Sunday, December 16, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Thomas Edsall and Huffington Post on Big Tobacco Lobbyist Fred Thompson Running for President
Thomas B. Edsall
The Huffington Post •
Fred Thompson: The Philip Morris Candidate
June 25, 2007 10:47 PM
If Fred Thompson is elected president, he will be the first federally registered lobbyist to become Commander in Chief. Since his days as top minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, Thompson has collected over $1 million in lobbying fees. In return, he has provided exceptional access to those in power.
Thompson's prospective presidential bid stands out in another respect: No campaign has been so dominated by staffers and advisers who have worked on behalf of Philip Morris, one of the world's leading tobacco conglomerates and a leading force in promoting cigarette smoking.
Thompson's lobbying career demonstrates his striking skill in capitalizing on his own government service and on the success of his friends in public office.
In 1981, when the Republicans took control of the Senate, Thompson's employer and mentor, Senator Howard Baker, became Majority Leader. With Baker's rise to power, Thompson's lobbying fees from Westinghouse and other clients shot up from a paltry $2,575 in 1980 to $100,438 in 1981 -- then a considerable sum.
That was peanuts compared to the fees Thompson got from just one lobbying client 23 years later, after another Tennessee friend, Bill Frist, was elected Senate Majority Leader.
Equitas, a British firm seeking to minimize the cost of damages to Lloyds of London under pending legislation governing asbestos liability (asbestos is a known cause of respiratory diseases and of mesothelioma, a lethal lung cancer) in 2004 hired Thompson as part of a massive, $7.88 million lobbying drive.
For two years' work, which consisted primarily in guaranteeing Equitas access to Senator Frist, Thompson was paid $760,000.
As for Thompson's personal ties to Philip Morris, they are evident not so much in the tobacco company's contributions to him -- just $13,000 to his two Senate campaigns -- but in how loaded his still unannounced presidential campaign is with people strongly tied to the tobacco company and its parent company, Altria.
Take Tom Collamore, who is expected to become Thompson's campaign manager. In 1992, Collamore went to work for Philip Morris and later became vice president of public affairs at Altria.
Howard Baker, who has been a top adviser to Thompson, represented Philip Morris as a lobbyist at Baker Donelson Bearman Berman Caldwell & Berkowitz in 1998 and 1999. Baker was paid $1.92 million for his work. In addition Baker represented four other tobacco companies during that period and received another $1.71 million from them.
In the 1990s, Philip Morris financed the creation of a pro-smoking citizens' group called the National Smokers Alliance to fight anti-tobacco initiatives. Much of the actual organization of the Smokers' Alliance was performed by a Washington public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller. One of the key players at Burson-Marsteller involved in the Smokers' Alliance was Ken Rietz, who recently retired as CEO.
Rietz is now coordinating much of the early media strategy for the Thompson campaign.
Finally, the campaign is expected to hire the polling firm McLaughlin & Associates. The polling company lists both Philip Morris and the National Smokers' Alliance among its clients.
Philip Morris has been one of the strongest corporate backers of the GOP. From 1994 to 2002, the last year corporations were permitted to make direct "soft money" contributions to the political parties, Philip Morris gave $9.5 million to Republican committees and $1.28 million to their Democratic counterparts.
Mark Corallo, spokesman for the Thompson bid, said all of the campaign's staffers and advisers have been picked because of their expertise and, in some cases, their long-standing relationships with Thompson.
"This is hardly a story," Corallo said but in an election year, when the public is more eager than ever to escape from the grip of special interests working against the public interest, Corallo is unlikely to be the last word.
Comments for this post are now closed
The Huffington Post •
Fred Thompson: The Philip Morris Candidate
June 25, 2007 10:47 PM
If Fred Thompson is elected president, he will be the first federally registered lobbyist to become Commander in Chief. Since his days as top minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, Thompson has collected over $1 million in lobbying fees. In return, he has provided exceptional access to those in power.
Thompson's prospective presidential bid stands out in another respect: No campaign has been so dominated by staffers and advisers who have worked on behalf of Philip Morris, one of the world's leading tobacco conglomerates and a leading force in promoting cigarette smoking.
Thompson's lobbying career demonstrates his striking skill in capitalizing on his own government service and on the success of his friends in public office.
In 1981, when the Republicans took control of the Senate, Thompson's employer and mentor, Senator Howard Baker, became Majority Leader. With Baker's rise to power, Thompson's lobbying fees from Westinghouse and other clients shot up from a paltry $2,575 in 1980 to $100,438 in 1981 -- then a considerable sum.
That was peanuts compared to the fees Thompson got from just one lobbying client 23 years later, after another Tennessee friend, Bill Frist, was elected Senate Majority Leader.
Equitas, a British firm seeking to minimize the cost of damages to Lloyds of London under pending legislation governing asbestos liability (asbestos is a known cause of respiratory diseases and of mesothelioma, a lethal lung cancer) in 2004 hired Thompson as part of a massive, $7.88 million lobbying drive.
For two years' work, which consisted primarily in guaranteeing Equitas access to Senator Frist, Thompson was paid $760,000.
