South Dakota Department of Tourism. Tim photographed Joe Heckemeyer as part of his professional project at the University of Missouri, and is in the process of tying up a few loose ends before finishing his degree there.

Tim can be reached via email at: schoon@inconnect.com