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Rep. Michele Bachmann. Minnesota Independent file photo
Late last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Democratic challengers criticized her for her ambitious travel schedule and growing celebrity. The campaigns of Dr. Maureen Reed and state Sen. Tarryl Clark asserted that Bachmann’s busy media and speaking schedule has caused her to miss votes in Congress.
“Michele is not delivering for the people of the 6th Congressional District, but also not doing the job in D.C. — missing 11 percent of votes this session,” Reed’s campaign said Friday with the release of its “Where’s Michele?” map. Clark’s campaign released a map of its own and cited a Washington Post report from October 2009 that showed Bachmann has missed more votes than all but 10 members of the House. “It’s clear Congresswoman Bachmann’s priorities are chasing her national celebrity and pursuing her personal agenda – and those priorities come at the expense of her district,” the campaign said.
How accurate are these criticisms?
An analysis by the Minnesota Independent shows that Bachmann has missed more votes than any member of Minnesota’s congressional delegation in the 111th Congress — even after subtracting votes missed when Bachmann left to spend time with an ill family member. Twenty of the 47 remaining votes Bachmann missed occurred on days when the Sixth District Republican had media appearances scheduled. But while these media moments loosely coincide with her missed votes, it’s unclear whether her absences are directly linked to her ambitious travel schedule. Bachmann’s office hasn’t respond to the Minnesota Independent’s request to clarify this point.
Here’s a tally of votes not taken by Minnesota’s delegation:
Michele Bachmann: 47
Keith Ellison: 37
Betty McCollum: 35
James Oberstar: 17
Collin Peterson: 16
Erik Paulsen: 14
John Kline: 13
Tim Walz: 12
Bachmann’s total count for missed votes is officially 114, but many of these votes — 67 of them — occurred on a single weekend. For instance, on June 18, as the House was holding a record number of votes, Bachmann was out of town spending time with an ill family member. (Rep. Keith Ellison was attending his son’s graduation that day and missed the same number of votes; with those votes included, he missed a total of 90 votes.)
Missed votes with media appearances
In some instances, House votes seemed to directly conflict with Bachmann’s media schedule, while in others Bachmann’s missed votes occurred on days where she had one or several media events planned.
On Nov. 5, Bachmann missed a vote “Honoring and Recognizing the Service and Achievements of Current and Former Female Members of the Armed Forces” because of her appearance at the Tea Party House Call that she organized at the Capitol and was held at the same time. Bachmann missed the vote at 12:37 p.m., and her House Call appearance was from noon to 2 p.m.
On Nov. 4, Bachmann did not vote for the Expedited Card Reform for Consumers Act of 2009, which beefs up consumer protections in the credit industry. That same day she appeared on the Glenn Beck’s show to build support for her Tea Party event the next day. It’s the media appearance where she said, “Socialized medicine is the crown jewel. But tomorrow is our Super Bowl of freedom.”
On Nov. 3, Bachmann appeared on the Family Research Council’s webcast, “Government Takeover of Healthcare: Counting the Cost.” Bachmann also had an appearance on Fox and Friends in the morning and on Sean Hannity’s show that evening. Bachmann wasn’t present for a vote to oppose the United Nations’ fact-finding report from Gaza, but she did cosponsor it and send out a press release on its passage.
Bachmann missed a vote on Oct. 22 condemning the government of Iran for religious persecution against people of the Baha’i faith. The same day she was a guest on San Francisco’s conservative KSFO-AM, where she said, “When you talk about Obama, you just can’t not come up with jokes.”
On Oct. 7, she didn’t make two votes on the Agriculture Appropriations bill. That day she appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s show, where both postulated that ACORN may have stolen the Minnesota Senate race for Al Franken.
Bachmann warned of a link between the Census and Japanese internment camps during World War II in a Fox News interview on June 25, the same day she missed a vote on the Interior Appropriations bill. She had an interview on CNBC the same day.
