Don Dwyer is a one-term Delegate in Maryland's General Assembly who bilks his friends for campaign cash and adulation while screwing their issues in the state capital. This is just some of the story he doesn't want you to know!
	MORE ON DWYER'S CHANGING STORIES ...       As previously reported here, Dwyer only recently figured out that his constituents elected him to go to Annapolis and work, not to Greece and vacation. So now he's trying to cover up his record! Last month we reported that Dwyer was on vacation in Greece instead of in Annpolis with the rest of the legislature, working on the two most important bills of the year, BGE rate reduction (SB 1) and the sexual predator bill (HB 2). His web site soon claimed this wasn't true, and to obscure the truth he gave links to official looking vote sheets. The problem was: he gave links to an earlier session and bills we never mentioned! We asked "Come clean, Don, do you really think your constituents aren't smart enough to figure out what's going on? You weren't there for votes we cited, as the official web site for the General Assembly confirms with the correct links:" Vote sheet on SB 1: Rate reduction bill Vote sheet on HB 2: sexual predator bill When called on it, the story changed again! That's right. His web site changed his position. Now he confirms he was in Greece, agrees he didn't vote on the bills which became law but still says he voted on important bills. He's obviously not in the Bill Clinton league when it comes to spin control! To help constituents translate, here's a field guide to what he said:
	The story on 9-2-2006: I was there and I voted on these bills! CLICK TO SEE WHAT DWYER'S WEB SITE SAID ON SATURDAY	The story on 9-4-2006: I was not there when the bills which became law were debated and voted, I was in Greece. But I was present in an earlier legislative session when bills that kinda looked like these were debated and voted, so what's the difference? And it isn't like I was on vacation with my family in Greece or anything, technically I was chaperoning my daughter on her vacation in Greece. And besides, I was already out of the country when the session was called ... err ... wait, let me check my dates and get back with you ... CLICK TO SEE WHAT DWYER'S WEB SITE SAID ON MONDAY
AS WE WROTE BEFORE, THIS IS JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF DWYER TRYING TO DECEIVE PEOPLE AROUND HIM! Read on to learn of his issues with issues too!

DWYER SAYS HE'S PRO-GUN AND PRO-FAMILY VALUES - SO WHY DOES THE GUN LOBBY BLAME HIM FOR PRO-GUN LOSSES WHILE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE ADVOCATES TOAST HIM FOR THEIR SUCCESS ?

DON DWYER SOLD OUT GUNOWNERS AND NOW WANTS THEM TO BELIEVE HE'S THEIR BEST FRIEND

This story is a case study in how narcissistic politicians yank the chain of well-intentioned issue groups to serve their own craven needs. In a rights-hostile state, if you tell desperate but well-intentioned gun owners what they want to hear, some won't want to listen to anything else. Yell louder, and a few will adore you, even at the expense of making real gains when opportunities come along. That's the case here with Don Dwyer, Delegate in Maryland's District 31, and his small but adoring brood of zealots.

Don Dwyer measures success not by policy gains but by how much adulation (and campaign cash) he can milk from the uninformed public. He's willing to sacrifice the former to gain more of the latter, too. But it's an election year in Maryland, and time for the uninformed base to wake up from their dream and do the hard things that must be done: eject from the legislature someone who has cost our Cause more than he has won.

The Sell Out On Guns. As long as he's been in politics, Dwyer has loudly demanded the microphone, proclaiming that he "only knows how to throw hand grenades" (forgetting that winning teams usually have more than one page in the playbook) and picking fights (forgetting that powerful ideas win supporters by force of reason, not reason of force.) If it is a hot-button issue, then he's there trying to get out on stage. In Maryland, guns always make a hot-button issue.

In the 2005 Maryland legislative session, the pro-gun lobby was poised to win a key policy improvement - repeal of expensive yet ineffective gun control called "ballistic fingerprinting", which today bans sale of many high quality handguns in the state without any public safety improvement. A strong strategy was backed by investment of many resources to bring conditions favorable to tactics our side would likely employ. Management of the message was key, since advocates needed to work with many members of leadership who had backed enactment of the ban in the first place. These officials had no reason to take political heat over a repeal, nor any motivation to deal with a gun lobby that lacked civility. Said plainly, everyone knew that if we weren't careful then it wouldn't take much for the cost of advancing a modest policy improvement to go through the roof.

