Ken Martin ran the Vote Yes Minnesota campaign in support of the Legacy Amendment and said he heard Bachmann's remarks at Game Fair. She "indicated her strong support" to enthusiastic applause from the group, he said. Martin's group then trumpeted her apparent support as evidence that, despite some Republican Party opposition, the measure had bipartisan support in the Minnesota delegation in Congress.
"It's bizarre that now that this whole thing has come up, she's trying to have her cake and eat it too," Martin said.
Paul Austin, executive director of Conservation Minnesota, which also backed the amendment, said Bachmann's expression of support was "widely discussed" among sportsmen's groups. "We thought, wow, that's great," he said. "If she was offended, she didn't say so."
Campaign ad
The issue was raised indirectly in a Bachmann campaign ad during last month's State Fair featuring "Jim the Election guy," a fictional character who criticized Clark, a state senator, for raising taxes "on your corn dog, and your deep-fried bacon and your beer."
The charge was based in part on Clark's vote in the Legislature to put the Legacy Amendment on the ballot. But the ad appeared shortly after Bachmann returned to the Game Fair in Anoka last month and, say the sportsmen, backed the Legacy Amendment.
"She brought it up," said "Minnesota Bound" TV host Ron Schara, who interviewed her over a public intercom. While he could not recall her exact words, Schara, a retired Star Tribune outdoors columnist, said she "inferred again her support for what this has accomplished."
Game Fair organizer Chuck Delaney said that while he didn't hear Bachmann's remarks, her presence at one of the nation's largest sportsmen's events was taken as tacit endorsement of the amendment. "These people are asking for the votes of sportsmen," he said. "So I'm sure they wouldn't come out here if they're against anything that sportsmen are for."
Schara and others say Bachmann was more explicit in her support at the Game Fair in 2008, when the Legacy Amendment was going on the ballot.
"As clearly as I remember anything, I remember Michele speaking in favor of the constitutional amendment," said Schara, who was hosting a public candidate forum that year as well. "I don't remember her exact words, only that she supported the effort because of her family. They do hunt and fish and enjoy the outdoors."
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