Posted on 06/20/2011 10:58:33 PM PDT by jennychase
On Nov. 5, 2009, at the behest of Rep. Michele Bachmann, thousands of tea party activists descended on the Capitol to vent their rage over the health care overhaul bill pending before Congress. The assembled activists chanted, "Kill the bill! Kill the bill!" and waved signs opposing a government takeover of health care but they may not have known that the same government was paying for the event. According to House expense reports, Bachmann and three conservative GOP colleagues Reps. Tom Price (Ga.), Steve King (Iowa) and Todd Akin (Mo.) each paid $3,407.50 that day, a total of $13,630, to a sound and stage company called National Events, apparently for the sound system used at the rally. The money came from the Members' taxpayer-funded office accounts, despite House rules prohibiting the use of these funds for political activities. Bachmann's office insists the expense was a proper use of official funds. Bachmann billed the event as a "press conference," which can be funded from official accounts. But no questions were taken from the press and, unlike most press conferences, it opened with a prayer, the national anthem and a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. .............
Bachmann gave her own response, calling it the tea party response, making many of the same points as Ryan. The speech was streamed online by the Tea Party Express. The following day, Bachmann's campaign paid Oval Office Writers an Arlington, Va., firm a $5,000 fee for "speechwriting." Bachmann has occasionally spent money out of her office account for things closely tied to her political activities. But as with the rally, it is not clear whether she has violated any rules. For instance, in June 2010, Bachmann added to her Congressional payroll a "senior advisor" named Guy Short, whose last Congressional job had been chief of staff to ex-Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), who lost her re-election bid in 2008. According to Congressional pay records, Bachmann paid Short $5,000 for the month. On June 3, 2010, Short established C&M Strategies in Colorado. Records on file with the Colorado secretary of state list Short as the "registered agent" of the firm; the incorporator was Colorado certified public accountant Barry Arrington. In July, Short dropped off Bachmann's payroll, but Bachmann's campaign began paying C&M Strategies for fundraising consulting services. That month, Arrington filed papers with the Federal Election Commission creating Bachmann's leadership PAC, called Many Individual Conservatives Helping Elect Leaders Everywhere, which by September was also paying C&M Strategies for fundraising consulting services. Since then, MICHELEPAC and the campaign committee have paid C&M Strategies about $150,000 for fundraising consulting, and Short has never again appeared on Bachmann's Congressional payroll. Asked about Short's duties in the Congressional office, Bachmann spokesman Doug Sachtleben said in an email, "With six years of hill experience as a Chief of Staff, Guy Short worked with every member of the Congresswoman's staff to ensure that they worked as effectively as possible to serve the constituents of Minnesota's sixth district." Several other Bachmann staffers, including Communications Director David Dziok, former Chief of Staff Ron Carey, former "constituent service officer" Jack Tomczak and former Chief of Staff Andy Parrish all received regular checks from her campaign while serving on her Congressional payroll as well which is permissible as long as the employees make a clear separation between the time they spend working on the campaign and the hours they are working for the Congressional office. Bachmann also appears to have used her Congressional office account to cover travel costs for television appearances again, an unusual expense but not one barred by House rules.
They'll be throwing knives at every contender with reckless abandon.
Let’s peruse Nancy Pelosi’s and Harry Reid’s e-mails while we’re at it.
Mrs. Bachmann is a media creation. If by some cruel twist of fate she should end up on the Republican ticket, she will be destroyed. She used to whine when it was just Matthews and Press giving her a hard time. She got her little girl panties in a wad when Governor Palin answered a question honestly and sent Rollins out to trash her. (Yes I said it. Rollins is the XO of that organization and no XO opens their trap like he did without the permission of the CO.)
From her very thin legislative accomplishment to the embellishment of the foster children (Yes she told Blitzer the "raised" the children) to her buffoonish statements on the campaign trail as well as the House floor.
By the time the MSM is finished with her she will be done politically. Hope she enjoys the ride.
“She is in bed with the establishment Republicans. If they wanted a crowd at a rally, they couldnt get 100 people. So call Michele and shell get the TEA Party people. Thats why she leads the TEA Party caucus, so the Republican Party can use her to get the TEA Party to be their popular support. Why else did all the RINOs speak at that event? Why did House money pay for it?
She probably asserted herself into TEA Party events at their direction which means shes been a phoney all along. Now she wants to split the conservative vote and let Romney take the nomination. Had me fooled for a while but no longer.”
Sorry, this “Michele is a stalking horse for Romney” meme I’ve been seeing around here is laughable. That dog simply wont hunt. People who’ve been paying attention the past few years know that Michele is one of (if not the most) conservative voice in Congress.
That rally in November 2009 was a prime example. With most of the GOP was hiding in the shadows afraid to be labeled “racist”, she and a few other brave congressman were front and center trying to kill Obamacare before it passed.
She is not, and never has been a big favorite of establishment Republicans. In fact, you may recall (but you probably don’t cause you’d rather not) that when Michele was in a tough re-election race in 2008, there was quite a controversy about the fact that the NRCC was funding other RINO campaigns and didn’t give her any donations.
She’s not my first choice, I prefer Palin or Perry over her, but Michele is anything but a RINO, her conservative bona fides are as strong or stronger than anyone else in the field. If the other 2 choose not to run, I would have no problem at all supporting MB.
So we have another Willard attack, yawn////?????
She isn’t Palin so we get fed whatever BS from lib journos and you are ready to railroad her outta here.
How pathetic.
Exposed is that Ms Bachmann is now "wed" to Rollins,
and created her own coverup of what he did,
and her constant pandering to Romney and the RINO agendae.
You have yet to extend the owner of this site the courtesy of a reply to his comment below:
To: org.whodat
Arithmetic is not your best suit. Neither is conservatism.
13 posted on 06/08/2011 2:15:17 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Rebellion is brewing!! Impeach the corrupt Marxist bastard!!)
Typical. If Reagan was alive today Palin supporters would be trashing him too.
Well if he hired Ed Rollins I might.
oh my.
And if this article was about Sarah Palin, you’d be all over it, hypocrite.
Got Michelle an overpaid no-show job with taxpayer funds in Chicago.
Nobody even writes about it.
If she gets the GOP nomination the dems/msm will pounce on it big time. Until them they will keep in the magazines of their political gun until it’s time to shoot.
Bachmann just opened herself up to charges of being a hypocrite. we need a clean candidate one that didn’t use taxpayer money to fund her campaign.
But this says SIX thousand. I am baffled.
It also says (D-VA).
Bachmann and Mitt Romney are the BENEDICT ARNOLDS of 2011.
Check out where FReepers have uncovered something very big.
Rented a stage and speaker system? Put ‘em in leg irons! /s
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