Concord, New Hampshire (CNN) - The former New Hampshire staff of Rep. Michele Bachmann - all five of whom resigned their posts last week - released a stinging statement Monday, accusing some of the congresswoman's national campaign staff of being "rude, unprofessional, dishonest, and at times cruel."
The open letter gives a lengthy and forceful critique of Bachmann's national staff, saying the team was not responsive to communications from New Hampshire, and had requested in September that New Hampshire staffers temporarily "go off payroll" then never clarified their employment status.
The statement also accuses the national team of being dogged by "chaos" and "shifting strategies" and treating the New Hampshire staffers as "second-class citizens."
"Sadly, they were deceived, constantly left out of the loop regarding key decisions, and relegated to second-class citizens within a campaign in which they were the original members," the statement said.
A former member of the staff confirmed the statement, released by the state account of "Team NH for Bachmann 2012," was crafted by the campaign's former New Hampshire staffers.
CNN attempted to contact members of Bachmann's national campaign for comment. There was no response to several emails, and the voice mailbox for Bachmann's press spokeswoman was full and not accepting messages.
The statement comes after media reports Friday that Bachmann's New Hampshire staff had quit - reports that were denied by Bachmann's national campaign manager Keith Nahigian.
"We have a great team in New Hampshire and we have not been notified that anyone is leaving the campaign," Nahigian said Friday.
Nahigian said Bachmann planned to return to New Hampshire to campaign, but acknowledged she would focus most of her energies on Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucus.
The statement by the former New Hampshire team said frustrations with the campaign had been building since June, but came to a head after Bachmann visited the state in early October. The letter does not divulge the reasons but calls them "serious" enough to prompt the state campaign manager Jeff Chidester to email his resignation to someone connected with the campaign.
The statement is careful to clarify the New Hampshire team still supports Rep. Bachmann.
"It saddens this team to see a dedicated patriot - a person so desperately needed in the White House - sequestered behind a wall of pretense, guarded by political operatives consumed by their own egos," the statement said.
Bachmann has been plagued by campaign staff upheaval both at her congressional office and on her campaign. Several key advisers left her campaign in early September.
But campaign staff hit back late Monday in a statement given to Politico.
"The unauthorized news release was sent by a person who doesn't even work for the campaign and has never had authority to speak on behalf of the campaign," said Bachmann campaign manager, Keith Nahigian. "We are not responding to comments made by a person who was not even a staff member in New Hampshire. Our focus is on Iowa."
From CNN Politics
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"rude, unprofessional, dishonest, and at times cruel."
Further proof that MB is really Sarah Palin in disguise.......I mean, has anyone ever seen them together? I think not.
LOL.. this is funny.. what fool would want to work for her in the first place!!!!!! Money gone people gone it's that simple
If it was that bad for her campaign staff, just imagine how bad it would be for the country if she were president!
Maybe , maybe not . But she sure is a gorgeous woman . Smart and beautiful .
Imbecile ideologue numbnut's campaign is disorganized, scatter-brained and chaotic. Boy, I sure didn't see this coming.
chaos is inevitable once corn dogs become part of the story.
Please, someone get her to quit. I am all for a woman president – please more apply, but Michelle jis ust not a leader. What, when she faces some threat will she raise her hand for permission to talk? "I raised 25 kids.." whatever, get a reality TV show then.
"Disposable people...........just use and then throw away."
Well duh. Why do you think the GOP wants so badly to get rid of SS and Medicare? Once your viable labor life is over, they want you to die quick because they see you as nothing more than a drag on the 1% at that point.
Well, you know the old saying "you get what you pay for!" You buy into her crap and you get crap back! That is how the game is played baby!
The echo chamber is collapsing.....Minnesota, time to repeal and replace Bachmann.
"rude, unprofessional, dishonest, and at times cruel."
Color me shocked. I would never have seen that coming from someone who rode their high horse, fed on ideological self-declared religio-moral superiority, into the limelight waving a bible and the flag in one hand while holding a torch to established historical record with the other.
And we care about this, why??? She won't ever amount to anything. The Tea Party is backing Cain. Romney will end up the nominee. See ya next November.
What a shocker! Sorta like her brain, just a ship wreck , she need to call it a day and go back and pray for gays. She is in way over her head! That last debate was awful , all she did was talk about women ,and their concerns over and over, like we are some sort of gullible dolts who do not realize who has put best interests at heart and it is not the GOP!
she cant even keep campaign staff, what will her cabinet do
@ jrcarroll
The chaos in Bachmann's campaign organization reflects the chaos between her ears.......:
Its caused by a lack of anything there....a lack of intellect, a lack of compassion, a lack of original thought. Actually, I'm wrong, she has plenty of ambition, but none of the tools to make it come about. I guess that explains the venom.
God has spoken.
Her national campaign manager must be Chemical Ali!!
So what's the first thing they do after the NH staff quit? Tell yet another lie and deny it.
We need a new law that says:
- Candidates must resign from Congress before the make a run at the primaries.
This way onces fools like Bachman are sorted nationally, they disappear from the national scene
@George
Michele, please don't give up on us. We love you even if your staff doesn't. You are our only hope of survival and we need you in the White House. My mom is homeless and you will help her find a place to live. Remember mom please and vote for Michele. :
Bachmann did go to NH earlier in the month, and at one stop a very elderly man asked about getting his teeth fixed, and she told him to beg, because charity was the only way he was going to get them fixed. I wouldn't rely on her getting your mom a place to live.
The 'chaos' in Bachmann's camp doesn't come close to rivaling the chaos in her (so-called) brain.....
Well, what goes around comes around. It doesn't matter. She's a footnote in history.
I wonder what those Republican staffers will feel like when they join the unemployment lines?
Dazed and Confused? Willfully ignorant and obtuse is a better monikor.
Rude, unprofessional, dishonest, cruel...the true and best description of Bachmann...
Guitar – good point about these people campaigning while in office. Don't forget it applies to Obama, too – he was in his first term as a US Senator when he ran for president – he spent perhaps a year and a half in the position before going over to full-time campaigning.