In fairness, both campaigns have from time to time issued email newsletters about Bachmann and the neglectful manner in which she treats representing citizens of the district. This theme is not unique to either of the challengers, and I have not checked the other email account to see if Clark also has highlighted the specific same abuses.That said, the Reed mailing in opening paragraphs, stated:
Recently, a shocking fundraising letter came to light that goes to the heart of Michele Bachmann’s priorities. Writing to raise funds for the American Conservative Union Strikeforce, Bachmann used blatantly false and heated language to instill fear and anger among conservatives to raise a few bucks.
Bachmann wrote, “Will you let Barack Obama KILL conservatism?” and claimed that Obama wants to “annihilate” conservatives. Even if you disagree with Obama’s policies, you know that her accusations are blatantly false. Everyone knows that the President has offered to work with both sides of the political aisles and even traveled to Baltimore to meet with GOP members of Congress to let them know he will work with them.
Bachmann skipped the opportunity to meet with the President – instead she chose to raise money in California. Even a member of the Republican leadership, Mike Pence, said that he welcomed the dialogue with the President; but Bachmann was too busy with politics to attend the historic event.
It’s clear that Bachmann is not interested in working together to get things done.
I urge readers to enlist with each campaign to receive ongoing email information.
One or the other, Maureen Reed or Tarryl Clark will be the DFL candidate in the general election and will replace Michele Bachmann if voters are informed and upset over neglect of duties the incumbent owes and owed the district.
Michele Bachmann sends out slick expensive "news" flyers, touting her, and using the free mailing "franking" privilege incumbents enjoy; but it's looked more like campaigning on the public's dime to me, than anything else. I think the simpler direct emailings calling the woman to task are more honest than any slick cardstock photo laden feel-good stuff of the kind Bachmann's produced.Look here, this link, for slick PR designed and produced advertisements the taxpayers are paying for as Michele Bachmann advertises herself shamelessly.
You pay for it. Everybody on your street pays for it. Citizens of Mississippi and Montana pay for it. It comes out of everyone's federal tax dollars, to propagandize residents of Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District. Have a look. It's your money.
And trust me, it will not tell you where Michele Bachmann is when she should be doing her job in Washington DC. It only says what Bachmann wants you to believe.
________UPDATE________
I checked, there are two Clark recent emailings, saying almost the same thing but troubling to me in two aspects. First, a representative one of the two, in relevant part stated:
EL TINKLENBERG
Dear Eric,
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has long been known for spouting her extreme right-wing views – and now, it's making her a celebrity in conservative circles. At every opportunity, Bachmann puts personal agenda and her pursuit of the national spotlight ahead of her constituents here in Minnesota. And this weekend is no exception.
Bachmann will be in Missouri, speaking alongside Glenn Beck and Phyllis Schlafly. It’s just one more stop on Bachmann’s conservative parade around the country. In fact, she skipped the House Republican meeting last week with President Obama to travel to California, rallying TEA Party activists and hobnobbing with the Orange County conservative elite instead of doing her job.
Divisive rhetoric and extreme right-wing views have become Michele Bachmann’s calling card -- and it’s paid off for her. The far-right is rallying around it’s darling, Michele Bachmann, filling her campaign coffers – in fact, Bachmann just announced that her campaign raised more than $1 million last year.
[...] You’ve done it before. When Michele Bachmann spewed her divisive rhetoric:“I'm very concerned that he [Barack Obama] may have anti-American views.
That's what the American people are concerned about.”
You responded, flooding my website and my mailbox with donations. [...]
Sincerely,
El Tinklenberg
P.S.: Make no mistake, Michele Bachmann is reaping the benefits of her time in the spotlight - she’s using her endless appearances on FOX News to rally the TEA Party crowd around her. We’re counting on you to help Tarryl match the resources that Bachmann is generating from her conservative cronies.
So, first, Elwyn Tinklenberg was a candidate I disliked and did not vote for last cycle. I regard him as a revolving door lobbyist - career politician type, who's done little else. He got a slew of Highway 10 consultancy contracts with the tires barely cooled off after leaving MnDOT and driving north to Anoka County. He was prone to mention Jim Oberstar a lot, in seeking consultancy opportunities, or was noted as doing that in several sets of municipal minutes that were on the web in the past.
Second, we all know that Tinklenberg had the benefit of people around the nation not knowing a thing about him but flooding him with money on the eve of the election, money which he inexplicably could not figure out how to spend then, against Bachmann.
At caucus, Ramsey, Ward 1, Precinct 1, a Clark representative visited with us and noted that Clark had a sound campaign staff in place and unlike Tinklenberg last cycle if money rolls in because of Bachmann shooting off her mouth, and it will happen again he said, we, the Clark people, will not be caught flat-footed in not being able to use it.
Faint praise for Tinklenberg, I would say.
That's the gist if not the exact wording, AND the Clark surrogate was asked by a caucus attendee to repeat what he'd just said, and he said a second time that, in effect, Clark would not be as sloppy and ill-prepared as Tinklenberg.
That does not match the emailing touting Elwyn Tinklenberg as if his word in support of Clark would flow dollars.
Tinklenberg had trouble raising target amounts of twenty five thousand himself until the Hardball windfall.
Then, putting out that mailing, having that surrogate at caucus speaking as he did, it is a pattern suggesting the Clark campaign needs tightening up.
Same surrogate, by the way, was hesitant to say Clark was a lawyer but not practicing, and that was only after, when asked what she does when the legislature is out of session, he blithely said, "She's a legislator."
It seems that career politician, what Bachmann's been, is not an image to project to convince voters that Clark is more seasoned and better qualified.
Tightening up would help since Michele Bachmann has been nothing but a government employee and career politician in her entire adult money-earning life.
Working as a tax collection lawyer squeezing little people for the IRS, Bachmann's first paycheck out of Oral Roberts U. Law School and a short stint at William & Mary, was government money, and State Senate was, and US House is. The best paycheck she's ever had is the current one, because Michele Bachmann has not been any higher in her life.
I would hope to see Clark differentiate things with some private sector bragging, to distance herself from the Bachmann career politician stigma. Clark is a very, very fine candidate, but the approach needs reevaluation and the surrogate speeches need tightening. There's no nicer way to say it, other than to ignore it having happened and not publish relevant facts. Shutting up that way, is something I decline. There is a long time to November and the machine with a bit of oiling and tuning can run that far and win, should Clark, not Reed, reach the final November ballot.