Former Bachmann aide sues campaign alleging theft

AP foreign, Tuesday July 31 2012

THOMAS BEAUMONT

Associated Press= DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa 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 claims that Bachmann's Iowa campaign chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson, took the list from Heki's private computer to promote Bachmann's candidacy among Christian home-school advocates before the Iowa caucuses. Heki was hired to coordinate home-school supporters for Bachmann's Iowa campaign.

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Christian home-school advocates have become a sought-after constituency in GOP presidential caucuses. Heki had been a board member for the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators for 10 years, and had worked as a top home-school volunteer for Republican Mike Huckabee's winning Iowa caucus campaign in 2008.

Heki, who lives in Johnston, claims in the lawsuit that Sorenson took a database from her private computer in November that contained names and contact information, including email addresses, of thousands of Iowa families who were part of the Iowa home-school network on whose board she served. Heki said she had told Sorenson months earlier that she would not provide the list to the campaign.

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