Republicans lose vote in veto session with senator's call-up

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republicans in Missouri's Senate could find it more difficult to override the governor's vetoes this September because a GOP lawmaker will be serving in the Army.

Sen. Jon Dolan, R-Lake St. Louis, said he is being called to active duty with the 70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment and will travel to Cuba, leaving him absent from the Legislature's veto session in September.

"It will absolutely preclude me from attending the veto session," Dolan told The Kansas City Star. "I feel terrible about that, but I also feel I need to do my duty and protect some of the same rights the legislators will be fighting for in the veto session."

Dolan's unit, which is based at the Ike Skelton Training Center in Jefferson City, will replace a New Hampshire unit that produces a military newspaper and radio show in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Dolan, a major in the Army National Guard, said he expects to be gone for six months to a year, possibly returning for the regular legislative session by late March.

Dolan's absence could make it more difficult to override Democratic Gov. Bob Holden's vetoes, especially two contentious ones on concealed guns and abortion bills.

Overriding a governor's veto requires two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate -- at least 109 votes of the 163-seat House and 23 votes in the 34-seat Senate. Republicans currently hold 20 Senate seats. With Dolan's absence, the GOP will have 19 votes.

A bill allowing most adult Missourians to carry concealed guns originally passed the Senate with 23 votes, including Dolan's.

Republicans had expected a tough time trying to override the veto, because the 23 votes included one from Democratic Sen. Ken Jacob of Columbia, an opponent of the bill who voted for it as part of a failed procedural attempt to try to reconsider its passage.

Jacob's vote meant concealed gun supporters needed to pick up one more vote for an override. With Dolan's absence, they would need to find two votes.

"That diminishes us by one vote when we're right on the knife's edge," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau. "It shoves it toward the governor having his veto (of concealed weapons) sustained."

Kinder said Republicans will attempt to override the concealed guns veto, even if they aren't certain they have enough votes.

"I think it's worthwhile to at least initiate the process," Kinder said.

There have been just seven veto overrides in Missouri's history, the last one in 1999 after Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan vetoed a bill banning certain late-term abortions.

This year, Republicans are hoping to override Holden's veto of a bill requiring a woman to wait 24 hours after consulting with a doctor before getting an abortion.

The abortion bill also received 23 Senate votes, including Dolan's and four from Democrats. However, one Republican -- Bill Foster of Poplar Bluff -- was absent from the vote.

"I think abortion, in the final analysis, will be the only one to get overridden," Dolan said.

Holden reacted nonchalantly to Dolan's military call-up.

"The governor wishes Senator Dolan well as he continues his service to his country," said Mary Still, Holden's spokeswoman. "As far as whether (Republicans) have enough votes or not, they're in a better position to know than we are."