Never Mind, Marcus Bachmann Doesn't Need That Money

Marcus Bachmann doesn't need that $150 for skipped counseling appointments after all.

The husband of presidential candidate Michele Bachmann had called gay rights group Truth Wins Out last month and threatened to send a collection agency if it failed to pay up. Bachmann wanted to charge a cancellation fee after an activist who posed as a patient didn't show for appointments.

Not only did the group refuse, saying it had followed the cancellation policy, but also it threatened its own legal action should Bachmann press forward with his threat. Truth Wins Out seemed delighted at the chance to argue in court that Bachmann's Christian counseling clinic is a fraud not worthy of the price it charges its patients.

Truth Wins Out had only booked the appointments as part of a hidden-camera sting that found one of Bachmann's counselors offering to help rid an activist who posed as a patient of his homosexuality. Truth Wins Out says the video is proof that Bachmann offers so-called reparative therapy to clients.

Now the group says a representative from Bachmann's office called again Thursday, this time to say the account had a zero balance, at Bachmann's direction.

"We feel vindicated that Marcus Bachmann has ended his vindictive campaign to punish us for exposing his clinic's 'ex-gay' therapy practice," said John Becker, the activist who posed as the patient.

"It is a shame that he wasn't foolish enough to allow a $150 billing dispute to turn into free publicity that highlighted the harm caused by 'ex-gay' programs," said Wayne Besen, executive director for the group.

Listen to the voice mail the group received below: