"For the past decade, the NRA has been on a mission to arm America by allowing citizens to carry concealed, loaded handguns in public. In Missouri, their effort stalled because of Governor Mel Carnahan. He vowed to veto the NRA-backed bill if it did not allow a referendum. The NRA finally took the challenge in the 1998 legislative session. The NRA wrote the proposed law and picked a special election date that would work for them. They then spent more than $ 4 million in an effort to pass their initiative, known as Proposition B. One of the NRA’s best friends, then-Senator and current NRA Life Member John Ashcroft, did radio ads supporting Proposition B. By election day, April 6, 1999, the NRA had spent more than five times as much money as the opponents of Proposition B. But a funny thing happened on the way to the polls. The NRA lost. They couldn’t buy off and control the people of Missouri like they controlled their legislators in Jefferson City.
After this stunning loss -- which came despite the NRA’s almost total control over the process (except, of course, for the final outcome) -- the organization blamed Mel Carnahan. According to the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, "The NRA's James J. Baker blamed Carnahan for the outcome, accusing him of meddling in a race into which the NRA had poured more than $3.7 million. 'Governor Carnahan injected his own personal views into this democratic initiative process.'" NRA Spokesman Bill Powers told the, " did everything he could do to defeat this measure....This crosses the line to where it becomes a mistrust of the people of the state." Only an organization so adept at thwarting the public interest could interpret a defeat in a public referendum in such a way. "
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/09/16_sudbay.html"State Sen. Jon Dolan, a Republican and a major in the Army National Guard, had been serving at Guantanamo Bay for only two weeks, and military regulations say a newly deployed soldier must be on duty at least two months before getting a leave.
Also at issue is whether Dolan violated federal law and military regulations by performing duties of his political office while on active military duty. The rules apply to a reserve officer serving on active duty under a call to active duty of more than 270 days. "
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGANL2GUIKD.html"Top Senate Republicans arranged and paid for the travel for state Sen. Jon Dolan, who flew from Cuba to Jefferson City last week to cast crucial votes to override Gov. Bob Holden's vetoes.
Dolan's travel expenses - which included chartering a private jet - came to almost $8,200 and were handled by aides to state Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau.
The total bill was paid by the Senate Majority Fund, a campaign committee set up to handle various expenses for the Legislature's Republican leaders.
Kinder's staff began working on travel arrangements for Dolan weeks ago, even before he left for Cuba for Army National Guard duty. "
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/Missouri+State+News/BBDF9516F306EBEB86256DA30051DBAB?OpenDocument&Headline=GOP+fund+paid+for+Dolan"
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