Don Dwyer sat on a key committee, and as usual had let it be known that he intended to again push his brand of hot-button, headline-grabbing legislation. This presented the gun lobby with a problem. Advocates feared letting the message spin out of control, and so contacted Del. Dwyer to ask for his help in limiting how many unachievable pro-gun bills went into the hopper. Advocates explained how smaller, low-energy hearings would give the team room to work, and how all pro-gun Senators cooperated with the plan already. Since gun bill hearings turn into de facto protest rallies, why get a powerful committee chairman good and boiled at the most critical moments on the repeal bill's life?

Advocates were shocked at Dwyer's response. When briefed on what resources were being put into play, he expressed outrage and asked why anyone would work with Democrats. (He was unimpressed with the answer: "They're the ones in power.") He demanded a commitment that resources be invested in his agenda instead, and held the gun lobby's initiative hostage. After time made clear a ransom would not be paid, he submitted his pro-gun bills and helped to whip up the major circus atmosphere (over right to carry), knowing what would be its effect on the repeal bill. Well intentioned but naive gun owners believed Dwyer's cheerleading on utterly unachievable legislation, turned up the volume to annoying levels, and drove players away from the table. Said simply, moderates in a position to make this happen had no reason to show favor to the pro-gun advocacy team's plan when gun owners ostensibly from our base were calling them names over a pie-in-the-sky carry bill.

Bottom line: When the gun lobby wouldn't pay Dwyer's price, he knowingly destroyed any climate where the last puzzle pieces could have dropped into place and win the repeal. He boldly tells gun owners that no task is too hard for him and he'll do anything for the Cause. Well, we now know one thing that Dwyer won't do for the Cause: shut up. He'd rather lose loudly than risk not being seen at the center of a win.

No pro-gun policy improvement is possible in Annapolis if legislators like Don Dwyer promise to piss in the pool any time a win gets close for which he hasn't been paid his toll. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of NRA member dues went into research, analysis, contributions and lobbying effort, to position that repeal bill. It was worth the attempt, because killing ballistic fingerprinting in Maryland would effectively drive a nail into the coffin of an entire form of gun control nationally. The effort failed with all resources flushed down the crapper - and this gun control now resurrected in other states - because Don Dwyer was mad that NRA wouldn't promise him the same level of investment on his agenda. Obviously Dwyer thinks being elected to one term in Maryland's District 31 should give him an NRA Visa card and the keys to drive national gun policy.

Don Dwyer himself confirms this in his own contorted way. In a memo he released on the Internet on August 31, 2006, he acknowledges he was asked by the NRA for specific help on legislation: " I have refused and have held fast ." What he chooses not to mention is why the gun lobby asked him to be a team player, the consequence of his decision ... or his subsequent effort to get NRA out of the state.

"I began to question the NRA agenda for Maryland" said his recent memo. Shortly after the January 2005 encounter with NRA, Dwyer's adoring front group (called "Maryland Shall Issue") started sending attack letters directly to the NRA, most asking that the organization withdraw its lobbyist and leave the state. Some asked for the lobbyist to be fired. One of MSI's officers published the lobbyist's name and phone number on the web with a request for the public to beat on her directly. (The other day, this same MSI officer wrote on the web that the ILA lobbyist - and this author - "can go fornicate themselves with a chainsaw. I'm done being nice about it." Well, that last sentence is obviously right.)

Don Dwyer claimed to be aloof from all this. That lasted until one of the MSI officers circulated email confirming he happened to be in Dwyer's Annapolis office plotting this activity at the same time Dwyer was claiming in a phone conference with NRA that he didn't know at all what MSI was doing.

