Did Ponzi $$$ Help Bachmann Get the GOP Endorsement in 2006?

This is a piece of Bachmann lit I picked up the 2006 6CD convention:



It boasts that Bachmann was the top GOP fundraiser in the last quarter of 2006.

But, she wasn't always doing so well raking in the campaign cash.

In this October 20, 2005 Dump Bachmann post, Eva reported that Bachmann was falling behind in fundraising:

Michele Bachmann's report is here.

Phil Krinkie is leading the fundraising race - having raised 142K for the reporting period ending September 30. He has 225K cash on hand. Michele Bachmann is trailing in this area having raised 85K with 166K on hand.

The question is whether Michele's ability to mobilize her base will outhustle Phil Krinkie's fundraising.

The other question is whether Michele plans to fall back on her senate seat if she doesn't think she can win party endorsement.

In 2008, Karl Bremer reported in the Minnesota Independent that Bachmann got some substantial $$$ from Petters associate Frank Vennes, his family and pals:

Bachmann wrote a letter of recommendation in December 2007 for a presidential pardon of Vennes for federal money laundering, cocaine distribution and illegal firearms sales convictions. Vennes pleaded guilty and no contest to the charges in 1987 and was sentenced to five years in prison, which he served in Sandstone Federal Correctional Facility in Sandstone, MN.

Six months after Bachmann recommended Vennes for a pardon, Vennes and his wife, Kimberly, who are not constituents of Bachmann’s, dumped $9,200 into Bachmann’s re-election campaign. The Venneses already were among Bachmann’s top individual campaign contributors when Bachmann solicited the pardon, having contributed $18,200 to her campaign committees between 2005-2007. Vennes’ brother and his wife, Greg and Stephanie Vennes, have contributed an additional $8,400 to Bachmann since 2005. And Vennes’ personal attorney, C. Craig Howse, has donated $5,000 to Bachmann’s campaign funds since 2007.

Bachmann was highly complimentary of Vennes in her letter of recommendation, which referred to her “personal” relationship with him but not her financial one:

“As a U.S. Representative, I am confident of Mr. Vennes’ successful rehabilitation and that a pardon will be good for the neediest of society,” Bachmann wrote to the U.S. Office of Pardon Attorney. “Mr. Vennes is seeking a pardon so that he may be further used to help others. As I know from personal experience, Mr. Vennes has used his business position and success to fund hundreds of nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping the neediest in our society.”

In addition, Bachmann noted that Vennes needed a pardon because he “still encounters the barriers of his past and especially in the area of finance loan documents.”

Bachmann has refused to explain what the finance loan documents of Vennes’ were that she referred to in her letter.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator says Tom Petters is still "in transit". The attorney for Tom Petters says Petters is cooling his heels in the Sherburne County jail in Elk River.

Here's some audio from the wire of Deanna Coleman. Tom Petters, Bruce Prevost and Frank Vennes Jr. at a meeting 9/9/08 talking about religion:





More audio of Frank Vennes talking about God and money here.