Requires three parts of different articles (and multiple updates)
Before you get to the good stuff - it is important to remember this:
Before you get to the good stuff - it is important to remember this:
From 2011 about Waldron (my emphasis):
Bachmann spokeswoman Alice
Stewart told reporter Garance Franke-Ruta that Waldron was a valued member of
the Bachmann campaign team, organizing evangelical outreach in Iowa and South
Carolina.
"Michele's faith is an
important part of her life and Peter did a tremendous job with our faith
outreach in Iowa," she wrote in an email. "We are fortunate to have
him on our team and look forward to having him expanding his efforts in several
states."
Oh my - how life changes.
Something musta really ticked Waldron off in the meantime - for him to go public.
You know it is NOT about a mere $5,000.
Maybe Waldron thinks the police investigation hasn't gotten enough press and is trying to bring it out using this ruse.
Michele Bachmann
Refuses to Pay Iowa Presidential Staffers After 375 Days
It is only recently that a few
Iowa small business owners, most of whom are heads-of-household, received
payment in full for services rendered through the 2012 caucus month.
The remaining staff members were
promised payment several times by Michele's Finance Chairman, James Pollack,
but the payment never came.
Dr. Peter Waldron, Bachmann for
President National Field Coordinator, explained it this way, "Recently Mr.
Pollack demanded that each unpaid staff member sign a non-disclosure agreement
that prohibits any discussion of any criminal, moral, and/or unethical behavior
witnessed during Mrs. Bachmann's campaign in Iowa.
According to her last Personal
Financial Disclosure she has a net worth between $1,300,000 and $2,800,000.
Well Waldron either has an axe to grind publicly with
Michelle or she has not paid these people.
The other troubling part of this is the phrase
"Recently Mr. Pollack
demanded that each unpaid staff member sign a non-disclosure agreement that
prohibits any discussion of any criminal, moral, and/or unethical behavior
witnessed during Mrs. Bachmann's campaign in Iowa.”
Hmmmmmmmmmmm – recently – before we pay you?
Begs the question – What happened?????
The story above was picked up by Salon
Bachmann still
hasn’t paid presidential campaign staffers
Five Iowa staffers say they've
refuse to sign a gag order the campaign demands (updated: Bachamnn official
denies)
Waldron said the staffers are
owed a mere $5,000, and that
Bachmann has more than $2 million in her campaign account, but has refused to
pay unless the staffers sign the agreement. Negotiations over payment with
Bachmann Finance Chairman James Pollack eventually broke down and Waldron
decided to go public with the news, …
“It is sobering to think that a
Christian member of Congress would betray her testimony to the Lord and the
public by withholding earned wages from deserving staff,” Waldron added.
Reached my phone, Waldron
confirmed the details and said the nondisclosure agreement stems from the
campaign’s alleged misuse of an email list.
Just because you are a proclaimed Christian does not
necessary mean you are a moral person – just means you thump your bible in
public.
At the end of the article – Bachmann’s mouthpiece says it
is a lie and everyone has been paid.
And then The Hill takes the story a little further:
Former campaign
aide says Bachmann withheld payment
After Waldron asked Bachmann’s
husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann, to intervene, he said the staffers who were owed
money received a non-disclosure form requiring them to speak with Bachmann’s
attorneys before consulting with law enforcement investigators or other lawyers
about the campaign.
Waldron suspects the payments may
have been suspended because they cooperated with a criminal investigation over
a stolen voter list.
“Michele Bachmann and her senior
staff are involved in a lawsuit in Polk County, Iowa, and there’s a criminal
investigation underway,” he said. “Many of our staff are involved in either
depositions or interviews with the police.
“It’s probably not a coincidence
that all the people who have not been paid are the very people who have either
given depositions, given affidavits or have been interviewed extensively by the
police,” he said.
James Pollack, who served as
national finance chairman of the Bachmann campaign, disputed the claims.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Depositions
Affadavits
Interviewed intensively by the police
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
UPDATE 1
January 15
WASHINGTON - A top adviser in Michele Bachmann's 2012 White House bid has filed a complaint with federal election officials alleging campaign finance violations involving her presidential campaign and the independent political action committee she leads.
January 15
WASHINGTON - A top adviser in Michele Bachmann's 2012 White House bid has filed a complaint with federal election officials alleging campaign finance violations involving her presidential campaign and the independent political action committee she leads.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint was filed
Tuesday by Peter Waldron, a widely known evangelist enlisted by the Bachmann
campaign for outreach to Christian conservatives. The filing follows his
allegations last week that the Bachmann campaign has withheld payments to
staffers who refused to sign confidentiality agreements.
UPDATE - 2
UPDATE - 2
January 18, 2011
DES MOINES — A former campaign aide for U.S. Rep. Michele
Bachmann claims the one-time presidential candidate hid thousands of dollars in payment to an Iowa state senator so he wouldn’t violate
Senate ethics rules.
One pertains to Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson, R-Milo, who Waldron claims was paid $7,500 a
month for his role as Iowa state chairman for the Bachmann campaign.
Waldron claims the payments were funneled through a third
party, C&M Strategies of Colorado operated by Guy Short. In essence,
Waldron said, the Bachmann campaign would overpay C&M Strategies for its
work and C&M Strategies would then cut a check to Sorenson for his work on
behalf of the Bachmann campaign.
If true, the alleged scheme may violate the Senate ethics
rule against state senators being employed by political campaigns.
MORE _ February 7
Written by: Kevin Hall
Tags: Barb Heki, Eric Woolson, Guy Short, Homepage
Spotlight, Keith Nahigian, Kent Sorenson, Michele Bachmann, Peter Waldron
bachmann sorenson
The Iowa
campaign manager for Michele Bachmann’s 2012 presidential campaign testified in
a sworn affidavit that Kent Sorenson admitted taking part in the theft of a
contact list of homeschooling families from the computer of Barb Heki, another
former Bachmann staffer. At the time of the alleged theft, Sorenson, a state
senator, was the Iowa
chairman for Bachmann’s campaign.
“We took it,” Eric Woolson quotes Sorenson saying on the day
of the alleged theft. The sworn affidavit is signed by Woolson, dated September
4, 2012, and notarized. An affidavit is a written statement made under oath.
TheIowaRepublican.com viewed a copy of Eric Woolson’s sworn
affidavit on Wednesday. In it, Woolson describes how he learned about the
alleged theft and his subsequent discussions with Sorenson and national leaders
of Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign. Woolson’s version of the events
differs greatly from theirs.
Heki says she was not told how the list made it from her
computer into a Bachmann email blast until the day the campaign ended. It was
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann who informed her that Kent Sorenson had taken
the list off her computer, Heki says.
“Michele (Bachmann) told me,” Heki said to
TheIowaRepublican.com last July. “We had a private staff luncheon right after
she left the race and she came up to me then and told me that she was told that
Kent (Sorenson) did it. I was flabbergasted. When Michele and I got done
talking, I walked straight over to Eric Woolson and asked him if it was true.
He said, “Yes.”
UPDATE:
by John Avlon Mar 25, 2013 11:45 AM EDT
Add the Office of Congressional Ethics to the long list
of probes and lawsuits that may be the only enduring legacy of Bachmann’s
presidential face-plant. John Avlon exclusively reports.
Eighteen months ago, the Minnesota House member was
considered an unlikely but undeniable Republican rising star, winning the Iowa
straw poll that unofficially begins the primary season. Today, she is embroiled
in a litany of legal proceedings related to her rolling disaster of a
presidential campaign—including a Office of Congressional Ethics investigation
into campaign improprieties that has not previously been reported.
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