WASHINGTON - Rep. Michele Bachmann solidified her place in the national spotlight in November when she gathered thousands of Tea Party activists in front of the U.S. Capitol for a "House Call on Washington," to stop the Democrats' health care bill.

Months later, official expense reports show that the boisterous, 10,000-person rally to rein in big government and stop runaway spending cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $14,000.

Bachmann and three other lawmakers split the cost for a private company to arrange staging and a sound system, using their official congressional member allowances. Joining her were Reps. Tom Price of Georgia, Todd Akin of Missouri and Steve King of Iowa.

Spending tax dollars on partisan events is practiced on both sides of the aisle. Democrats spent more than $9,000 in public money the week before the "House Call" rally to unveil the health care bill at an event outside the Capitol building attended by several hundred.

An ethics group has raised questions about Bachmann's use of her congressional website to promote the Tea Party rally. But several Washington ethics attorneys and experts say that paying for the event's $13,600 bill with official funds likely fell within congressional rules, so long as it was not campaign-related.

"Unless it's billed as a campaign event, or campaign donations are solicited, or there's a concerted program of endorsements for candidates based on party affiliation, I don't think that they ran into any issues," said Stan Brand, a former general counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Learning that taxpayer funds were used did strike a note of discomfort with Twin Cities Tea Party co-founder Deanna Boss, who arranged for more than 100 Minnesotans to attend the rally. Boss said she would have preferred that private donors had financed the event, given her and other activists' criticism of excessive government spending.

"I mean, we're broke," she said, referring to the national debt. "Every penny counts here."