Warburton’s Ironic Snafu

Rep. Wendy Warburton (R-Havre) is a strong supporter of government interference in a woman’s private medical decisions. Throughout her career she has supported a variety of radical anti-choice bills. She has also sponsored many constitutional amendments to do so.

Today, two of her anti-choice constitutional amendments faced 3rd reading in the House. During the vote on the measure, Rep. Warburton did not cast a vote. This would be a major set-back for her radical agenda, because in order for the bill to move to voters, it must receive 100 votes between both houses of the legislature and Republicans only have 96 votes, so they need all of theirs and then a few Democrats as well.

Finally, nearly four minutes after the voting on the bill was closed, she stood to ask that she be allowed to vote on the bill, since her vote had not been registered. Democrats objected to her motion. After making their point that Republicans need to treat every vote seriously and be attentive, they removed their objection. However, the irony of Warburton’s actions was not lost on anyone.

As we have told you, Republicans have been pushing a series of bills designed to make voting more difficult in the state, including a measure that would include a measure that would eliminate election day voter registration in the state. Rep. Warburton has been a strong supporter of these measures and now, she was standing on the floor of the House, asking her colleagues to bend the rules to allow her vote to be counted.

This is simply the latest in a series of actions by Republicans in the legislature in which they seek to play by a different set of rules than they’re asking Montanans to. First, there was the GOP’s decision to improve their taxpayer funded health care, while attempting to deny many Montanans basic health coverage. Then there was the revelation that many of the same Republicans who had turned away federal money to help our schools and hospitals, were themselves some of the biggest recipients of federal subsidies. And now today’s events. They hypocrisy keeps getting worse and worse.