Michele Bachmann, a Republican Representative of Minnesota that led the voice of the Tea Party in Congress, said that she will not be running for re-election in 2014. She claims that her decision is not influenced by her impending court case for allegations of stolen e-mail addresses from an Iowa home-schooling organization.

The trial date for Bachmann is set for May 14th, 2014 in Iowa for stolen and misused e-mail information. Bachmann maintains that she has committed no wrong doing and said in a videotaped message that “this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff.” 

From Des Moines Register:  

“A 12-page Polk County lawsuit filed last July alleges that two Iowans, Barbara and Richard Heki, suffered “severe emotional distress and loss of current and future business opportunities” after two unapproved emails were sent from the Bachmann for President campaign to members of the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE).

Court documents allege other campaign officials knew of and supported the theft, which quickly led to the Hekis being kicked off the NICHE board of directors.”

Bachmann and her campaign, along with former campaign chairman Ken Sorenson and several other Republican operatives were named in the law suit, accused of trespassing, invasion of privacy, and misappropriated information.

From the NY Times: 

“Mrs. Bachmann spent heavily in her last Congressional campaign and eked out a victory by less than two percentage points. Her opponent in that race had already declared his intention to run against her again in 2014. And so far this year her fund-raising has been paltry.”

Bachmann had only raised less than $700,000 in her first three months of office this year, which is less than half of what she raised in the same amount of time in 2011. 

 

Reach Executive Producer Eric Parra here.