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.
Old Yellar must be turning in his grave.....oops! wrong thread.
Top of the morning to ya.
what?
So, now you're going to turn this into an Old Yellar thread?
:-)
For the life of me I can not understand what posssed Bachmann to hire rollins and then to attack Palin on his first day. Never made sense either action.
I think the more we see of bachmann the less we will like her. she doesn’t seem to be wearing well.
I was more interested in the London gay dog show.
Elton’s pooch is competing. I hear Elton’s dog told Barney Frank’s dog that he was unserious.
Ramirez is link-only.
I've always liked her as a congress critter, never said an unkind word about her, but the more I see of her the more I dislike what she's doing with her campaign.
Her unwillingness to attack Romney care when given the opportunity sealed my distrust for her.
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Bachmann had WEEKS to address these matters.
Perhaps it is her cloning by Jimmy Carter.
Click here for a cartoon so good, it is illegal to post (Ramirez).
Keep that sense of humor, that was good.
A most excellent cartoon at the link!
Republican U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann, Chip Cravaack and John Kline and Democrat Collin Peterson are among 173 congressional co-sponsors of H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. Federal law prohibits government funding of abortions except in some cases including incest and rape, but H.R. 3 seeks to limit the exceptions to cases of “forcible rape.” In an article titled, “The House GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape,” Mother Jones reports on the bill and includes analysis from Laurie Levenson who teaches criminal law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles: The bill hasn’t been carefully constructed, Levenson notes. The term “forcible rape” is not defined in the federal criminal code, and the bill’s authors don’t offer their own definition. In some states, there is no legal definition of “forcible rape,” making it unclear whether any abortions would be covered by the rape exemption in those jurisdictions. Peterson is among ten Democratic co-sponsors of the bill.
So much news, so little time. The London Gay Dog Show and now, Huntsman is making his big announcement.
I’ll stick with the dog show.
I thought his announcement was AT the gay dog show........
It should’ve been. More people would have noticed.
He said something like he feels my pain. I seem to remember hearing something like that before.....
** crickets **
**crickets**
can get very loud in their own way........
says alot doesn’t it.
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