Well this is certainly an interesting development. Peter Waldron, a serious wingnut who served as the national field coordinator for Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign, claims that Bachmann is refusing to pay campaign staffers despite having over $2 million in the bank:
Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN), former presidential candidate and a leader of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives in Washington, has yet to pay some of her Iowa presidential campaign staff after one year and in spite of the fact that over $2,000,000* sits in bank accounts at her disposal.
It is only recently that a few Iowa small business owners, most of whom are heads-of-household, received payment in full for services rendered through the 2012 caucus month.
The remaining staff members were promised payment several times by Michele’s Finance Chairman, James Pollack, but the payment never came.
Dr. Peter Waldron, Bachmann for President National Field Coordinator, explained it this way, “Recently Mr. Pollack demanded that each unpaid staff member sign a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits any discussion of any criminal, moral, and/or unethical behavior witnessed during Mrs. Bachmann’s campaign in Iowa. In fact, Mr. Pollack insists that each staffer not speak to law enforcement and/or lawyers without first speaking with Mrs. Bachmann’s attorneys.”…
“It is sobering to think that a Christian member of Congress would betray her testimony to the Lord and the public by withholding earned wages from deserving staff,” Dr. Waldron concluded.
Ooh, wingnut food fight!
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Raging Bee
January 14, 2013 at 2:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“It is sobering to think that a Christian member of Congress would betray her testimony to the Lord and the public…
Us liberals and secularists have been getting sober for decades. What’s taking these people so long?
sailor1031
January 14, 2013 at 2:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Defrauding labourers of their wages” it is called. Serious sin – cries to heaven for vengeance or something
David C Brayton
January 14, 2013 at 3:03 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hmmm….once wages have been earned, they cannot be withheld. Withholding wages in order to get the employee to sign an NDA is illegal (at least in California). There are some stiff penalties in California for employers that do such nefarious things.
Even if the employees signed the agreement, it wouldn’t be enforceable. Contracts are formed on that basis mutual consideration. The wages were already earned by the employees and their property, not Bachman’s property. Therefore, the money given was not Bachman’s to give and not valid consideration.
Bronze Dog
January 14, 2013 at 3:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The naive part of my brain believes there’s no way that agreement could possibly be legally binding. I will, however, ready myself for a facepalm if someone cites a case where someone did enforce such a prohibition in court.
A Hermit
January 14, 2013 at 3:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What’s this? The help are getting uppity just becasue they haven’t been paid? Waldron has clearly been brainwashed by the SOCIALISTS!!1!!!
anubisprime
January 14, 2013 at 3:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
WTF ?
If that is not a tacit admission of ‘criminal, moral, and/or unethical behaviour during the campaign run by a Republican candidate’… I really do not know what is!
That cannot be enforceable surely?…Have the National Election overseers not seen that ?
Methinks that would get them all landed in the dock in Blighty for criminal conspiracy!
frankb
January 14, 2013 at 3:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
As a fellow Iowan I stand by my Republican neighbors against the Minnesotan Republican aggressor. If only my fellow Iowans would learn from the experience…..
A Hermit
January 14, 2013 at 3:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh wow, it gets even better…further along in the article we get this tidbit:
John Pieret
January 14, 2013 at 3:25 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Bachmann is refusing to pay campaign staffers …
Well, they were trying to get this nutso elected president … I guess you could call it the wages of stupidity.
Raging Bee
January 14, 2013 at 3:37 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Recently Mr. Pollack demanded that each unpaid staff member sign a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits any discussion of any criminal, moral, and/or unethical behavior witnessed during Mrs. Bachmann’s campaign in Iowa.
That alone is a massive admission of guilt by a Bachmann campaign executive. Also, isn’t it illegal either to refuse to report suspected criminal activity, or to use any kind of power to prevent anyone else from reporting criminal activity? Subornation to perjury, anyone?
IMO at least, this Pollock guy should be locked up.
caseloweraz
January 14, 2013 at 3:45 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I await Mrs. Bachmann’s response to this disclosure — and then a poll to see how her popularity in her home district is affected.
northstar
January 14, 2013 at 3:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well, there’s *illegal*behavior — now, IANAL, but seems this would be unenforceable as a NDA, as it would make one an accessory to a crime; and there’s “unethical” behavior — not paying one’s employees is unethical, so that particular non-disclosure is now moot; and there’s the “immoral” behavior. Hmmm. What HAS that Marcus been up to?
Reginald Selkirk
January 14, 2013 at 3:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hrrrg. We all know where she was born. She makes a point of mentioning it every time she campaigns in Iowa.
Rodney Nelson
January 14, 2013 at 4:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Why aren’t people suing Bachmann and Pollack? Certainly if I worked for someone in a paid capacity and they refused to pay me, they’d be hearing from my lawyer quite quickly.
rabbitscribe
January 14, 2013 at 4:03 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
#10 Raging Bee:
“… isn’t it illegal either to refuse to report suspected criminal activity…”
Nope. That’s why there are “mandated reporters.” It took a special law to require doctors to report suspected sexual abuse of kids.
