Thomas Beadle is No Taxpayer Watchdog

May 21, 2020 T. Arthur Mason North Dakota
Rep. Thomas Beadle (R - District 27) speaks in favor of the $50 million endowment for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum. (Photo via screenshot.)

If you’re like many North Dakotans, your mailbox has been inundated this primary season with mailers encouraging you to vote for Governor Doug Burgum’s chosen ones (i.e. candidates). Burgum is spending a lot of his own money to convince you to do so. He desperately wants to defeat conservative candidates.

One of those candidates, who’s in the good graces of the governor, is Rep. Thomas Beadle (R – District 27). As you’re probably well aware of by now, Beadle is taking on Rep. Dan Johnston (R – District 24) for the right to succeed the outgoing State Treasurer, Kelly Schmidt. (By the way, Schmidt has endorsed Johnston.)

The campaign to get Thomas Beadle elected has been nothing short of deceit. He’s branded himself a conservative, when his record shows that he’s anything but. The American Conservative Union gave him a score of 50% last Legislative Session. The Family Policy Alliance hammered him on a number of conservative issues in this Voter’s Guide.

In addition to being a fake conservative, mailers have also trotted out the idea that Beadle is somehow a taxpayer “watchdog”. If this race wasn’t so important, the claim would be laughable.

While it’s easy to slap labels like these on mailers — thanks to the governor’s money — it’s another thing to back it up with a voting record. And that’s where Thomas Beadle comes up short— big time.

An analysis of Beadle’s record shows he’s something more of cronyist than a “watchdog”. Here’s some examples going back to 2015:

  1. House Bill 1446 (2015) – Natural Gas Vehicle Subsidies
  2. House Bill 1228 (2015) – Renewable Energy Tax Credits
  3. House Bill 1020 (2017) – Bailout of Wester Area Water Supply (WAWS)
  4. Senate Bill 2010 (2017) – Government Funding of the Arts
  5. House Bill 1040 (2019) – Tax Credits for Automation & Machinery Manufacturers

As if this isn’t bad enough, toss in his support for spending taxpayer dollars on things like:

  1. Senate Bill 2019 (2019) – $5 Million Cactus Garden
  2. House Bill 1333 (2019) – $15 Million Loans to the Tech Industry
  3. Senate Bill 2001 (2019) – $50 Million Endowment for Presidential Library

By now, you should be getting the picture.

Aside from the spending and cronyism, it’s also worth noting that Beadle not only supported eliminating the office of State Treasurer in 2017, but he voted to strip the State Auditor of his authority to initiate performance audits in 2019. Would a taxpayer watchdog support such things?

No, Thomas Beadle is no watchdog. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. He’s a big spending cronyist. He’s like the lazy hound who, instead of guarding the place, takes a bone while showing intruders their way through the back door.

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Sources:

  1. https://theminutemanblog.com/2020/05/18/burgums-411000-political-agenda/
  2. https://theminutemanblog.com/2020/04/28/burgum-continues-quest-against-conservative-candidates/
  3. https://theminutemanblog.com/2020/05/11/state-treasurers-race-what-voting-records-say-about-johnston-beadle/
  4. https://theminutemanblog.com/2020/04/30/breaking-outgoing-state-treasurer-endorses-johnston-to-take-her-place/
  5. http://acuratings.conservative.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/09/CLA_NorthDakota_2019_web-1.pdf
  6. http://engage.familypolicyalliance.com/site/DocServer/FPA-ND_VoterGuide-Treasurer2020.pdf?docID=725
  7. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/64-2015/bill-index/bi1446.html
  8. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/64-2015/bill-index/bi1228.html
  9. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/65-2017/bill-index/bi1020.html
  10. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/65-2017/bill-index/bi1020.html
  11. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/bill-index/bi1040.html
  12. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/bill-index/bi2019.html
  13. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/bill-index/bi1333.html
  14. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/bill-index/bi2001.html
  15. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/65-2017/bill-index/bi3004.html
  16. https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/bill-index/bi2004.html
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About T. Arthur Mason 878 Articles
T. Arthur Mason is a native North Dakotan who has spent nearly all of his life in the Peace Garden State. As the third of four children in Western North Dakota, Mason grew to appreciate family and the outdoors. Some of his fondest memories are annual deer hunts with family and friends. In his early teenage years, faith became a central part of T. Arthur Mason's life. He and the majority of his family attend church together on a weekly basis and find this a fulfilling aspect of their lives. Through the influence of his father, T. Arthur Mason became intrigued with politics. As a boy, he attended political events with his father and enjoyed the friendships that resulted as a byproduct of those political associations. As Mason grew older, he became convinced that the quote often attributed to Thomas Jefferson was true, "That government is best which governs least." Today, T. Arthur Mason enjoys time with his wife and children, an occasional hunt, and an increasingly active life on the political scene. This blog is the fulfillment of a dream to design a web site in the realm of politics and to advocate for the principles of Liberty and constitutionally limited government. On behalf of all those that contribute to The Minuteman, we hope you enjoy your time on the site and will share the message with others.

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