Frank Vennes Jr., a major financial contributor to Minnesota 6^th District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, may be innocent until proven guilty, but Bachmann has already convicted him and thrown him under the campaign bus.

Barely a week after Vennes’ home was raided on Sept. 24 by federal agents in connection with the massive, billion-dollar fraud investigation of Tom Petters, the Stillwater Republican withdrew a letter of support for a Presidential pardon she had written for Vennes about a year ago.

“I had known Mr. Vennes for some time and was familiar with his good works with local charity organizations,” Bachmann wrote to the Office of Pardon Attorney on October 2, 2008. “Like so many others, I was under the impression that he had turned his life around and was seeking to do the right thing by those less fortunate.

“Regrettably,” Bachmann continued, “it now appears that I may have too hastily accepted his claims of redemption and I must withdraw my previous letter.”

Bachmann wrote the letter urging the president to pardon Vennes for his 1987 conviction on federal money laundering, illegal firearm sales and cocaine distribution charges. He was sentenced to five years in federal prison. After serving his sentence in Sandstone Federal Correctional Institution in Minnesota, Vennes went through a bizarre series of appeals claiming entrapment, which the 8^th Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately rejected in 1994.

Vennes’ latest troubles involve an alleged giant Ponzi scheme with local billionaire Petters at the vortex of the widening probe. Although Vennes has not been charged, a federal search warrant affidavit accuses him of facilitating a $1.2 billion swindle of five investors in companies controlled by Petters, collecting more than $28 million in commissions in the process.

Bachmann’s original letter of support for Vennes’ pardon wouldn’t be so unusual if it weren’t for the fact that he is not even a constituent of Bachmann’s. Vennes’ home is in Shorewood and his business address is listed as Excelsior, neither of which are anywhere near the 6^th District.

Vennes, however, has been a major financial contributor to Bachmann since 2005. He and his wife, Kimberly, have contributed a total of $27,400 to Bachmann since 2005. Vennes’ brother and his wife, Greg and Stephanie Vennes, have contributed another $8,400 to Bachmann since 2005.

Frank Vennes also has contributed heavily to many other federal and state Republican candidates and causes, including Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee, and the Northstar Leadership PAC, a St. Paul-based political action committee that gave Bachmann $10,000 in 2006.

Was Bachmann’s letter in support of Vennes’ presidential pardon a quid pro quo for Vennes’ largesse? Until Bachmann releases her original letter, the motivation behind it won’t be known. Bachmann chief of staff Michele Marston told Minnesota Independent Monday that “We’re trying to track down a copy of that letter.”

According to the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, “public record documents that may be compiled in the course of processing a clemency application … are generally made available upon request by third-parties (including representatives of the news media) pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, unless such disclosure could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the petitioner’s personal privacy. In addition, unsolicited Congressional correspondence is treated in the same manner.”

>Bachmann’s letter withdrawing her support for a pardon gave him faint praise for his past charitable work. But nowhere does she indicate specifically why she no longer believes he deserves one, merely alluding to his continuing “inner struggles.”

“Many less privileged people benefited from his [Vennes'] outward demonstrations of support,” she wrote. “And, such visible signs of hope, along with his affirmations of shame at his previous actions, led me and so many others to believe that public redemption should be brought to bear in this case. But, the power of a Presidential pardon should be reserved only for those who truly deserve it. While Mr. Vennes showed public regret, he still clearly needs to reconcile his inner struggles and I am no longer convinced that he would be an appropriate candidate for a Presidential pardon.”

But despite Bachmann’s claims of Vennes’ “affirmations of shame” and “public regret” over his misdeeds, a reading of Vennes’ arguments in his multiple appeals suggests that Vennes did everything he could to blame the government and others for his crimes, even though he pleaded guilty and no contest to them at the time.

More: The full Bachmann withdrawal letter is here (PDF link).