GOP denies it cut Bachmann campaign funds

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A national Republican committee denied Thursday it has withdrawn funding for Rep. Michele Bachmann because of her controversial comments about Barack Obama.

Karen Hanretty, communications director for the National Republican Campaign Committee, said funding is targeted to candidates who need additional money, Roll Call reported Thursday. She said the Minnesota congresswoman had received no funding before last week, when she said on MSNBC's "Hardball" that members of Congress should be investigated for views she called un-American.

The remarks resulted in so much criticism that Bachmann's Democratic opponent, former state Transportation Commissioner El Tinklenberg, received more than $1 million in contributions.

"There are more paths to victory for Republican candidates than we have money to fund," Hanretty wrote in an e-mail. "Some candidates, like Congresswoman Bachmann, are sitting on more than $1 million cash on hand in districts that President Bush won in 2004 by double digits."

Hanretty said funding decisions are made by an independent expenditures unit, which, by law, operates independently of the MRCC and its chairman, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.