Bachmann responds to Krinkie

Today the Bachmann campaign responded to a letter sent out yesterday by Phil Krinkie concerning some literature from the Bachmann campaign comparing their respective ratings from the Taxpayers League.

Wingman has the text of Krinkie's letter here:

Senator Bachmann:

I am writing today to call attention to false information in your campaign literature concerning our voting records. I trust you will immediately stop disseminating this false information in radio interviews, your speeches and in your campaign literature.

The false claim you have repeatedly made is that you have the highest rating from the Taxpayers League of Minnesota from 2000 through 2004. This claim is patently false.

My rating from the Minnesota Taxpayers League for each year from 2000 to 2004 was 100%. My average rating over that time period is, of course, 100%. This can be easily verified by visiting the Taxpayers League Website at www.taxpayersleague.org. Visitors to this site will also see my 100% rating in 2005 compared to your 77% rating, due to the fact that you broke your written pledge not to raise taxes.

Your most recent literature, handed out at the BPOU conventions last weekend, states that my average is 95%. This is false and you need to stop repeating it.

You first made this claim in a radio interview on February 18th on the Patriot Radio Show. You are now repeating it in your campaign speeches and in your literature.

Since this is a campaign between Republicans, I would respectfully ask that you destroy any literature with this false claim and cease and desist from repeating it in your speeches. Your quick action will prevent us from having to pursue legal action.

Running for Congress is much different than running for the State Legislature, and the Democrats in Washington D.C. are going to do everything they can to steal this seat back in November – including taking legal action against such distortions.

I would appreciate immediate compliance with my request. The Delegates to the 6th District Convention will benefit from a thorough and open discussion of our voting records – but only if we stick to the facts.

Sincerely,

Phil Krinkie

The claims in question can be seen here, courtesty of a statement from David Strom of the Taxpayers League.

Bachmann said:

Bachmann's Taxpayers League voting record, 2000-2004, of 96% outperformed Knoblach's 77% and Krinkie's 95%.

Those numbers can be found in this document from the TL.

In the reply today from the Bachmann campaign, their letter says:

See for yourself that my lifetime rating through 2004 was 96% and Rep. Krinkie’s lifetime score was 95%.

Now, that is a true statement. However, if that is what the Bachmann campaign intended to say by their literature, they were not at all clear on that point. They certainly seemed to say that they were comparing the years 2000-2004, and not lifetime ratings.

If just those years are compared, David Strom’s statement on the TL website is accurate.

The Bachmann campaign should have been more specific about what precisely they were comparing.

(Though, as stated in the comments in a post at Residual Forces, it’s understandable Bachmann would not include 2005, as she had a decision to make on whether to swallow a poison pill. That she sided with a pro-life issue is not in any way an indication of how she votes on fiscal matters.)

Also, it is true that Krinkie said this in his letter:

“My rating from the Minnesota Taxpayers League for each year from 2000 to 2004 was 100%.”

However, as the Taxpayers League documents show, Krinkie’s rating in 2000 was not 100%, but was, rather, 92%.

I now sit back and await the chorus that Krinkie is a liar, a slimeball, has no integrity, etc…

(Now, I in no way think Krinkie is those things. Just wondering if those who are so venomous towards Bachmann will hold Krinkie to their same standard of truth.)