Texas to reject REAL ID, despite two years of hypocrisy behind it

State Rep. Joe Corte is leading the charge to opt Texas out of REAL ID, the federal driver’s license law which is both an unfunded mandate and a massive data-mining exercise.

The former apparently bothers Corte. But, the latter didn’t two years ago, when he backed legislation expanding state biometric data gathering — as a ramp-up for REAL ID. Problem is, Gov. Perry’s own data mining program, ostensibly for state homeland security, is now wind-drafting in the powers of Corte’s 2005 bill.