Michele Bachmann Bachmann still hasn't paid presidential campaign staffers Five Iowa staffers say they've refuse to sign a gag order the campaign demands (updated: Bachmann official denies) 
 
 Over a year after she dropped out, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann has refused to pay five staffers from her failed presidential bid, according to a former top campaign official. Peter Waldron, her controversial former national field coordinator, told Salon the dispute started when former Iowa straw poll staffers refused to sign a nondisclosure agreement that would bar them from discussing any "unethical, immoral, or criminal activity" they witnessed on the campaign with police or reporters. 
 
 Waldron said the staffers are owed a mere $5,000, and that Bachmann has more than $2 million in her campaign account, but has refused to pay unless the staffers sign the agreement. Negotiations over payment with Bachmann Finance Chairman James Pollack eventually broke down and Waldron decided to go public with the news, posting a press release on Christian Newswire this evening. 
 
 Advertisement: 
 
 "I feel a moral obligation to see that my Christian brothers and sisters are paid for worked performed in good faith. I've continually communicated by telephone and email with Mr. Pollack for 1 year but he broke every promise made to me to pay the staff. I appealed to Dr. [Marcus] Bachmann for help. I appealed to Representative Bachmann's Chief of Staff Robert Boland to intercede with Mrs. Bachmann on behalf of her loyal Iowa staff -- all of whom are married, all have children,” Waldron said in the press release. 
 
 "It is sobering to think that a Christian member of Congress would betray her testimony to the Lord and the public by withholding earned wages from deserving staff," Waldron added. 
 
 Reached by phone, Waldron confirmed the details and said the nondisclosure agreement stems from the campaign’s alleged misuse of an email list. A home-schooling group accused the Bachmann campaign of stealing the list, which was contained on a volunteer's laptop, and then using it to fundraise for the campaign. The home-schooling group has sued the campaign and Waldron said there is also a criminal investigation pending, explaining that he spoke with police about the incident “several times.” 
 
 “They wanted us to have no further conversation [with police] without first notifying Michele’s attorneys, and we just refused,” he told Salon. “We’ve been lied to at every turn.” 
 
 “This story is important. I’ve got five soldiers, as it were, five men who are willing to stand and not capitulate to this unnatural pressure that is coming from the Bachmann campaign. It’s just immoral what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to shut us up. You want to get paid? You gotta sign this agreement and not talk to either the police or lawyers,” he continued. 
 
 Bachmann’s campaign was marked by poor management. At one point in October of 2011, her entire New Hampshire staff quit en masse, in part because of a lack of payment. Waldron was brought on in July of 2011 by former campaign manager Ed Rollins, who quickly left the campaign and later publicly attacked his former candidate. Waldron said he’s known Rollins since the late 1980s and “made a tactical error in sticking with the campaign” after his boss left. 
 
 UPDATE: In an email to Salon, Pollack calls Waldron's charges about the non-payment "false and inaccurate," but doesn't specifically address the non-disclosure agreement. His statement in full follows, and we will have more on this in the coming days: ||||| Michele Bachmann Refuses to Pay Iowa Presidential Staffers After 375 Days 
 
 Contact: Peter E Waldron, 727-415-7189, Contactamerica1@msn.com; www.peterewaldron.com 
 
 TAMPA, Fla. Jan. 10, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN), former presidential candidate and a leader of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives in Washington, has yet to pay some of her Iowa presidential campaign staff after one year and in spite of the fact that over $2,000,000* sits in bank accounts at her disposal. 
 
 
 
 It is only recently that a few Iowa small business owners, most of whom are heads-of-household, received payment in full for services rendered through the 2012 caucus month. 
 
 
 
 The remaining staff members were promised payment several times by Michele's Finance Chairman, James Pollack, but the payment never came. 
 
 
 
 Dr. Peter Waldron, Bachmann for President National Field Coordinator, explained it this way, "Recently Mr. Pollack demanded that each unpaid staff member sign a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits any discussion of any criminal, moral, and/or unethical behavior witnessed during Mrs. Bachmann's campaign in Iowa. In fact, Mr. Pollack insists that each staffer not speak to law enforcement and/or lawyers without first speaking with Mrs. Bachmann's attorneys." 
 
 
 
 Dr. Waldron continued by saying, "I feel a moral obligation to see that my Christian brothers and sisters are paid for worked performed in good faith. I've continually communicated by telephone and email with Mr. Pollack for 1 year but he broke every promise made to me to pay the staff. I appealed to Dr. Bachmann for help. I appealed to Representative Bachmann's Chief of Staff Robert Boland to intercede with Mrs. Bachmann on behalf of her loyal Iowa staff -- all of whom are married, all have children." 
 
 Rep. Bachmann currently is a defendant in a lawsuit filed in Polk County, Iowa. And, the Urbandale, Iowa, police department is investigating the theft of confidential data from a staff member's personal laptop computer and cover-up of the theft by her staff. 
 
 "It is sobering to think that a Christian member of Congress would betray her testimony to the Lord and the public by withholding earned wages from deserving staff," Dr. Waldron concluded. 
 
 *As of 11/26/12 (Post General Report) Bachmann for Congress reported $2,170,422.02 for cash on hand. As of 11/26/12 (Post General Report) Bachmann for President reported $53,451.03 for cash on hand and $169,588 as debt 
 
 As of 11/26/12 (Post General Report) MichelePAC reported $72,396.77 for cash on hand. If you add up all the cash at her disposal and subtract the debt she has $2,126,681.22 at her disposal. 
 
 According to her last Personal Financial Disclosure she has a net worth between $1,300,000 and $2,800,000.
– A former official in Michele Bachmann's campaign is accusing her of withholding thousands of dollars in pay to Iowa staffers who refuse to sign a non-disclosure agreement, Salon reports. Peter Waldron posted his allegations yesterday on Christian Newswire, saying Bachmann has more than $2 million left over from the campaign but won't pay out a mere $5,000. "It is sobering to think that a Christian member of Congress would betray her testimony to the Lord and the public by withholding earned wages from deserving staff," he wrote. Waldron says it all boils down to an email list the campaign allegedly stole from a home-schooling group. Staffers don't want to sign a non-disclosure agreement because a criminal investigation is pending. "They wanted us to have no further conversation [with police] without first notifying Michele’s attorneys, and we just refused," he says. "We've been lied to at every turn." But Bachmann Finance Chairman James Pollack calls the allegations "false and innacurate," saying the campaign is "in the process of resolving" two "recently submitted" invoices from Iowa consultants.