Play for pay. We know Dwyer as a craven official that plays fast and loose with issues. Even the shills working for him in MSI know why Dwyer puts in legislation, since at the same time NRA sought help for a team effort, Dwyer was negotiating with them over the bill he would later use to stick it to NRA. In a January 11, 2005, email, MSI's chief officer asks "how can we repay you?" Dwyer answered:

a. After session ends I will be moving into fund raising mode. I have not
asked for financial support since being elected in 2002. Now I find myself a
target of the Democrat party and specifically Speaker Busch. In light of
this, I am asking gun clubs across the state to consider holding fund
raisers on my behalf. I will make myself available and will attend every
fund raiser held by the clubs so long as you coordinate with my legislative
aide Caleb Griffin at 410-841-3298 or by contacting me directly.
b. Get the gun rights community to come to Annapolis on January 27th from
2-4pm to support Marriage as between a man and a woman. Maryland has been
declared by the ACLU to become the next Mass! Please stand with us. If you
do come in number, I may be able to get many people who don't own guns to
join us. I am leading the defense of Maryland Marriage.

(Some people think offering to put in legislation for pay in or adjacent to legislative session is a crime. Most recognize it is in bad taste. But this exchange confirms that Dwyer is all about self aggrandizement, and that payola is on his mind at the same time NRA sought his help. )

IMPORTANT FACTS DISTRICT 31 VOTERS NEED TO KNOW WHEN THEY GO TO THE POLLS:

1. No bill Dwyer sponsored has ever became law. No bill he sponsored was even voted out of committee.

2. When Dwyer missed simple deadlines for filing his legislation during session, he couldn't even persuade fellow Republicans to vote for his procedural motion to be allowed to introduce his bills anyway.

3. On the two most important pieces of legislation voted on this calendar year - BGE rate relief and the sexual predators bill - he was on vacation in Greece, not representing his constituents.

4. Dwyer is such a champion of right to carry for gun owners that he hasn't bothered to keep a single sheet of paper having to do with it. When gun advocates sought public records to expose his craven deal making, he simply ignored the disclosures law, later claiming it didn't apply to him. But before using that dodge, he asserted under oath that he had absolutely no records having to do with one of his signature issues. No correspondence with his constituents about it. No analysis. He didn't even keep a copy of the bill he himself submitted. (Of course, if all you're in it for is the campaign donations and adulation of MSI shills, then who needs public documents?)

5. Dwyer is such an effective champion of family values that same-sex marriage and gay rights advocates attribute to their successes to Dwyer. "Let's raise our glasses to Don Dwyer—if you weren't such a hateful ass, we might not have gotten this far!" (In Baltimore City Paper, 9-21-2005.) Or as Dems for Dwyer say "We love Don as face of the GOP in Maryland!"

6. Dwyer's involvement on any issue is its kiss of death in Annapolis. In classic partisan rhetoric, Dwyer complains that no Republican can pass legislation in Annapolis. That is utterly untrue, as inspection of the record of all other legislators reveals.

CITED DOCUMENTS

Email exchange between lobbyist Henry Heymering of MSI and Don Dwyer, illustrating the bartering over legislation. (This one is entertaining in its own right, since Dwyer promises to repeal all gun laws in 2007.)

Position statement of MSI (Maryland Shall Issue) illustrating their willingness to accept an assault weapons ban in trade for just a vote on the carry bill. MSI's position is illustrated in many documents around Annapolis (and is known to most legislators, except for Dwyer, who are horrified by it) but this document is an especially good example since, in spite of MSI's denial of making these statements, it was culled from the official bill file in House Judiciary for 2005. Yes, they put this on the record. Make sure you understand what this means about Dwyer: The group he works with is one that is willing to trigger an assault weapon ban in the state, and here is Don Dwyer encouraging them to do it!

Correspondence from Don Dwyer concerning records and information, in which he states "I should be brought into the information loop on this Shall-Issue initiative. After all, I am the sponsor of the bill that seems to be dividing the gun community." (That's the classic "ready, shoot, aim" strategy - gee, I put in this bill in spite of being given a chance to be a part of the team, now I need to know what's going on, huh, huh, how about it, can I get in the loop?) This is also where Dwyer says it is okay to bring on an assault weapon ban in Maryland. (He also says that's no big deal since the Governor would veto it. Maybe if he hadn't been in Greece on vacation during last session he'd have noticed how many times the General Assembly overrode Bob Ehrlich's veto of other bills.)

Updated September 7 , 2006