Poor Vicky Hartzler. The Missouri congresswoman has such little respect for her constituents that she will try to blatantly mislead them.

Or, more accurately, she’s willing to try to deceive them, to lie to them.

Hartzler last week voted against the version of the Violence Against Women Act that passed in Congress and went to President Barack Obama for his signature.

You can see the proof of the fact that Hartzler voted against this bill here, provided by the Clerk of the U.S. House. Scroll down to the middle of the “noes” votes.

But wait.

Hartzler soon afterward issued a press release.

Under the headline “Hartzler votes to protect women from acts of violence,” it said, in part, “Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (MO-4) has voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) - legislation that provides vital protection for vulnerable women and children.”

It turns out that Hartzler, in the release, acknowledges that she actually voted for the “House” version of the bill.

What she doesn’t mention is that this was the more restrictive version of the bill that failed in the House vote.

Here’s what happened, as succinctly laid out in Talking Points Memo:

“The House GOP leadership gave a nod to conservatives with a procedural move to hold a vote on their version first and, only if it were to fail, allow a vote on Senate-passed version. The open secret is they knew the GOP version would not pass — that conservatives and Democrats would kill it, which is what happened.”

So to sum up, Hartzler voted for a weak version of the Violence Against Women Act.

She knew it wouldn’t pass. Everyone knew it wouldn’t pass.

So when it failed, Hartzler had the opportunity to vote for a stronger version of the Violence Against Women Act.

She failed to do so.

Despite Hartzler’s opposition to a bill that protects women against violence, this version of the bill actually passed.

It will become law - without Hartzler’s support.