Didaktylos
January 14, 2013 at 4:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Anybody who takes paid employment with a GOP campaign on any payment basis other than indepently assayed gold or silver bullion in advance is a sucker who deserves no even break.
jba55
January 14, 2013 at 4:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“prohibits any discussion of any criminal, moral, and/or unethical behavior witnessed”
I’m guessing the chances of any of the staff witnessing moral behavior during the campaign are pretty slim. Yes, I know it was certainly not meant like that, but that’s how I read it and that’s how I’m snarking it.
timberwoof
January 14, 2013 at 4:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What makes Bachmann think that she’ll be able to hire anyone for her next campaign?
thisisaturingtest
January 14, 2013 at 5:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well, this can’t be right, it just can’t be. Surely, a disciple of the beloved “job creators” gospel can’t be unaware that job creation carries with it an obligation to pay for the work done?
A Hermit
January 14, 2013 at 5:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Speaking of crazy people…
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/independence-park-be-glenn-becks-galts-gulch
Ace of Sevens
January 14, 2013 at 5:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Michele just sent me an e-mail askign what her priorities should be. I think I’ll reply telling her to pay her staffers and not try to extort them into sign NDAs which as illegal for multiple reasons.
anubisprime
January 14, 2013 at 5:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
A Hermit @ 20
That is just chilling to the bone…
Right Wing Theist land never so blatant.
Actually is sounds like the early rhetoric from the Intelligent Design muppets.
“entirely self-sustaining community called Independence Park that will provide its own food and energy, produce television and film content, host research and development, serve as a marketplace for products and ideas”
The whine and dripping envy of the wedge document made flesh by any other name…..
They seem to have decided to call time on that ID nonsense as a total failure now they are hoping to provide a haven and enclave next they will try to actually scare folks into the fort flocking to it for safety and nirvana and probably claiming it has a security militia armed and ready and converts will be bathed in the blood of the lawd’ and therefore blessed in the new world….that is all it is about!…they want to go and out cult the cults!
David Koresh…just a fucking amateur…this is how you do it!
howardhershey
January 14, 2013 at 6:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Isn’t labor without recompense called ‘slavery’? Didn’t, according to Bachmann, the founding fathers work hard to dismantle the ’3/5ths worth people, for purposes of the census only’ from slavery? You know, people like Madison, Washington, and Jefferson.
frankb
January 14, 2013 at 6:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
She wasn’t doing this stuff when she lived in Iowa. It must be the fault of all those Norwegian bachelor farmers:)
Edward Gemmer
January 14, 2013 at 6:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
God told her not to pay.
vmanis1
January 14, 2013 at 7:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I know it’s absurd to extrapolate from two data points, but this idiocy and the GOP’s apparent willingness to refuse to raise the debt ceiling, have me wondering. Is it a part of conservative dogma now that one does not have to pay indebtedness one incurs, that contracts have no meaning?
If that is true, and if conservatives ever gain control over both the legislative and executive branches, then we in the rest of the world should fear greatly, as the word of the United States would mean nothing on treaties, trade agreements or anything else.
If this is not true, then sane conservatives (this is not an oxymoron, I hope) have an obligation to speak up and demand that their colleagues act honorably to fulfill their commitments.
BrianX
January 14, 2013 at 7:47 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@19:
Obviously you’ve never run into the odd libertarian who wonders why employees need to be paid at all. They do exist.
Hairy Chris, blah blah blah etc
January 14, 2013 at 8:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hahahahahaha, well…. Survival of the fittest, or something.
Surprised? Absolutely not. It’s that sense of entitlement. Fuck the serfs.
democommie
January 14, 2013 at 8:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“If this is not true, then sane conservatives (this is not an oxymoron, I hope) have an obligation to speak up and demand that their colleagues act honorably to fulfill their commitments.”
Nahgunnahapin. The GOP has been engaged in a campaign of “Ethic Cleansing”–if you’ve got ‘em, you’re gone.
“next they will try to actually scare folks into the fort flocking to it for safety and nirvana and probably claiming it has a security militia armed,,,”
So, you’re sayin’ that this picture:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://washingtonindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Glenn_Beck_East_German.jpg&imgrefurl=http://washingtonindependent.com/56174/glenn-beck-dresses-up-like-a-communist&h=371&w=300&sz=37&tbnid=zigZgHCxeSjfMM:&tbnh=186&tbnw=150&zoom=1&usg=__IqiE9ZmexW7M7tGiX2HRHGP8pzM=&docid=irO6gXlOeFIwLM&sa=X&ei=SK70UPC8MLO50QHYmYGwBA&ved=0CDgQ9QEwAA&dur=396
is eerily prescient?
jnorris
January 14, 2013 at 8:42 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Her former employees are just takers. They belong to the 47% the Republican Tea Party insists just want handouts.
