Wardlow votes against health care for kids because "it was passing anyway"

As reported here earlier, Rep. Lynn Wardlow (Repubican 38B-Eagan) was captured on tape voting against the Health and Human Services bill after his fellow Republican House Minority Leader Marty Seifert told him "Vote No Wardlow". The vote came in the last hours of the legislative session.

Rep. Wardlow tells Inside Minnesota Politics that when this all happened, he was answering email on a computer and hadn't been paying attention during a "bunch of different votes that pertained to procedure" that preceded the final vote.

"He was not telling me how to vote". Rep. Wardlow said the House Minority Leader was just reminding him that he had agreed earlier to vote against the bill.

Asked why he voted against providing health care to more than 30,000 children, Rep. Wardlow said "the bill was passing anyway" and his vote was a protest vote because the bill was too costly. Rep. Wardlow says he supports health care for kids.

It's not strange that Rep. Wardlow would vote against something he says he supports because it contains something House Minority Leader Marty Seifert opposes (increased spending). Why?? Because Rep. Wardlow consistently puts the Republican agenda ahead of his own personal principles such as health care for kids.

He's also not above taking partisan potshots at the State Senator who has been pushing for the health care for kids. He said bill author Sen. Linda Berglin was "less than honorable" in how she got the bill passed.