Bachmann Aide to Break Silence on Sorenson Allegations

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s former chief of staff plans to testify before the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee in a case alleging that Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson, the Iowa chairman of the Minnesota congresswoman’s failed presidential campaign, received improper payments.

Andy Parrish is the confidential informant in the allegations against Sorenson, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. Until now, he has only been identified as “Witness A.” He is expected to corroborate allegations made by Peter Waldron, a Florida pastor, who also worked for the Bachmann campaign.

Waldron claims the campaign hid payments of $7,500 a month to Sorenson in violation of an Iowa Senate ethics rule that prohibits senators from taking pay from any presidential campaigns.

Both Sorenson, a Milo Republican, and the Bachmann campaign have denied any wrongdoing. Sorenson called the allegations “totally baseless, without evidence, and a waste of Iowans’ time and money,” the Star-Tribune reported.

The Federal Election Commission and the independent Office of Congressional Ethics also are looking into the accusations against the Bachmann campaign, which is mired in legal trouble. A former campaign aide from Johnston, Barbara Heki, has sued the Bachmann campaign, alleging that Sorenson stole from her personal computer a proprietary email containing the names of Iowa families who home-school their children.

Law enforcement authorities in Urbandale, where Bachmann’s campaign office was located, are continuing their investigation into those allegations.

The Senate Ethics Committee, chaired by Sen. Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids, hopes to resolve the complaints before the Legislature adjourns in early May, the Des Moines Register reported.

If the Urbandale Police Department is unable to provide evidence that Sorenson broke the law by taking the email list, the matter could be dropped.

Bachmann had a brief meteoric rise in polling in after winning the Ames Straw Poll in August 2011 held prior to the Iowa Caucuses, but by the time Iowans went to their neighborhood caucus gatherings in January 2012, her campaign had faltered and she finished dead last among candidates campaigning in Iowa.

She suspended her campaign the next day.