How To Remove A Tea Partier

Oooh, this is so sweet!

Like a good Tea Partier, Wagner voted against every single appropriation of money put forward by the legislature, including a bill that arrived on Governor Brian Schweitzer’s desk last April which contained grant money for local communities (including Wagner’s district), for things like sewer upgrades, fire department repairs, and the like.

Schweitzer–who is known to enjoy mixing it up with right-wingers–saw an angle.  He noticed that Wagner had voted against the bill.  So, Schweitzer used his “line item veto” power and selectively crossed out the funds that would have gone to Wagner’s district.  Schweitzer did this to several legislators who voted against the grant billl.  Schweitzer said that it was logical to assume that if Wagner and others voted against the bill,  then their constituents must not have expressed much interest in getting the money.

But as you might expect, community leaders in Wagner’s district hadn’t even been aware that Wagner had voted against it.  For when he voted against the bill, Wagner had been on a frolic of his own, and not representing the interests of his district.  Wagner figured that the bill would pass anyway, and so he could flex his Tea Party biceps while knowing that Democrats and moderate Republicans would turn in sufficient votes so that the grant bill would pass anyway.

But he hadn’t counted on Schweitzer calling out his bullshit.

[emphasis mine]

Icing on the cake?  Last week Wagner was beaten in his GOP primary.