A campaign aide for former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann sued the Minnesota congresswoman and her senior campaign aides on Monday, alleging an official stole a private email list and that she was blamed for its use.
The lawsuit filed by Barb Heki claimed that Bachmann’s Iowa campaign chairman, state Senator Kent Sorenson, took the list from Heki’s private computer to promote Bachmann’s candidacy among Christian home-school advocates before the Iowa caucuses.
Read more on Daily Mail Online. A copy of the complaint is available on Politico.com, who provide additional coverage of the case.
Update: Kevin Diaz reports in the Star Tribune that there was compensation for the “inadvertent” use of the list, showing how complicated this case may become:
… Bachmann campaign officials described the use of the list last December as “inadvertent,” and agreed to pay fair market value to Heki’s group, the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE). By then, however, Heki claims she was blamed for the unauthorized use of the list and expelled as a board member.
According to federal campaign finance reports filed by the Bachmann campaign, NICHE was paid $2,000 last December 7. The disbursement was listed as “List rental.”
How does someone “inadvertently” use a mail list stored on someone else’s private computer? Stay tuned….