Bachmann appeared on Point of View “Defending Faith Family and Freedom” Radio on July 9, and was not present for a vote for “Recognizing the Significance of National Caribbean-American Heritage Month” the same day.
On May 21, there was a lunchtime fundraiser for Bachmann held by the Gula Graham Group. Individuals paid $250, and political action committees $1,000. That same day, Bachmann missed 10 votes.
On May 13, Bachmann was not present for a vote but had a press conference about ACORN with former ACORN employee Anita MonCrief.
Bachmann had an appearance on Fox Business Live on Feb. 10, the same day she missed a procedural vote.
Other dates that Bachmann was not present to vote: Jan. 26, 2010 (two votes), Feb. 3, 2010 (one vote), Feb. 24, 2009 (5 votes), April 2 (one vote), May 20 (nine votes), June 4 and 15 (5 votes), Sept. 17 (one vote) and Dec. 11 (one vote) and had no media appearances on those days.
The Minnesota Independent contacted the National Taxpayers Union to get a sense of how absences impact politics. NTU has in the past criticized Congress members for missing votes in order to campaign — and with a national media appearance every nine days, Bachmann seems to be in campaign mode. Pete Sepp, vice president for policy and communications, told the Minnesota Independent that legislators should not get paid for times they aren’t at work.
“Unlike many other things that Congress must vote on, this is an individual choice each representative can make without having to wait for clearance from an ethics committee, or a floor vote, or any other kind of procedure,” he said. “All they need to do is dock their own paychecks.”
Sepp stopped short of criticizing Bachmann’s record (the NTU has awarded Bachmann the Taxpayer’s Friend Award), but did note that representatives can request a “leave of absence” which officially excuses them from a vote.
“It’s important to remember, though, that some of Rep. Bachmann’s absences may have been excused by the Speaker in the Congressional Record,” he said.
According to the Congressional Record, Bachmann has requested two leaves of absence since she was elected to office: In mid-June when her stepmother was ill and at the end of May when her father-in-law passed away.
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10 Comments »
Comment posted March 3, 2010 @ 1:06 pm
Always entertaining that Ms. Bachmann.
My favorite unrecorded vote was from last year, Bachmann had a resolution designating September as National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month … a pretty non-controversial piece of legislation … she spoke on its behalf … no one opposed her … when the presiding Congressman called for a vote – which would have been a voice vote – then Bachmann objected complaining that there was not a quorum and wanted a roll call vote … this was a common tactic the GOP had used on other resolutions including Bachmann objecting to recognizing Hawaii’s 50th anniversary as a state (oh, yeah the resolution stated that Obama was born there) … but this time, Bachmann objected to her own resolution … since the House doesn’t want to stop all activity for roll call votes, they generally just wait until a later point in time to do all the roll call votes at the same time … in this instance, they delayed Bachmann’s resolution for days … finally they brought it to a vote again … this time Bachmann didn’t object (I don’t even know if she was there) but it passed with a voice vote. It’s all a game to the GOP.
Bachmann is not the only one that has done this … Kline also did it for a resolution H.Res.483 “Supporting the Goals and Ideals of Veterans of Foreign Wars Day” … it had 62 co-sponsors and was “debated” for forty minutes (actually there was just praise, not debate) … once again, when it came time for a vote, Kline objected for the lack of a quorum … his resolution passed later in the day … on a voice vote … it’s a game.
Fast forward to today. The House debated a resolution … House Resolution 1096 – “Encouraging individuals across the United States to participate in the 2010 Census to ensure an accurate and complete count beginning April 1, 2010, and expressing support for designation of March 2010 as Census Awareness Month.”
After debate, the vote was delayed due to a lack of a quorum call.
Now, the Question of the Day, Will she demand a Roll Call vote so that voters know who wants “our” information ? Or, will she let it pass on voice vote so that nobody pays attention ?
Comment posted March 3, 2010 @ 2:33 pm
Although Bachmann grabbed plenty of headlines for her Hydrocephalus Awareness Month resolution, she has voted against federal funding for hydrocephalus research at every opportunity she’s had since she’s been in office. I guess she’s just “aware” of hydrocephalus but doesn’t necessarily support curing it.
