Michelle Bachmann Under Investigaton By Office of Congressional Ethics

Money paid under the table, money not being paid, and stolen lists of voters who home school their kids. Oh my...


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Federal investigators are probing allegations that Rep. Michele Bachmann, or members of her staff, inappropriately used money raised during her presidential campaign, her lawyer and former campaign staffers said today.
Bachmann has not been formally accused of any wrong doing, but staffers said they had been questioned by federal authorities. The investigators are working on behalf of the Office of Congressional Ethics.

"I was questioned by federal investigators," said Peter Waldron, a member of Bachmann's Iowa campaign staff. Waldron had filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in January alleging inappropriate use of campaign funds. He said the interview covered some 40 questions and took place in his Florida offices. Waldron has complained both to the FEC and to the media that he was never fully compensated by the Bachmann campaign, but said today he could not discuss the specifics of his interview, although he said the questions pertained to the allegations made in his FEC complaint.

Among those allegations are that Bachmann's onetime Iowa campaign chair, state Sen. Kent Sorenson, received money under the table for his support. Sorenson's position in the Legislature prohibits him from receiving payments from the campaign.

Waldron also accused a staffer of illicitly receiving funds from both the campaign and a political action committee, a violation of federal election laws.

Waldron, a fundamentalist pastor who worked in Iowa and often led Bachmann and staffers in prayer, further accused the campaign of failing to pay staffers and then requiring them to sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to get paid. Staffers received copies of the NDA after police in Urbandale, Iowa, began their own investigation into allegations that campaign officials stole a list of families who home schooled their children, an influential Iowa voting bloc.

Waldron also provided a notarized copy of an affidavit by Eric Woolson, another staffer who alleges that he was told by Sorenson and others how the list of home school families was stolen. The owner of the list, Barb Heki, who worked for a home schooling advocacy organization and volunteered for the campaign has filed a separate lawsuit against Bachmann.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mich...thics-watchdog/story?id=18808705#.UVDcTlcQM3U

 

There's a reason why Bachmann's campaign staff and other staffers turnover every couple of years.