Troubles mount for U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota seeking re-election.
She spent last week disassociating herself from her suggestion that Sen. Barack Obama may have anti-American views.
Now she’s distancing herself from Frank E. Vennes Jr., a major campaign contributor.
Vennes, a convicted felon, has been implicated - but not charged - in the criminal case against Thomas J. Petters, a Minnesota businessman and philanthropist.
Petters was arrested earlier this month and charged in a $3 billion investment fraud that has led to a cascade of bankruptcy and a wave of investor anxiety.
Vennes had served as a broker for the investment arm of Petters’ company, Petters Group Worldwide, bringing in more than a billion dollars and earning millions for himself.
Vennes and his wife, Kimberly, have contributed a total of $27,600 to Bachmann, starting with her election campaign in 2006. They have also contributed to other politicians, most, but not all, Republicans.
In the 2006 contest for Minnesota’s other Senate seat, Frank Vennes gave to Democrat Amy Klobuchar, the winner, and to her opponent, Mark R. Kennedy, a Republican.
In December, Bachmann wrote attorney Roger C. Adams in support of a presidential pardon for Vennes, who pleaded guilty in 1987 to money laundering and drug charges. He served time in prison and later unsuccessfully sued the FBI for coercing him into his crime.
Vennes reportedly found religion in prison, and he has become a successful developer and a contributor to faith-based causes.
“A pardon would release the weights of the past that serve no purpose,” Bachmann wrote after stressing Vennes’ “successful rehabilitation” and the work he has done to help the needy.
Bachmann had a change of heart, however, after Vennes was one of several people, including Petters, named in a Sept. 19 search warrant.
According to the document, Vennes had led five investors to put $1.2 billion into Petters Co. Inc., an arm of Petters Group Worldwide. Vennes made around $28 million in brokering the investment, the document states.
The warrant alleges that Petters and his associates lured investors by falsifying assets and earnings. Subsequent to the searches, Petters and several associates were arrested. Vennes has remained free.
On Oct. 2, Bachmann wrote Adams and withdrew her support of a pardon for Vennes.
“Regrettably, I may have too hastily accepted his claims of redemption,” she wrote. “…The power of a presidential pardon should be reserved for those who truly deserve it.”
According to the St. Cloud Times, the Bachmann campaign has returned the $9,200 it received during the 2008 election cycle from Vennes and his wife. The money given earlier has all been spent, a spokeswoman told the newspaper.
Bachmann has said that she knew Vennes through Minnesota Teen Challenge, a faith-based effort to help young people. Vennes was on the board of the group. Through the Fidelis Foundation, it invested funds in Petters Group enterprises.
The revelation of Bachmann’s effort to obtain a pardon for Vennes came on the heels of a controversy caused by her Oct. 17 appearance on “Hardball with Chris Matthews.”
In addition to criticizing Obama for possibly anti-American views, Bachmann suggested that the media should investigate members of Congress to determine if they are “pro-America or anti-America.”
She has since said that she doesn’t question Obama’s patriotism and that Matthews trapped her during the interview. However, her comments triggered a backlash, with thousands of people sending money to her Democratic opponent Elwyn Tinklenberg.
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1 Comments
#1. Karl Bremer 10.27.2008
Read lots more on Michele Bachmann’s ties to Frank Vennes Jr. and the Petters scandal here:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/14782/tangled-web-bachmann-gives-money-from-donor-tied-to-petters-scandal-to-group-tied-to-petters-scandal
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