Politics & Government

Michele Bachmann Praises Staffer Who Sued Her

The congresswoman representing St. Michael-Albertville also got tongue-in-cheek praise from Henry Rollins, formerly of the punk band Black Flag.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann had words of admiration for the former staffer who sued her over alleged theft of homeschool group's email list in Iowa. (The lawsuit is settled; a police investigation continues.) The statement appeared at The Iowa Republican website: 

“Barb Heki is a trustworthy person and a woman of integrity. She was a loyal member of the Bachmann for President team and capably performed her duties. I am not aware of any evidence whatsoever that Barb had any part in misusing or misappropriating NICHE’s email list of homeschoolers and I consider her an exemplary homeschooling leader.”

Read the full post at theiowarepublican.com

To Star Tribune political report Kevin Diaz, the statement was as confounding as the silence it broke: 

No explanation. The folks in Minnesota whom Bachmann has represented since 2007 remain intentionally in the dark. ... Inside the information vacuum, Bachmann’s context-free praise of Heki is akin to a Zen koan, a phrase that creates a sense of mystery.

Read the full Hot Dish Politics post at startribune.com

Meanwhile, Bachmann took to social media to publicize a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission open house in Monticello on Tuesday, as well as a take a jab at the decision to delay Obamacare's employer mandate

Repealing Obamacare and fixing the tax code were Bachmann's topics when she appeared on Fox News business-news program hosted by Tom Sullivan (see video above at our desktop site or at YouTube.com.)

Bachmann continues to be a touchstone for people whose opinions are 180 degrees apart from hers—such as Henry Rollins, former Black Flag bandleader, who wrote in a LA Weekly blog post

The sentiments expressed by longtime marriage-equality advocates, while inspiring and sincere, didn't interest me nearly as much as the misguided outrage of those who find DOMA's demise to their disliking. It's fun to hear them howl. ... Michele Bachmann is always a great person to go to for an opinion about anything. She has a very active and interesting mind. She was out there in front of the cameras, no notes that I could see, speaking from her huge, humanitarian heart. "This decision is one that is profound because the Supreme Court not only attacked our Constitution today, they not only attacked the equal-protection rights of every citizen under our Constitution, they attacked something that they have no jurisdiction over whatsoever, the foundational unit of our society, which is marriage."

Read the full blog post at blogs.laweekly.com


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