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.
The only loudness is in the echo chamber of your heads.
I will let her defend herself. She is all grown up. Unlike a few folks I know.
They are just getting stated. Time will tell.
Okay, the first two are unimportant nonsense that only a few Palin cult folks keep going on about here that nobody else cares about. It is over. Sometimes when you push too hard, you lose any sympathy. Keep that in mind.
As to the third. That is one position that I don’t like about Bachmann, but it is a minor one in the scope of things. Michelle is a conservative candidate and she is in the race. Take note of that.
Thats the last time I talk about the other nonsense. It is old news and boringly repetitious.
Reagan did hire Rollins.
Freep Mail
Well where do you think Ed Rollins was in '84?
Reagan '84 Reelect team.
All you need to do is add the phrase 'Lets move on' and you are operating right out of the Dem playbook. You know, the one where ugly truths are avoided rather than confronted.
Unfortantely for them, we're not Democrats. We don't bury the garbage, we expect it to be dealt with.
funny but they are still bringing up Palin’s resignation and her record as Mayor in the 90’s.....I think they have a weird view on what is old news.
Either bachmann fires rollins or she is done. simple as that.
Oh horsefeathers. You are stuck in a rut like all thin skinned Palin fans are. You look silly and I am sick of it.
Now go bother someone else.
Good grief. The damn country is falling apart and you folks are stuck on what old meanie Ed Rollins said about poor Sarah. You gripe more than she does.
I am still waiting to see that he was wrong. Perhaps saying that will get Palin moving into the race for you.
yeah that isn’t going to work either.
Real leaders admit to errors and clean them up before moving on.
The Bachmann supporters want to just move on without the cleanup. Just like the Dems.
The Bachmann supporters think there's nothing wrong with using taxpayer money for political purposes. Just like the Dems.
The Bachmann supporters like to trash Palin. Just like the Dems.
If someone pointed out that I was acting like a Democrat and could back that up, I would take notice. The Bachmann supporters apparently could care less. They just want to win, principles be damned.
You know, just like the Dems.
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Sorry, but that "old news" gives a far more accurate assessment of what a Palin Executive presidency would look like than all of her post-quit tweets, books, TV shows and speeches.
I think it is very revealing that you seem to want folks to ignore her executive experience. Of course I understand why.
You are the one spinning like a top. Not me.
You are the one acting like a Democrat. Not me.
You are the one wanting to move on without the issues being dealt with. Not me.
And this article didn't even MENTION Palin, yet the Bachmann supporters managed to drag Palin into it.
So it seems to me YOU are the one with a Palin fixation. And an ugly one at that.
So Karl cultivated a House Rep from MN to be a Manchurian Candidate? The Tea Party wasn't invented until after the CNBC Rant of Rick Santelli. That was in Feb '09. From your argument, are you saying that Karl Rove is a clairvoyant? Creating a Tea Party infiltrator a full 3 years before anyone even thought of having this movement?
Or maybe Karl has someone with inside info?
ROFL. I think the fact that she made washilla the fastest growing city in AK under her watch is very revealing and the fact that the state of AK under her watch had one of the best job creation number (%) too.
and since we are going back in the wayback machine. i think the fact that Bachmann tried to ban the movie alladin form being shown in schools is also revealing....
The fact that bachmann supporters think Palin’s record in the 90’s is Not old news but that Bachmann’s actions 3 weeks ago is old news was what i was commenting on. Of course i understand why the bachmann supporters refuse to address the many and growing negatives about Bachmann and would instead like to continue to tear down Palin.
Go whine to someone else. Heres a quarter, call someone who cares.
Wahhhhhhhhaaa
The first mention of Palin in this thread was by a very solid Palinista, gov_bean_ counter, in post 23. I was curious by your charge of the Bachmannites deflecting. Palin was injected into the thread by one of her supporters.
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.)
They just reach for the special sauce and say that the Dems do it too, that House Ethics rules weren't violated (har!), and those meanie Palin supporters are blowing it all out of proportion.
Anything but confront the ugly fact. And tomorrow, having avoided the issue, they will say it is old news and we should just move on. Just like the Dems do.
Fancy that. On a Bachmann thread. LOL Facts don’t matter dontcha know.
Nice job pounding your fists on the table. You know, like lawyers do when they don’t have the facts and the law on their side.
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