Michele Bachmann: Star Tribune Editorial Board's contextual criticisms of me were wrong

The comments about me in the Jan. 19 editorial "Reckless tweet undermines Omar" were dishonest and unfair.

During my time in Congress, I was a serious member who focused on policy and legislative priorities for my district.

In particular, I spearheaded the bill to build the St. Croix River bridge project, breaking the impasse to complete the longest unfinished bridge project in the history of the U.S.

I was the first Republican woman to participate in 15 televised presidential debates, and I won a presidential contest.

No other Republican woman to date has done that.

I chaired the adoption and foster-care caucus, having 23 foster children of my own.

Coming from a single-parent home with few resources, I worked my way through school and became a practicing federal tax lawyer and opened a private business.

Though I was ridiculed on these pages for advocating American energy production and predicting gas prices could fall to $2 a gallon, today gas prices can be had for less than $2 a gallon.

The three items the Editorial Board castigated me for were in error.

I've always supported childhood vaccinations. To say otherwise is ludicrous. I questioned a governor who overrode parental consent and mandated shots for 12-year-olds based on potential sexual activity — a very different conversation.

The board stated that I supported a brutal crackdown by an Egyptian dictator.

I did not.

I supported the democratically elected Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who bravely advocated religious tolerance in his Muslim country. He recently built a Coptic Christian church to replace one bombed by Muslim Brotherhood terrorists.

Finally, the board claimed I worried about anti-Americans "stalking the halls of Congress."

Since then, my concerns have been confirmed in multiple examples. Just one included IT employees working for Democrat House members who absconded the U.S. for Pakistan with sensitive government information, together with hundreds of thousands of stolen dollars.

Of course, the Editorial Board may disagree with my viewpoints, but it should respect this conservative woman's work ethic, the St. Croix River bridge I helped get built, and the example I set for women serving in public office.

I do not deserve its condescending ridicule.

Michele Bachmann was a member of the U.S. House from 2007 to 2015 and was a candidate for president in 2012.