Bachmann Still Hasn’t Paid Former Campaign Staffers

More than a year after it ended, Michele Bachmann’s Presidential campaign still owes salary to several staffers:

The presidential campaign of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is refusing to pay five Iowa staffers and asking that they sign non-disclosure agreements, a former campaign aide has alleged.

Peter Waldron, who served as Bachmann’s national field coordinator, says that the former employees were repeatedly told they would be paid. But long after the campaign ended, still without their payments, he says they were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements that would prohibit them from discussing any immoral, unethical or criminal behavior with the media, the police or an attorney. “This agreement came out of left field,” he said.

“I’m disappointed,” Waldron said. “Working with her, I know her to be a person of good faith. However, I also know that she is surrounded by what the Bible says is men of lesser sorts.” According to Waldron, who first made his allegations on Christian Newswire, Bachmann Finance Chairman James Pollack is the one dealing with the unpaid staffers. Pollack has not yet returned a request for comment.

So much for fiscal responsibility, eh?

 

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, Policing, US Politics, ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Rob in CT says:

    Grifters gonna grift.

  2. C. Clavin says:

    Must be her farm subsidies, and her husbands Medicare funding, haven’t come through yet.
    Such are the trials and tribulations of sucking on the Government teet.

  3. Fiona says:

    Michele Bachmann a hypocrite? Well color me shocked.

  4. Franklin says:

    non-disclosure agreements that would prohibit them from discussing any immoral, unethical or criminal behavior

    Something tells me that such a legal agreement between private parties would not hold up well in court.

  5. C. Clavin says:

    @ Franklin…especially if she hasn’t in fact paid them. The truth can me a mean mistress to Republicans.

  6. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Well, that explains the sudden influx of lawyers into Iowa.

  7. Gustopher says:

    Well, skipping out on paying people is the official Republican position, so these campaign workers shouldn’t be surprised.

    This is exactly what the Republican congress is threatening to do with the budget — they have authorized spending, but when it comes time to pay up, either directly or via taking a loan to do so, they are balking.

    It’s like dine-and-dash, except they haven’t got the decency to dash away, they just sit there.

  8. Herb says:

    they were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements that would prohibit them from discussing any immoral, unethical or criminal behavior with the media, the police or an attorney.

    Huh? Is that even legally enforceable?

  9. legion says:

    Republican : hypocrite :: sky : blue

  10. edmondo says:

    This can only mean one thing: She’s running again in 2016!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  11. anjin-san says:

    Being a deadbeat in today’s GOP is a feature, not a bug.

  12. Franklin says:

    @Herb: That’s what I’m saying. Specifically, trying to stop someone from speaking about criminal activity with the police is probably itself a crime. And also against any whistleblower protection acts.

  13. swbarnes2 says:

    You lie down with dogs…I don’t have a lot of sympathy. I doubt this is a class of people so desperate for a job that they had no choice but to put themselves in this position.

    And really, Doug, if you lived in Minnesota, you wouldn’t vote for a candidate who had a prayer of beating Bachmann, would you? So get off your damn moral high horse.

  14. Dan says:

    Why would she insist on a non-disclosure agreement? Wouldn’t that suggest that she has done something immoral, unethical or criminal? This puts ideas in my head. I read some where that Bachmann isn’t getting any from her husband, maybe that would explain the immoral part.

  15. stonetools says:

    I’m sure she’ll be at the forefront of the debt ceiling battles , as this is all of a piece with her ” spend now, pay never” philosophy. She’ll probably blame the staffers for daring to insist on being paid.
    This may be her last term. She won narrowly last time, and Minnesota appears to be trending bluer, or as I would put it, trending saner.

    INNEAPOLIS (AP/WCCO) — U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is headed back to Washington, but the tea-party favorite’s toughest race yet suggests a new vulnerability in the wake of her failed presidential run.

    Bachmann barely won a fourth term despite vastly outspending an upstart Democrat running his first race. She turned out to be less popular with her constituents than GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney or even a gay marriage ban she championed.
    Bachmann seemed to acknowledge as much Wednesday, promising a “laser-like” focus on her job.

    “In my next term, I’ll continue to work every day to create jobs for the people in my district and for the people in our nation, while doing everything I can to be an unwavering voice in Washington for our constitutional conservative values,” Bachmann said in a statement.

    Heh, about the “laser focus on jobs”? The first bill out of the gate for the 113th Congress, backed by Bachmann? Repeal Obamacare. Once a wingnut……

  16. al-Ameda says:

    Maybe Romney and Bain Capital can do a hostile takeover of her and outsource her to North Korea?