Comment posted March 3, 2010 @ 3:50 pm
Maybe she’s in favor of it?
Comment posted March 4, 2010 @ 9:25 am
“In some instances, House votes seemed to directly conflict with Bachmann’s media schedule, while in others Bachmann’s missed votes occurred on days where she had one or several media events planned.”
Bachmann spends a lot of time getting ready for these media events (hair salon visits, makeup), and that eats up a lot of time. Less media-centric members of Congress can spend less time on grooming and more time on doing the people’s business. It’s a trade-off, and unfortunately with Bachmann the choice is to put personal advancement above the needs of her constituents.
Comment posted March 4, 2010 @ 10:00 am
All persons elected to congress, regardless of party affiliation
have been chosen by the few people who actually vote. They have been chosen based on their campaigns, sort of like a job application. Just like jobs once hired, they can be fired from their positions. In this case it takes the voting public. Based on her record in congress, her speaking(or just ramblings) and basic ideas it is time she be replaced by a more qualified person for the position.
Comment posted March 4, 2010 @ 10:58 am
This woman missed how many votes?
In my book, 47 missed votes is the same as saying she does not want to do the job that the very strange people of the 6th District elected her to do.
As such, she should be brought in front of Speaker Pelosi and fired. Then we can have an election for her seat and get a Progressive who will be there to vote on the days she is supposed to be.
I’d be willing to bet that not one Democrat (other than Sen. Ted Kennedy when he was very ill) has missed even 1/10th of the number of votes MB has missed.
Comment posted March 17, 2010 @ 5:39 pm
Of course she’s going to go for the media opportunity over doing her job, every time. This is a woman with the brains of a parakeet, and the same habits. Put a mirror in the room with her and she’ll spend all day pecking at it.
Comment posted March 19, 2010 @ 8:35 pm
From sourcewatch.org
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) “has missed the most votes of any Democratic presidential hopeful in the Senate over the last two months, including a vote on an Iran resolution he has blasted Sen. Hillary Clinton for supporting,” CNN reported November 2, 2007.[1] Since September 2007, Obama has missed 80 percent of Senate votes.
Glenn Thrush reported September 24, 2007, in Newsday “Since January 2007, Obama “has racked up three times as many missed votes” as Hillary Clinton, who has missed 28 votes or 8.3 percent, “according to roll call records.”[2]
“He’s missed 23.7 percent of his votes, according to vote-tracking databases. The issues he did not cast ballots on ranged from the symbolic to the significant, and included measures on abortion, homeland security, bridge safety, foreign aid, the alternative minimum tax and a failed no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in June [2007].
“Obama has been absent for 82 of his chamber’s 346 votes during the current two-year session, a measure of how much time he’s been spending in the crucial campaign states of New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina,” Thrush wrote.[2]
The Minnesota Independent needs to report some real news, not this smear on Bachmann for missing a fraction of the votes Obama did.
Pingback posted May 3, 2010 @ 3:19 pm
[...] it more beneficial to America if Michelle Bachmann and her staff aren’t distracted by government things? America doesn’t need her votes, but it does profit spiritually from her inspiring comedy [...]
Comment posted June 13, 2010 @ 10:31 pm
I saw some posts about Bachmann sticking her nose in New Jersey and campaigning for one of the most liberal Republicans in the House. She campaigned for this guy Chris Smith in NJ who was one of the eight Republicans to vote for cap and trade, he co-sponsored and voted for card check, took over $607,000 from Unions including SEIU.
What’s worse is that the campaigned against the Tea Party candidate.
Bachmann is yet another fake conservative who uses the Tea Party movement to raise tens of thousands of dollars.
I always suspected that she was a fake and out for her own advancement. She doesn’t really care about Minnesota or the problems we face. I always thought she was out for her own Fox show or something. She missed the votes because she was auditioning.
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