Michele Bachmann has done almost nothing as a congressperson

Reporters and bloggers rightfully enjoy feeding off of Michel Bachmann's frequent outrageous remarks, but few have made note of the real problem she poses for the people living in her district.

The word needs to get out in Michele Bachmann's congressional district that she is screwing the people she supposedly represents. Her stated philosophy is to do as little as possible in congress, and she does not believe in the use of Federal Money for ... things. So it should not be a surprise to her constituents that she has been personally responsible for almost no positive action that has helped her district.

She does seem very good a shooting off her mouth, making embarrassing statements that draw national attention, and taking credit where credit is most definitely not due. The most recent example of this occurred just the other day for the ribbon cutting ceremony on a new bridge that was built over the Mississippi River near Saint Cloud. This bridge replaces one that was deemed unsafe about seven years ago. Over the last few years, various individuals and groups have worked hard to get the funding for the replacement bridge, and to see the process through, including State Senator Tarryl Clark, who recently wrote a letter pointing out Bachmann's shortcomings in this area.

Yesterday, we held a celebration of the opening of the new bridge, the "Granite City Crossing."

Gathered there were the partners who made it possible - my State colleagues who helped find the funding within our newly-passed transportation funds; the construction workers who labored every day on the bridge; the local businesses who are hoping the traffic flowing once again past their stores will bring more customers.

And Michele Bachmann.

Who showed up to "cut the ribbon," after doing nothing to secure any funding for this critically important transportation investment.

source: DMB

The reason this bridge was built is interesting, and not unconnected to Bachmann in a sort of sick and demented way. You see, we had a Republican Governor in this state who had very screwy priorities which led, indirectly, to a poor inspection system for our bridges. One can argue until the cows come home whether or not a specific Pawlenty Policy was responsible for the collapse of the I-35W bridge (the bridge that carries Gods Highway over the Mississippi River) but the fact remains that a suddenly "stepped up" (i.e., brought to normal levels) inspection program of all the state's bridges caused quite a bit of last second repair, and a few key bridges to be closed. This bridge .... the Highway 23 bridge over the Mississippi ... was, it would seem, so close to falling into the river for the same reason (gusset plate failure) as the I-35W bridge fell that it was quickly closed.

That's when everybody ... except Michele Bachmann ... went to work to do everything that needed to be done to get a new bridge in place. (A possible explanation for Michele Bachmann's reasoning, or lack thereof, is here.)

Normally the federal congressperson is on the front lines representing her district in the scramble for limited federal highway funds. But this particular congressperson does not believe that such funds should be raised through taxes or spent on ... things. This is apparently the reason that Michele Bachmann did not help at all in raising the money for this important replacement bridge.

But she did manage to show up for the ribbon cutting ceremony.