Michele Bachmann Pals Around With Republican Investment Fraud Criminals

A gross Bush-Bachmann lip-lock while she was trying to get a pardon for her crooked campaign donor

Frank E. Vennes Jr and his moll wife, Kimberley, have donated over $27,000 to Michele Bachmann's political career. (The only other politicians they given money to is another right wing extremist of similarly questionable ethical trustworthiness, Erik Paulsen, alo of Minnesota.) Vennes' investment in Bachmann paid off royally when Congresswoman Bachmann requested a pardon for Vennes after his conviction on felony money laundering charges (as well as firearms and drug charges).

A week after the FBI searched his home and office, confiscating evidence related to a $3 billion invetsment fraud, Bachmann, embarrassed, withdrew her request for a pardon. Bachmann claims she donated $9,200 of the bribes she was paid by Vennes to charity. There is no proof whether or not Bachmann was involved with her pal Vennes cocaine use, let alone his cocaine distribution network. Basically she just was a "respectable" front for him as he ripped off tens of millions of dollars from charities.

Bachmann tried using her influence with Bush to get him pardoned for his crimes, claiming his conviction "hinders his ability to expand his business which places limits on his support to the neediest in society" while he was stealing money from charities she was also involved with. She didn't mention in her request that Vennes was one of her biggest campaign contributors.

They didn't say so but perhaps this is part of the reason why the biggets and most influential newspaper in Bachmann's Minnesota district, the St Cloud Times endorsed her opponent yesterday.

Incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann has simply made too many serious errors in judgment to deserve a second term.

Look no further than the Stillwater Republican’s recent appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball.” Even if you side with her statement that she was trapped and didn’t know the “Hardball” environment (despite 23 appearances on similar shows since elected), it should not have taken her almost four days to appear in the district and offer an explanation/apology.

And then there was the debacle she created with comments made in February of 2007 in a Times Media podcast. In that case she clearly claimed, based on classified briefings, she knew of a plan to split Iraq and turn half of it into a “terrorist haven” to launch attacks in the Middle East. When pressed for details, she failed to fully explain herself and tried to blame her words on others.

As for her positions, those even seem to be changing of late. When we asked Tuesday about what should happen next in the financial crisis, she talked of providing stricter oversight. That sounds very contradictory to her comments early this month about “hyper-regulation” as a cause of the crisis and statements alluding to less, not more, oversight.

We asked about Iraq. She said she sees the U.S. role concluding there soon now that Iraq has a stable government and cash reserves. That is almost the polar opposite of her position since elected.

In the Senate race they endorsed the third party candidate, Dean Barkley (of the Independence Party, which has also endorsed Bachmann's opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg), who is taking so many votes from Norm Coleman that he is likely to throw the race to Al Franken. Meanwhile, Bachmann's race is now too close to call and will surely be one that the national news media will be watching closely a week from Tuesday. But, as the Republican-oriented Boston Herald points out this morning, "Bachmann, one of Minnesota’s most polarizing politicians, has always thrived on adversity."

Before Bachmann outed herself as an extremist lunatic on Hardball it looked like she would sail to victory. Many progressives are uncomfortable supporting Tinklenberg, an anti-choice conservative from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. But Bachmann has managed to rally Democrats and independents-- and even the handful of moderate Republicans in the district-- around him. Parroting McCain she's been babbling about what a maverick she is. "I’ve been willing to be a strong reformer in Washington, D.C., and take on my own party, including the bailout in Washington D.C." It isn't working for McCain and it shouldn't work for Bachmann either. Tinklenberg has collected $1.8 million in donations since Bachmann had her little episode. He doesn't need any more money. Cash-strapped Blue America progressives like Debbie Cook, Russ Warner, Dennis Shulman, and Annette Taddeo do. And, unlike Tinklenberg, they are all committed to upholding women's right to choice. You can donate here.


UPDATE: NEW POLLING

The newest SUSA poll shows Tinklenberg beating Bachmann 47-44%.