Three consultants who are being paid or have been paid (but are now volunteers for) by the Pawlenty campaign work for organizations that are planning to send supporters to the Ames Straw Poll. The consultants deny they are violating any laws, and there is no indication that they are targeting Pawlenty supporters for rides to Ames. (Crucial to any Ames-winning strategy is gathering the necessary number of supporters to show up to the poll.) But the Bachmann campaign has accused Pawlenty of “hijack[ing] non-profit organizations for his own political gains.”

From the Des Moines Register:

But the efforts of these two groups are drawing scrutiny.One wrinkle is that the paid Iowa organizers for both Strong America Now and the Iowa Energy Forum wear two hats: They also are or have been paid consultants for the Tim Pawlenty presidential campaign. That raises suspicions from rival campaign operatives, who worry Pawlenty could see a straw poll advantage. …
Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s Iowa campaign chairman, Kent Sorenson, said he thinks it would be difficult for the Pawlenty consultants to separate what they’re doing for one group from the other. He blasted the arrangement — and blamed Pawlenty.
“Since 2009, Tim Pawlenty’s been trying to sell himself to Iowa Republicans,” said Sorenson, a state senator from Indianola. “Now, he’s attempting to hijack nonprofit organizations for his own political gain.”
“Publicly, Tim wants to play the low-expectations game, but privately it looks as if he’s sunk to desperate and unethical attempts to win the Ames straw poll.”
Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant responded: “Congresswoman Bachmann has a history of being loose with the facts or downright inaccurate, and that malicious accusation is another unfortunate example of her campaign of distorting the truth.”