More rumors of financial shenanigans: Ex-Aide: Bachmann Hid Money to Iowa Senator
DES MOINES — A former campaign aide for U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann claims the one-time presidential candidate hid thousands of dollars in payment to an Iowa state senator so he wouldn’t violate Senate ethics rules.
Peter Waldron served as national field coordinator for the Bachmann for President campaign from July 2011 to January 2012. In a notarized complaint to the Federal Election Commission, Waldron claims several violations of federal election laws by the campaign.
One pertains to Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson, R-Milo, who Waldron claims was paid $7,500 a month for his role as Iowa state chairman for the Bachmann campaign.
“I’m not talking about any of this,” Sorenson said when reached at his home Thursday afternoon. “I know nothing about how people were paid in the campaign.”
Asked if he was paid by the campaign, Sorenson responded, “No. This has been hashed out over the last year and a half. You can look at the articles. I stand by all my previous statements.”
Waldron claims the payments were funneled through a third party, C&M Strategies of Colorado operated by Guy Short. In essence, Waldron said, the Bachmann campaign would overpay C&M Strategies for its work and C&M Strategies would then cut a check to Sorenson for his work on behalf of the Bachmann campaign.
If true, the alleged scheme may violate the Senate ethics rule against state senators being employed by political campaigns.
The rule reads, in part, “A senator shall not accept employment, either directly or indirectly, from a political action committee or from an organization exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6), or 527 of the Internal Revenue Code that engages in activities related to the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate for public office.”