By now, you have likely heard the scuttlebutt going around about the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, TN. Specifically, the for-profit model of organizer Judson Phillips has raised red-flags. Making matters worse for the organizers, Phillips has a history of financial problems.

Phillips has announced that the $549-a-head convention featuring Sarah Palin is sold out. But Tea Party critics and allies alike have been asking questions about what Phillips plans to do with the money. Concrete answers have been in short supply, and in the end it looked like too big a risk for any public office holder.

Rep. Michele Bachmann has become the latest high-profile conservative to bag the rapidly unraveling Tea Party Convention in Nashville next week.

The Minnesota Republican, who has become something of a heroine of the Tea Party movement, decided Thursday morning that she is canceling her appearance at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel next Friday, where she was scheduled to be a breakfast speaker.

Bachmann’s office cited the same concerns that other Tea Party activists have voiced about the first-of-its-kind national gathering: “We’re out,” said Bachmann spokesman Dave Dziok. “It comes down to conflicting advice as to how these profits are going to be used after the fact. We’d rather err on the side of caution than do it and find out it’s improper… with somebody saying ‘they’re using the money from an event you were at to support this and this,’ which comes as a direct conflict with what you’re doing as a member of Congress.”

As someone who paid out of my family’s personal budget to attend this event, I have to say that I am deeply disappointed in Rep. Bachmann’s decision.

Notice what is glossed over in the news article: this event is sold out. No one attending was forced or coerced to purchase a ticket. Obviously, attendess bought tickets because they felt the value would, at the very least, equal the cost. The waiting list has over 300 people on it. A great many people want what is being offered at $549 a head. Phillips and Tea Party Nation are offering a conference at which Tea Party leaders from across the country can network and communicate. We will be able to attend break out session classes. We will hear former Governor Sarah Palin speak. Until yesterday, we were also going to hear Rep. Michele Bachmann speak, something which was to be the highlight of my trip.

Does it matter what Phillips and Tea Party Nation will do with the money? Should we care that they will make a profit? Ought we be outraged that they might make a very large profit? No, no, and no.

Are we liberty loving capitalists or aren’t we? Tea Party Nation is a for-profit corporation. They have organized what, for all appearances, will be a well attended, well executed conference. Does it strike anyone else as a little odd that Rep Michele Bachmann, a woman known for her embrace of the free market and individual liberty, would back out of this event due to concerns that the ticket price is too high?

Unlike Palin, who is reportedly getting a $100,000 speaking fee, Dziok said Bachmann was not getting any money for her speech.

This event has been much maligned, not unlike every other step of this movement. Bachmann has dealt us a blow, but as usual, we will soldier on. Ultimately, I believe the damage will be to her credibility, not ours.