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Primer: Deep roots of Anoka-Hennepin’s discrimination controversy

By Andy Birkey | 09.15.11 | 7:02 am

On Tuesday, the New York Times featured a front page article about the Anoka-Hennepin School District and its two-year long struggle to defend policies that limit discussion of LGBT issues in district schools. It’s an issue the Minnesota Independent has covered from the beginning.The following is a full account of the dispute.

Rep. Michele Bachmann. Photo: Jeff Storjohann, Carroll Daily Times Herald

Bachmann continues stonewalling journalists over ‘ex-gay’ accusations

By Andy Birkey | 07.13.11 | 10:45 am

Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is continuing her silence about reports on Monday that her family’s Christian counseling clinic performs “ex-gay” therapy to cure gays and lesbians of their homosexuality. Reporters for ABC and CNN were rebuffed in their efforts to get clarification from Bachmann, and a reporter with Mother Jones unsuccessfully tried an in-person interview with Bachmann.

SNL's Kristen Wiig as Michele Bachmann

Bachmann gets the Saturday Night Live treatment

By Andy Birkey | 01.31.11 | 9:00 am

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s tea party response to President Obama’s State of the Union address last week became fodder for Saturday Night Live when SNL’s Kristen Wiig lampooned Bachmann in the opening scene. She played with the fact that Bachmann used a number of charts during her response, and that she appeared not to face the camera during CNN’s live broadcast.

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Bachmann hit 14 national media outlets in the last seven days

By Andy Birkey | 12.13.10 | 8:00 am

A study last year by the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota found that Rep. Michele Bachmann appeared on cable news programs every nine days on average. Last week, she shattered those expectations by appearing on a cable news program at least once a day from Tuesday through Saturday making 14 national television or radio appearances.

Rep. Michele Bachmann

Bachmann responds to earmark controversy

By Andy Birkey | 12.10.10 | 2:07 pm

Rep. Michele Bachmann lashed out at media outlets that have suggested she wants to backtrack on the GOP’s earmark ban. “There is no daylight between my position and Speaker-designate John Boehner on earmarks. Period,” she said on Friday afternoon. In several instances Bachmann has indicated she wants a change in the definition of earmarks to allow House members to earmark dollars for transportation and Army Corps of Engineers projects.

Citing MnIndy, MSNBC looks into Target’s MN Forward gift

By Paul Schmelzer | 08.03.10 | 12:37 pm

The Minnesota Independent got props in a Keith Olbermann segment that posed a good question: Will Target’s MN Forward donation scare other companies from donating to political campaigns? Olbermann interviewed TPM’s Christina Bellantoni, who says…

National media reflect on Franken’s first year: ‘quiet,’ ‘low-key’

By Andy Birkey | 07.06.10 | 7:49 am

The Associated Press and Newsweek posted articles Monday reflecting on Al Franken’s first full year as a U.S. Senator, and both say he’s upended expectations that he’d be loud, brash and comical. Franken told…

Bachmann to share staffer with Rep. King

By Andy Birkey | 04.14.10 | 8:07 am

Reps. Michele Bachmann and Steve King, R-Iowa, have been negotiating with the House Ethics Committee and the House Administration Committee to share the services of Sergio Gor, who will handle press…

St. Cloud Times: ‘Bachmann’s health care claims falter’

By Andy Birkey | 04.13.10 | 9:00 am

The St. Cloud Times is the latest in a string of major local and national media outlets that have taken issue with Rep. Michele Bachmann’s public statements about health care reform. Each of the nonpartisan groups the newspaper contacted…

Conservative blogger ambushes Franken, Franken pushes back

By Andy Birkey | 03.30.10 | 8:29 am

Jason Mattera caught Sen. Al Franken in one of his “ambush” interviews last week, and conservatives are all atwitter over Franken’s demanding that Mattera “shut up” after Mattera repeatedly…