Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
Loading

Featured Posts        



categories        



Links        



archives        



meta        




Oct 19th, 2010


The Center for Public Integrity reports that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) wrote behind-the-scenes letters requesting stimulus funds from the federal government. So, while “Porkulus” Bachmann repeatedly badmouths “the failed Pelosi trillion-dollar stimulus,” she slinks back when she thinks no one is watching to grovel for pork. Shame on the hypocrite Bachmann.

Bachmann Lobbied for Stimulus Cash

Rep. Michele Bachmann
Michele Bachmann: “I continue to oppose the so-called stimulus package because it has been a failure.” (Photo credit: Reuters / Kevin Lamarque via MinnPost)

The Associated Press / St. Cloud Times
October 19, 2010

ST. PAUL — Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota voted against what she calls “the failed Pelosi trillion-dollar stimulus,” but that didn’t stop her from writing letters to federal agencies on behalf of seven grant applications seeking stimulus dollars for her district.

The Center for Public Integrity reported Monday that Bachmann was among scores of GOP and Democratic stimulus opponents who wrote behind-the-scenes letters requesting funds for projects.

The nonpartisan Washington-based group obtained almost 2,000 lawmaker requests through a public records request and posted them online [link added].

Bachmann sent letters in August and September 2009 supporting grant applications for projects including the Northstar Commuter Rail Line, the St. Croix bridge, road upgrades and a broadband expansion.

“I am writing to highlight an important project,” she said in all six letters to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Bachmann has criticized the stimulus frequently as she runs for a third term against Democrat Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson [and independent, unaffiliated conservative Aubrey Immelman].

Bachmann said through her spokesman Sergio Gor that she has an obligation “to ensure stimulus dollars are spent on the most worthy projects.” She said she continues to oppose the “so-called stimulus package.” …

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act did not contain earmarks, but lawmakers pushed for favored projects by “lettermarking,” or sending letters to federal agencies …

Read the full report at the St. Cloud Times

Read additional reporting at MinnPost

———

Original report

Stimulating Hypocrisy: Scores of Recovery Act Opponents Sought Money Out of Public View

By John Solomon and Aaron Mehta

October 17, 2010

Excerpts

Rep. Pete Sessions, the firebrand conservative from Dallas, Texas, has relentlessly assailed the Democratic-passed stimulus law as a wasteful “trillion dollar spending spree” that was “more about stimulating the government and rewarding political allies than growing the economy and creating jobs.”

But that didn’t stop the Republican lawmaker from reaching his hand out behind the scenes to seek stimulus money for the suburb of Carrollton after the camera lights went dark and the GOP campaign against the 2009 stimulus law quieted down. …

Sessions was hardly alone. …

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., another icon of the anti-spending conservative movement embodied by the Tea Party, has complained the stimulus bill will require “massive tax increases” to create short-term jobs and ran a campaign ad this month boasting that she fought against “the failed Pelosi trillion-dollar stimulus.”

But she wrote more than a half dozen letters to federal agencies on behalf of proposed stimulus grants, including one to the Transportation Department for the St. Croix River Crossing Project that she argued “would directly produce 1,407 new jobs per year while indirectly producing 1,563 a year — a total of 2,970 jobs each year after the project’s completion.” The project did not win the award.

Bachmann told the MinnPost news site, which worked with the Center on this project, that she still opposed the stimulus because it “piled a massive amount of debt on our children and grandchildren” but saw nothing wrong with her letters. “It is my obligation as a member of Congress to ensure stimulus dollars are spent on the most worthy projects.” …

Full report

———

Related reports on this site

The Princess of Pork (March 18, 2009)

Rep. Michele Bachmann sits in a chair.
Rep. Michele Bachmann spent more than $100,000 on printing and franked mail in the first quarter. (Photo credit: John Shinkle /Politico)

Bachmann Big Spender (June 20, 2009)

———

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — October 19, 2009

U.S. Troops ‘Sitting Ducks’

Image: Army funeral of Stephen Mace
An Army honor guard with the casket of Army Spc. Stephen Mace during his funeral at Arlington Cemetery on Monday, Oct. 19, 2009. (Photo credit: Susan Walsh / AP)

One year ago today, I reported that the father of Army Spc. Stephan Mace, killed in action near Kamdesh, Afghanistan, when several hundred Taliban fighters armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades attacked and nearly overran Combat Outpost Keating, said the U.S. was “fighting a war with too few people” and that the troops at Kamdesh were “sitting ducks.”

———

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — October 19, 2008

Write-in Campaign: Day 1

Two years ago today, on the first day after announcing a write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I featured former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s stinging rebuke of Bachmann for alleging Barack Obama “may hold anti-American views” and suggesting that the media investigate which members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America.” I also reported on halting progress in the U.S.-Iraq status-of-forces agreement, ongoing violence in Iraq, and escalating violence in Afghanistan.





2 Responses to “Porkulus Bachmann”
  1. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Michele Bachmann Up-Close Says:

    […] Porkulus Bachmann (Oct. 19, 2010) […]

  2. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » October 19, 2011 Says:

    […] Porkulus Bachmann […]

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.