Bachmann faces fresh ethics questions

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/17/bachmann_faces_fresh_ethics_questions/

Bachmann faces fresh ethics questions
Investigators are reportedly looking into whether she used campaign staffers to help promote her book
By Alex Seitz-Wald


The Office of Congressional Ethics investigation into Rep. Michele Bachmann has reportedly widened to include questions about the use of staff to promote her book tour, according to sources who spoke with the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Investigators reportedly began their work by looking into payments to staff from her presidential campaign, but the new questions involve a 2011 tour to promote her memoir, Core of Conviction. Two former staff members told the Star Tribune that they had been asked about whether they worked to promote the book while on the payroll of Bachmann’s presidential campaign, something that would potentially violate federal ethics rules.

snip//

Schedules and internal emails from the tour obtained by the Star Tribune show that some top campaign staffers accompanied Bachmann during the tour, and suggested using the campaign’s Iowa email list to boost attendance at book tour events.

Bachmann’s campaign allegedly faces at least two other ethics probes, one relating to the payment of staffers and the other to an email list from an outside organization that was allegedly stolen from a campaign volunteer. Still, the ethics rules around book tours are not crystal clear, as the FEC allowed former Sen. Scott Brown to use campaign funds to buy copies of his own book.

[tanyev]

1. I can't wait for the sequel, Criminal Conviction!

It's bound to be an arresting read.