…
I can’t wait for the Congresswoman to have to leave DC to answer lawsuits. With her away from Congress the House Intelligence Committee’s collective IQ will be higher.
jnorris
January 14, 2013 at 8:49 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Is this thief of services? Did she steal her former employees’ services by not paying them? If so I wonder how many county and assistant state prosecutors would want her convicted so they can run for her district seat.
…
Anyway, she will have real trouble mounting a re-election campaign without paid staff.
left0ver1under
January 14, 2013 at 10:59 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
B…but she prayed and was forgiven! Isn’t that enough?
Apparently, it’s not enough for those who live in the real world, for those who expect everyone to be accountable and held to the same standards of law. You know the sort – ethical people, right?
Akira MacKenzie
January 14, 2013 at 11:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Who is going to tell Beck and Barton that Ayn Rand was an atheist?
navigator
January 14, 2013 at 11:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It makes perfect sense. If she had become President, she would balance the budget by just telling people that they weren’t getting paid. Just think what that would do for the National Debt!
dmcclean
January 15, 2013 at 12:06 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Has anyone seen any speculation about *why* she is (not) doing this?
Not that she has ever needed a reason to do dumb things, mind you.
anubisprime
January 15, 2013 at 2:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
democommie @ 29
“jawohl mein oberleutnant” !
Guess who will end up in the ‘showers’?…(For being anti-social and haters of jeebus…and just, you know, thoroughly bad eggs?)
F [disappearing]
January 15, 2013 at 6:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[blockquote]“Defrauding labourers of their wages” it is called. Serious sin – cries to heaven for vengeance or something[/blockquote]
Yeah, that’s earthquake and tornado material right there.
davidct
January 15, 2013 at 7:18 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Typical Christian fundie – no surprise at all.
Raging Bee
January 15, 2013 at 8:02 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That’s why there are “mandated reporters.” It took a special law to require doctors to report suspected sexual abuse of kids.
I thought that was because doctors had a requirement of confidentiality, and it took this law to force them to make an exception when they saw signs of child abuse. And I’m pretty sure it’s for the purpose of forcing doctors to comply with requirements that already apply to the rest of us.
eric
January 15, 2013 at 8:17 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@35:
Read @8; that could be one reason.
Though honestly there doesn’t have to be a specific illegal action behind the reasoning. Organizations will often try and lower their legal risk with such shennanigans merely because they think they can get away with it.
In hindsight, this case makes me kind of surprised that NDAs aren’t a standard requirement of mid- and upper- tier campaign staff in all political campaigns, regardless of party. Seems the sort of no-brainer idea some enterprising legal advisor would’ve thought of already.
Raging Bee
January 15, 2013 at 9:16 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
eric: generally speaking (IANAL), NDAs are for protecting privileged information, trade secrets, and the like — things that private businesses have, and political campaign organizations generally don’t. What legitimate secrets could a campaign organization possibly have AFTER the campaign is over? Inventions? Campaigns generally don’t invent anything other than lies. The strategy? You can’t hide a strategy once you’ve put it into practice. The donor list? That’s not supposed to be kept secret, it’s something the voters have a right to know. Information used to blackmail opponents? If it’s relevant to a criminal investigation, you can’t cover it up — that’s “obstruction of justice.”
The only information campaign staff could possibly have any legitimate need to keep secret, is personal information about the candidate and others close to same; and I would think that information is covered by standard rules of confidentiality — which would, in any case, be overridden by a sobpoena.
kenbo
January 15, 2013 at 9:44 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
vmanis1@26 –
If two unfunded wars and unfunded tax cuts don’t convince people the Repubs don’t pay their bills, then a little thing like not paying campaign staff shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, should it?
howardhershey
January 15, 2013 at 10:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The real question is why she is so insistent that these employees sign a non-disclosure agreement that “prohibits any discussion of any criminal, moral, and/or unethical behavior witnessed during Mrs. Bachmann’s campaign in Iowa. In fact, Mr. Pollack insists that each staffer not speak to law enforcement and/or lawyers without first speaking with Mrs. Bachmann’s attorneys.” Perhaps they will do just that if someone offers to pay them the wages that Mrs. Bachmann won’t?
Doug Little
January 15, 2013 at 10:41 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sounds like a job for Larry Flint. He can now sweep in pay the staffers what they are owed for the information that could be potentially embarrassing to Bachmann.
Problem solved.
typecaster
January 15, 2013 at 1:47 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And if the hearings are in the district she represents, the average IQ of both groups will be higher.
» Peter Waldron vs Michelle Bachmann Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion
January 19, 2013 at 4:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[...] This one has been noted elsewhere; from a press release issued by Peter Waldron (H/T Ed Brayton): [...]