Oops.
Michele Bachmann's troubles
keep getting deeper:
The Daily Beast has learned that federal investigators are now interviewing former Bachmann campaign staffers nationwide about alleged intentional campaign-finance violations. The investigators are working on behalf of the Office of Congressional Ethics, which probes reported improprieties by House members and their staffs and then can refer cases to the House Ethics Committee. […]
Former staffers tell The Daily Beast that investigators have allegedly asked about allegations of improper transfer of funds and under-the-table payments actions by Bachmann’s presidential campaign, specifically in relation to the campaign’s national political director, Guy Short, and Bachmann’s onetime Iowa campaign chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson. Questions directly about Bachmann, they said, have been primarily focused on what she knew about those men’s actions and when she knew it.
Yeah,
who would have thought.
The good news is that this is the House Ethics Committee, and if you've been following the antics of the House of late, you know that the whole concept of "Ethics" has been substantially dumbed down in recent years. You're still not allowed to cook and eat the congressional pages (ha, just kidding—Republicans had to shut down the 175+-year-old page program after certain … incidents … took place) but on nearly anything else, you're mostly home free.
Bachmann has been facing high staff turnover and more than a few stories pegging her as an all-around terrible person to work for, which surprises exactly nobody. We'll see if her status rises from "insufferable crackpot" to "person officially recognized by House Republicans as one of the few people in America too unethical even for them," but I can't keep myself from hoping.
As a bonus from the article, here's an ex-staffer explaining the mind of Michele Bachmann:
“She doesn’t use the most credible sources,” explains one former staffer, detailing Bachmann’s reliance on stories from the conspiracy-peddling WorldNet Daily to shape her worldview, “and she tends to listen to the last person who talks to her.” Bachmann is also a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
World Net Daily. Classic.
Bachmann's also being investigated by the FEC over possible improper payments to Guy Short; something you can do to help is to sign our petition asking the FEC for a speedy and transparent inquiry into these and other incidents during her campaign.