Self-Promoting Michele Bachmann Strikes Again!

From the Tarryl Clark Campaign:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Andrea Mokros

May 18, 2010


SELF-PROMOTING BACHMANN STRIKES AGAIN

Taxpayers are paying the bill – again – as Bachmann uses more glossy fliers to gloss over a bad record on jobs and the economy.


Just days after being outed as one of the House’s top frankers, Michele Bachmann is back in mailboxes across the 6th District with another glossy, campaign-style mailer paid for with your tax dollars.


The latest four-page mailer says Bachmann is “working hard to create more jobs for Minnesotans.” But ironically, Bachmann uses the piece to brag about voting against a bill that created or saved more than 9,500 jobs in the 6th District, more than any other Congressional District in Minnesota. Bachmann’s report on the economy lists nothing she has done to help the struggling workers and families of her district, despite representing the district with the state’s highest rates of foreclosure and unemployment. The report also fails to mention that Bachmann has voted against countless extensions of unemployment benefits, and against numerous pieces of legislation to address the nation’s housing and foreclosure crisis.


“Yet again, Michele Bachmann is using taxpayer dollars to create the illusion she’s done anything to create a job, help an unemployed Minnesotan, or keep a struggling family in their home,” said Zach Rodvold, Campaign Manager for Tarryl Clark’s campaign for Congress. “It’s ironic that Michele Bachmann uses taxpayer dollars to try and sell herself as an advocate for taxpayers. But this mailer also exposes Bachmann’s agenda for what it really is: self-promotion at the expense of her constituents. Whether it’s charging them to send out campaign-style mailers on their dime, or missing dozens of votes in order to appear on national television, or spending yet another weekend traveling the country instead of her district: Michele Bachmann puts herself and her agenda ahead of her constituents.”


This latest mailing comes just days after the St. Cloud Times reported on Bachmann’s use of the frank. According to the report, published Sunday:


Bachmann reported spending $217,197 on franked communications and made 4,102,827 contacts with constituents during 2009. That ranked her 57th in the House in terms of money spent and 12th in the number of communications sent.


While the mailer says Bachmann wants to “hold Congress accountable for every dime it spends,” most of Bachmann’s constituents may be surprised to find just how Bachmann herself is spending their hard-earned tax dollars.


“It will take a lot more than glossy mailers to gloss over Bachmann’s bad record on jobs and the economy,” concluded Rodvold. “But it's clear, Michele Bachmann will continue to use taxpayer dollars to try to do the job for her.”


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