Curd Legislative Record Shows Tea Party Incoherence

Mr. Anderson at Badlands Blue takes a look at R. Blake Curd's paltry record in his single year as a state legislator and finds the good people of District 12 elected Dr. Do-Little. But what little record Curd has is rich with evidence that he might also be a professor of the Hypocritic Oath.

First, Badlands Blue notes that Curd's claim not to be looking for a political career doesn't exactly square with an unaccomplished freshman legislator and frequent Washington lobbyist grabbing for the gold Congressional ring. More damningly, the assortment of bills to which he has put his name demonstrates the very sort of contradictory messages I would expect from a Tea Party candidate trying to remake the Republican Party in its own incoherent image. Consider:

1. HCR 1004 expressed support for government-funded health care for children. A Tea Party candidate, backing the single greatest threat to our freedom? Unconscionable! (yet it passed the Senate unanimously and the House 68–1... we are all socialists now.)
2. HB 1161 would have increased the amount of financial responsibility you have to carry under the state's auto insurance mandate. (Defeated in committee 12–1.)
3. HB 1164 would have saved trees from removal along rights of way (tree-hugging! what's he doing with the Tea Partiers? Defeated in committee 8–3).
4. SB 73 allows some minors to donate blood without parental consent... clearly undermining the sanctity of the family, male headship, and who knows what else. (Passed unanimously.)

As a co-sponsor, R. Blake Curd threw his good conservative name behind more utterly unconservative measures:

1. HB 1168, intruding on the free market in the payday lending industry
2. HB 1182, killing local control and rural communities with more forced school consolidation
3. HB 1240, the "nanny-state" smoking ban (Yes, Pat, Curd co-sponsored and voted for it)
4. HB 1269, pulling more control away from local districts and handing it to Pierre
5. HB 1279, mandating local school districts impose new anti-bullying policies

Now don't get me wrong. I like some of the legislation that happened to have R. Blake Curd's name on it (kind of like how I like my Jeep even though birds poop on it). But my point is that for all the happy hoopla Curd likes to stir with his Tea Party friends about how bad big government is, a look at his record shows him to be just the sort of big-government legislator and big-money lobbyist that the Tea Partiers say is what's wrong with our political system.

Curd obviously is more interested in delivering applause lines at Tea Party rallies (or maybe just protecting his bottom line) than crafting a consistent legislative agenda. But you didn't really expect anything coherent to come out of the Tea Party movement, did you?

Oh well. Nice try, Tea Party. Have fun voting for the Constitution Party candidate.