Bachmann has House’s eleventh-worst record for missed votes

Michele Bachmann has a history of being a slothful legislator:

http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/2009/10/michele-bachmann-deadbeat-from.html

In the State Senate, she was notorious for showing up at the start of committee meetings in time to register “present” and then ducking out for the rest of the meeting, leaving a staffer behind to take notes.

In Congress, she serves on only one committee, yet has three media people, a chief of staff who splits her time between Bachmann’s congressional staff and her campaign staff, and racks up the 11th worst voting attendance record in the House. It’s clear Michele Bachmann’s priorities are the same as they ever were–Michele first.

I know that you guys have little interest in full disclosure……….but MB had two parents die in her family and was afforded time off (approved by her colleagues) for mourning. Are you kidding me on this one????

Paul,
I’m not kidding. My intent was merely to report the facts. But you’ve got a good point: I added mention, from our earlier reporting, about why both Ellison and Bachmann missed votes.

It is completely unfair to judge Rep. Bachmann on how many votes she casts; it is also unfair to judge her about constituent services, or pushing legislation that advances the well-being of people in her district. It is unfair because clearly the voters in the district want her to go on Fox News and spread the word that evolution is wrong; to go on Glenn Beck and spread the word that climate change is a fraud; to go on Hannity and spread the word that census workers are a threat; to go on O’Reilly and spread the word that members of Congress may not be loyal Americans and should be investigated; to go on the floor of the House and spread the word that Obama wants to kill old people; to go on Christian radio and spread the word that Obama was forming concentration camps and that he wanted to speak to school children to brainwash them. This, apparently, is what the voters of the district want. They are willing to sacrifice everything in order to spread the word to the rest of the country. Could there be such selfless voters anywhere? Voters who continue to sink into economic despair, have record foreclosures, layoffs, spiraling property taxes, and yet they don’t care so long as Rep. Bachmann is on some TV show, or radio program, spreading the word.

Paul Andersen –

If you had parents die – and I hope yours are well – would you be allowed to not show up at work and not do your job?

I suspect not.

OK, so Representative Bachmann missed due to a funeral. How many votes were taken while she was gone? Does that make much of a difference in her record?

I do not wish to appear insensitive of her loss, but many of us have lost our parents and go on to lead productive lives. The issue is not that the Honorable Representative of the Great State of Minnesota has missed some votes because of mourning. That is understandable.
Do you suggest none of the 434 other Representatives may have lost a parent?
What is her voting record in past years?
Was she in front of cameras instead of voting?
Do you suggest that if the Honorable Representative had not lost her parents, she would have attended 100% of the scheduled votes?

The people who vote for her are OK with having part time representation, why are you concerned? She gets re-elected even after saying the craziest of things, has little to no constituent services and has more people on her staff writing PR releases and getting her on TV than reading laws or writing bills… but those voters get what they apparently want… a do-nothing media whore.

Many Minnesotans would be delighted if she’d miss ALL of her votes.

Ms. Bachmann is the typical Republi-thug with excuses (granted they may be legitimate) for missing time and not doing her job.

Another example if T-Paw and his questionably financed trips around the country to Wingnut functions where they can bad mouth our President. We have an absentee Governor who is in the state a day or two a month. Who is holding him accountable?

The Right Wing Press in these towns certainly is not.

But let any DFL’er miss any amount of time and the Right Wing Press and Ms. Bachmann would be all over them no matter what the reason is.

I did some counting, and if you discount the two days in May and the four days in June when she was out of D.C. due to deaths in the family, with 16 missed votes, she ranks just below the middle of the pack in showing up, and she’s worse than all of the Minnesota delegation except for Ellison.

Oh – and she managed to post 7 times on her blog in the four days she missed in June.

As to Karl’s point, only a quarter of the House of Representatives serve on just one committee (Paulsen too) and if you discount committee chairs, party leaders, and members of the Appropriations committee (they rarely sit on more than one committee) she (and Paulsen) are in a select group of 17% who have duties on just one committee.

What does she do with her spare time? According to C-SPAN records, Bachmann, with more than 14 hours in the 110th and 111th Congress, leads the delegation in hours speaking on the House floor, edging Ellison by a few seconds. Jim Oberstar is close, with 13 hours 38 minutes, and all the rest have 5 hours or less.

Then there are the appearances on cable programs once every nine days, according to Smart Politics, and the numerous radio appearances.

You can’t say she is not busy. Unfortunately, she’s in the business of promoting Bachmann, not the residents of the Sixth District.