Michele Bachmann denies benefiting from government aid

[JonLP24]

Source: LA Times

Reporting from Washington—
With a new Iowa poll putting her in a dead heat with the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, Rep. Michele Bachmann deflected allegations that she and her family had benefited from government assistance programs and said that hundreds of thousands of dollars to her family farm and a counseling clinic went instead to her employees and her in-laws.

"My husband and I did not get the money," she said, appearing on Sunday news talk shows as she prepared to officially open her campaign in her original hometown of Waterloo, Iowa.

The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that Bachmann, a congresswoman from Minnesota and "tea party" favorite, portrayed herself as a fiscal conservative while also benefiting from government funds and federal farm subsidies. An examination of her record and finances showed that a counseling clinic run by her husband received nearly $30,000 from the state of Minnesota in the last five years, with part of the money coming from the federal government. And a family farm in Wisconsin, where she is listed as a partner, received some $260,000 in federal subsidies.

<snip>

"First of all," she said, "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees. The clinic did not get the money. And my husband and I did not get the money either. That's mental health training money that went to employees."


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/sc-dc-0627-michele-bachmann-20110626,0,7255963.story?track=rss

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Down the article the LA Times say in financial disclosure forms, she reported receiving between $32,503 and $105,000.

[KansDem]

1. Is she really that stupid?

...the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees.

"Training money" that you or your husband didn't have to pay out?

...my husband and I have never gotten a penny of money from the farm.

Oh, I believe that!!! But what about the government subsidies? How much did you and your husband get from the taxpayers?

She must really believe the rest of the nation is a stupid as her followers...

[dkf]

2. The training money I can let go. The farm subsidies...that is a joke.

Pure welfare.

[eleny]

3. The fact is that they applied for the money - it wasn't forced on them or fall out of the sky

Doesn't matter how they decided to use it - they received the gov't money and distributed as they saw fit.

Bachmann is as good as the rest who use weasel words!

[NickB79]

14. Ding ding ding, we have a winna!

Let's see her spin her way out of that one.

[Politicalboi]

4. Yes she is that stupid

So her in-laws don't count either? Just keeping it all in the family. And that's not counting the money she made while taking in foster kids.

[Javaman]

18. more so, she thinks her constituents are that stupid. nt

[ewagner]

5. Partner in a farm in Wisconsin?????

Where? Does anybody know where I can find out?

[hermetic]

19. Independence, WI

"The Bachmann Farm Family Partnership comprises 951 acres with at least one home on 38 parcels in Independence, WI, with a total assessed value of $664,950. Michele and Marcus Bachmann are partners in the farm partnership, which was established April 12, 2001, with an ownership share valued at between $100,001 and $250,000. Its corporate records on file with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions listed Paul Bachmann of Independence, WI, as the partnership’s general partner and registered agent as of Jan. 31, 2011."

Paul Bachmann has been deceased since May 2009.

A good source for lots of info on Ms. Boondoggle can be found at http://www.rippleinstillwater.com
Go to the list of Labels and click on her name. She has been involved in many shady deals.

[Liberal Veteran]

6. The way you launder the money doesn't affect the source.

I shudder at the thought of the effort it would take to explain the concept of money laundering to Ms. Bachmann.

[toddwv]

7. "God told me to take the government's money."

"So really, this money was, in a way, given to Jesus. Of course, I used it to buy a new diamond ring, but every time that I look at that ring, I think of Jesus."

[KeepItReal]

11. LOL!

Nicely done

[Gman]

8. So that's OK for her to twist everyone else's facts

but her facts are the facts...

Of course to her this is no where near the importance of the 73% increase in the use of limosines by bureaucrats in the last 2 years. Or something... what color is the sky in this woman's world? Maybe it's a pretty emerald green, or maybe it has a gold and purple hue, or something.

[C_U_L8R]

9. So a little socialism is okay

when it benefits fatcat republicans
but not okay for everyone else ????

[Downwinder]

10. Make her tax return public.

[No Elephants]

17. Govt $ given her husband's business or her family's farm might not show up on her tax return anyway.

[chelsea0011]

12. Welcome to the Big Show.

[SoapBox]

13. Dirt bag...

She's a liar. Period.

[Hugin]

15. She should resign. n/t

[jmowreader]

16. Well, yeah, but for being a rotten congresscritter

According to http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bachmann-20110626,0,7400031,print.story, Bachmann grabbed a lot of stimulus funds to build six projects in her district, including a $700 million four-lane bridge over the St. Croix River. She told her local paper, "there's a big difference between a tea pot museum and building a bridge over a vital waterway."

Turns out EVERYONE is against this project because the stretch of river she wants it put over is part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers program, and if Bachmann builds a huge bridge across it the wild and scenic nature of the river will be destroyed...oh, and it'll fuck up the traffic patterns already established in the area.

[Doctor_J]

20. So she's a liar as well as a hypocrite

Everything that is wrong with the US right now