Big Wheel Keeps On Turnin'

(Cartoon by Steve Sack and published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune 4/4/13.)

It's beginning to look like Michele Bachmann really is going to have to reduce her visibility, at least for a while.  Her hometown newspaper has some new revelations on the House Ethics Committee investigation.

A congressional inquiry of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann has been referred to the House Ethics Committee, significantly raising the stakes in the Minnesota Republican’s efforts to fend off questions about her 2012 presidential campaign’s financial dealings.

A report issued Tuesday by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) shows that its bipartisan board sent all seven cases before it last month to the House Ethics Committee, meaning they found “substantial reason” to believe they all involve potential ethics violations.

Among the cases known to be pending before the board was a probe of potential campaign finance violations by Bachmann as well as allegations that she took members of her campaign staff on a book tour to promote her personal political memoir, “Core of Conviction.” ...

Sources who have been interviewed by the OCE have told the Star Tribune that investigators focused on Bachmann’s 2011 book tour, which spanned from Minnesota and Iowa to the East Coast. Federal election and House ethics rules generally forbid candidates from using campaign funds or resources to sell or promote their own books, which are considered personal business activities.

Unlike potential campaign finance violations, which could involve top officials in Bachmann’s campaign, the book tour allegations focus on Bachmann’s personal conduct in selling her book.   [Emphasis added]

Now, if we could just get the DNC to put up and finance a Democratic candidate, we might actually pick up a seat.

I guess I ask too much.