Welcome to what is the 926th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Barry Moore, an Alabama State Legislator who has represented District 91 of that body since first winning office in… you guessed it, the 2010 Tea Party Wave. He left office in 2018 in a failed attempt to get elected to Congress where he lost in the GOP Primary, but he took a second crack at winning the seat for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District in 2020 after finding out sitting Congresswoman Martha Roby was retiring. And he won the GOP primary this year in an extremely conservative-leaning seat, meaning he’s likely to coast into a seat in Washington, DC. We’ll explain why this is a terrible thing now.
First thing’s first… Barry Moore’s voting record as an Alabama state legislator is pretty extreme, even for an Alabama Republican:
- March 22nd, 2011: Moore votes for HB 19, a stricter Voter ID bill aimed at suppressing the vote in Alabama under the guise that it combated statistically non-existent “voter fraud”.
- June 2nd, 2011: Barry Moore co-sponsors and votes for HB 56, an anti-immigration bill so harsh and poorly thought out that it cost Alabama’s state economy $11 billion dollars and about 140,000 jobs.
- June 9th, 2011: Moore votes for HB 18, a ban on abortion in Alabama at 20 weeks.
- February 20th, 2014: Barry Moore votes for HB 45, a bill that has repeatedly been deemed unconstitutional whenever of a version of it appears, to place Ten Commandments monuments on state property.
- March 4th, 2014: Moore votes for HB 490, a fetal heartbeat abortion ban that would effectively ban abortion at 6 weeks, before many women even realize they are pregnant.
- April 3rd, 2014: Barry Moore votes for SB 63, which would allow for the unconstitutional (by way of the 4th Amendment) practice of drug testing welfare recipients.
- March 11th, 2015: Moore votes for HB 18, a bill that would allow for the return of the electric chair is a barbaric means of execution.
- February 17th, 2016: Barry Moore votes for HB 45, a bill aimed a banning fetal tissue being used or sold for research.
- March 16th, 2017: Moore votes for HB 24, to allow adoption agencies to deny gay couples from adoption children based on their “religious principles”.
- April 25th, 2017: Barry Moore is so warped on the issue of reproductive rights that he voted against HB 315, a bill to allow midwives as a legal profession in Alabama.
- May 18th, 2017: Moore votes for SB 187, which would reduce the time a death row inmate has to file an appeal, and be at the mercy of the electric chair that Moore voted to return to faster.
- May 19th, 2017: Moore votes for SB 60, a bill that would prohibit the alteration or removal of “historic” markers (in layman’s terms, the ones that honor the Confederacy, specifically).
Barry Moore also believes in no restrictions on the 2nd Amendment, whatsoever, and supports the vanity project/quaqmire/dumbass idea that is Donald Trump’s wall along the U.S./Mexico border.
However, it’s not any matter of policy that makes Barry Moore a terrible candidate for Congress in 2020 (or any other year he might run). Our concerns start with his arrest on felony perjury charges back in April of 2014, when he allegedly provided false statements relating to an economic development deal in the Wiregrass area and comments regarding his Republican primary opponent Josh Pipkin. On Jan. 24th, 2014, Moore was asked by Alabama’s Deputy Attorney General Matt Hart whether Mike Hubbard (who ended up convicted of six felony counts himself) threatened to impede economic incentives from the Enterprise area in order to keep Moore’s primary opponent out of the race. Moore denied that was the case to Hart and added that Hubbard was attempting to get the deal done saying the deal was “in the actual company’s ball park” and continued to say that financial details were still getting worked out. He later told Hart in his official statement that he “hadn’t heard anything else,” which according to the indictment was also a false statement. Moore told investigators that he hadn’t told his primary opponent that year, Josh Pipkin that if he were to stay out of the race then the economic development project would remain on track. Moore asserted the decision to run was purely up to Pipkin but added that he would continue to pursue the jobs deal… which, again, was allegedly a false statement he made. Now, while Mike Hubbard was convicted in this affair, Barry Moore somehow evaded a conviction, because even though there was a recording of Moore’s conversation with Pipkin… the jury decided he just had “misremembered” the details from his conversation seven months prior, where he tried leveraging his primary opponent out of the race.
This is a “What. The. F***” level of corruption, even by Alabama standards. And a telling sign of what it takes to be convicted.
Now, one would think that such a political scandal would lead to the end of a legislator’s career… but that is not the case here. Barry Moore served four more years in the state legislature, and started trying to get elected to Congress in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. Yes, he lost in the primary to Martha Roby in that first attempt, but he wasn’t exactly blown out. In 2020, he’s won the primary, and looks to be able to coast to victory in November, given that it has a +16 Republican lean.
Well, Barry Moore managed to stand out in the build up to the 2020 election by sharing a meme where he seemingly gave his approval of teenage murder suspect Kyle Rittenhouse (we’re probably being too generous considering he killed his victims on film), who traveled from his home in Illinois to hunt people protesting the death of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin with an assault rifle. The image in question shows two people on the ground who “didn’t fight back”, and then Rittenhouse, who it credits with “fighting back”.
Well, frankly, based on Barry Moore’s headspace, we’d rather people in Alabama’s 2nd fight back with votes, and surprise us all by flipping this seat blue and electing Democratic candidate Phyllis Harvey Hall, a retired elementary school teacher who seems far more level-headed and has the composure this country really needs right now. Oh, there’s also the matter that we just discussed how Moore is a corrupt, partisan, racist tool. We could do without a fresh one of those at the capitol.
One Year Ago, October 14th, 2019: Foster Friess (WY)
Two Years Ago, October 14th, 2018: Levi Athon (OH)
Three Years Ago, October 14th, 2017: Paul Babeu (AZ)… 2017 Update
Four Year Ago, October 14th, 2016: Paul Babeu (AZ)… 2016 Update
Five Years Ago, October 14th, 2015: Paul Babeu (AZ)… 2015 Update
Six Years Ago, October 14th, 2014: Paul Babeu (AZ)…Original Profile