NICHE President: Heki Not Removed From Board Because of Bachmann Email Incident

| August 2, 2012
bachmann-homeschool-day-1

Bachmann speaking at NICHE Homeschool Day on the Hill 2011
Photo by Dave Davidson – Prezography.com

Former NICHE Board member and Bachmann Presidential campaign staffer Barb Heki and her husband are suing Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, former Bachmann Iowa Co-Chair Kent Sorenson and others after the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) emails list added to the Bachmann campaign database without permission.  It was then used to send out two emails to Iowa homeschooling families on the list.  She is accusing Sorenson of stealing the list from her computer and then accusing the Bachmann campaign of covering it up and letting her receive the blame.

In the lawsuit Heki contends that she and her husband Richard were then removed from the NICHE board on November 29th as a result.   Justin LaVan, the President of NICHE, emailed me yesterday to say that isn’t so.

I want you to know that NICHE did not do anything wrong in removing Rich and Barb Heki from the board.  Their removal was not directly related to the list incident.  NICHE is a ministry that will continue to serve home school families throughout this state and do what we believe is best for NICHE and its members.

He said on Tuesday to the the Wall Street Journal that he didn’t want to speculate on how the Bachmann campaign received the list.  He did say that the Bachmann campaign did later pay a reasonable fee for the two emails that were sent out.  At the time other campaigns were also given an opportunity to purchase the list.  He said that, “We’ve never asserted that the Bachmann campaign stole the list.  There is no issue as far as I’m concerned with the Bachmann campaign.”

He would not comment further on the Hekis’ removal other than to say it was not directly related to the incident.

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Category: 2012 Iowa Caucus, Iowa Courts, Iowa News

About the Author ()

Shane Vander Hart is the founder and editor-in-chief of Caffeinated Thoughts.  He is also the President of 4:15 Communications, LLC, a social media & communications consulting/management firm.  He is a communications director for American Principles Project’s Preserve Innocence Initiative.  Prior to this Shane spent 20 years in youth ministry serving in church, parachurch, and school settings.  He has also served as an interim pastor and is a sought after speaker and pulpit fill-in.  Shane has been married to his wife Cheryl since 1993 and they have three kids.  Shane and his family reside near Des Moines, IA.  You can connect with Shane on Facebook or follow him on Twitter and Google +.
  • Scott M

    Obvious follow-up question:  Then what exactly was she removed for?  If you didn’t want people to think she was removed for the email incident, then why did you time her dismissal the way you did?

    • http://shanevanderhart.com/ Shane Vander Hart

      Which I did ask and I was given a “no comment.” He did say that if NICHE gets dragged into the lawsuit he would release more info. He’s a lawyer :)

      • B. B.

        That may have been a good thing to include in your report. I am also interested in whether or not it is standard practice, then, to make public their network email list. And how the owners of those email addresses feel about them being shared.

        • http://shanevanderhart.com/ Shane Vander Hart

          No it isn’t standard practice which is why it was so controversial.

        • Kevin Subra

           I am on the list, and complained to NICHE about getting e-mails. My understanding is that they had to give “equal time” to others (via pay) to access the list since Bachmann had used it. It wasn’t their choice, once the list was used.

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