Bachmann’s move to get Swiss citizenship prompted by her children
By Megan Boldt mboldt@pioneerpress.com TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
Posted:
TwinCities.com
Earlier this year, she wanted to be president of the United States. Now, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann can call herself a citizen of Switzerland.
The congresswoman became eligible for dual citizenship in 1978 when she married Marcus Bachmann, whose parents are from the small European nation. Recently, some of the Bachmann children wanted to become Swiss citizens, so the family went through the process together, spokeswoman Becky Rogness told Politico.
The news has a touch of irony. Switzerland has something Bachmann adamantly opposes — universal health care and mandates that individuals buy coverage. Bachmann has feverishly campaigned against President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, dubbing it “Obamacare” and calling for full-scale repeal.
Bachmann is running for re-election in the 6th Congressional District. Her Democratic opponent, hotelier Jim Graves, said news of her dual citizenship is simply another distraction from the issues U.S. citizens are facing.
Campaign spokesman Donald McFarland noted that Graves spent Tuesday, May 8, at the St. Cloud Rotary Club listening to a printing plant manager speak about the difficulties of laying off workers.
“The Graves family is not interested in dual citizenship, and they are proud to be Americans,” McFarland said in a statement. “Jim Graves is in the business of creating economic opportunity.”
Bachmann, who issued a statement Wednesday calling the event a “non-story,” met with a group of Swiss parliamentarians this week and was interviewed then by Swiss national public television.
“My husband is 100 percent Swiss, and his parents were raised in Switzerland. They were married there, they came to the United States, they bought a farm in Wisconsin and raised their three sons there,” Bachmann said in the interview.
When asked if she would ever run for office in Switzerland, Bachmann joked that the competition “would be very stiff because they are very good,” referring to the parliamentarians behind her.
Megan Boldt can be reached at 651-228-5495.
Source: http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_20586431/bachmanns-swiss-citizenship-prompted-by-her-children?source=rss