As for Thompson's personal ties to Philip Morris, they are evident not so much in the tobacco company's contributions to him -- just $13,000 to his two Senate campaigns -- but in how loaded his still unannounced presidential campaign is with people strongly tied to the tobacco company and its parent company, Altria.
Take Tom Collamore, who is expected to become Thompson's campaign manager. In 1992, Collamore went to work for Philip Morris and later became vice president of public affairs at Altria.
Howard Baker, who has been a top adviser to Thompson, represented Philip Morris as a lobbyist at Baker Donelson Bearman Berman Caldwell & Berkowitz in 1998 and 1999. Baker was paid $1.92 million for his work. In addition Baker represented four other tobacco companies during that period and received another $1.71 million from them.
In the 1990s, Philip Morris financed the creation of a pro-smoking citizens' group called the National Smokers Alliance to fight anti-tobacco initiatives. Much of the actual organization of the Smokers' Alliance was performed by a Washington public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller. One of the key players at Burson-Marsteller involved in the Smokers' Alliance was Ken Rietz, who recently retired as CEO.
Rietz is now coordinating much of the early media strategy for the Thompson campaign.
Finally, the campaign is expected to hire the polling firm McLaughlin & Associates. The polling company lists both Philip Morris and the National Smokers' Alliance among its clients.
Philip Morris has been one of the strongest corporate backers of the GOP. From 1994 to 2002, the last year corporations were permitted to make direct "soft money" contributions to the political parties, Philip Morris gave $9.5 million to Republican committees and $1.28 million to their Democratic counterparts.
Mark Corallo, spokesman for the Thompson bid, said all of the campaign's staffers and advisers have been picked because of their expertise and, in some cases, their long-standing relationships with Thompson.
"This is hardly a story," Corallo said but in an election year, when the public is more eager than ever to escape from the grip of special interests working against the public interest, Corallo is unlikely to be the last word.
Comments for this post are now closed
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
AP: Fred Thompson aided Nixon on Watergate By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer
Fred Thompson aided Nixon on Watergate
By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jul 7, 4:38 PM ET
Fred Thompson gained an image as a tough-minded investigative counsel for the Senate Watergate committee. Yet President Nixon and his top aides viewed the fellow Republican as a willing, if not too bright, ally, according to White House tapes.
Thompson, now preparing a bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, won fame in 1973 for asking a committee witness the bombshell question that revealed Nixon had installed hidden listening devices and taping equipment in the Oval Office.
Those tapes show Thompson played a behind-the-scenes role that was very different from his public image three decades ago. He comes across as a partisan willing to cooperate with the Nixon White House's effort to discredit the committee's star witness.
It was Thompson who tipped off the White House that the Senate committee knew about the tapes. They eventually cinched Nixon's downfall in the scandal resulting from the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington and the subsequent White House cover-up.
Thompson, then 30, was appointed counsel by his political mentor, Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker, the top Republican on the Senate investigative committee. Thompson had been an assistant U.S. attorney in Nashville, Tenn., and had managed Baker's re-election campaign. Thompson later was a senator himself.
Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called "dumb as hell." The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee's Democratic counsel.
This assessment comes from audio tapes of White House conversations recently reviewed by The Associated Press at the National Archives in College Park, Md., and transcripts of those discussions that are published in "Abuse of Power: The New Watergate Tapes," by historian Stanley Kutler.
"Oh s---, that kid," Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson's appointment on Feb. 22, 1973.
"Well, we're stuck with him," Haldeman said.
In a meeting later that day in the Old Executive Office Building, Baker assured Nixon that Thompson was up to the task. "He's tough. He's six feet five inches, a big mean fella," the senator told Nixon.
Publicly, Baker and Thompson presented themselves as dedicated to uncovering the truth. But Baker had secret meetings and conversations with Nixon and his top aides, while Thompson worked cooperatively with the White House and accepted coaching from Nixon's lawyer, J. Fred Buzhardt, the tapes and transcripts show.
"We've got a pretty good rapport with Fred Thompson," Buzhardt told Nixon in an Oval Office meeting on June 6, 1973. The meeting included a discussion of former White House counsel John Dean's upcoming testimony before the committee.
Dean, the committee's star witness, had agreed to tell what he knew about the break-in and cover-up if he was granted immunity against anything incriminating he might say.
Nixon expressed concern that Thompson was not "very smart."
"Not extremely so," Buzhardt agreed.
"But he's friendly," Nixon said.
"But he's friendly," Buzhardt agreed. "We are hoping, though, to work with Thompson and prepare him, if Dean does appear next week, to do a very thorough cross-examination."
Five days later, Buzhardt reported to Nixon that he had primed Thompson for the Dean cross-examination.
"I found Thompson most cooperative, feeling more Republican every day," Buzhardt said. "Uh, perfectly prepared to assist in really doing a cross-examination."
Later in the same conversation, Buzhardt said Thompson was "willing to go, you know, pretty much the distance now. And he said he realized his responsibility was going to have be as a Republican increasingly."
Thompson, who declined comment for this story, described himself in his book, "At That Point in Time," published in 1975, as a Nixon administration "loyalist" who struggled with his role as minority counsel. "I would try to walk a fine line between a good-faith pursuit of the investigation and a good-faith attempt to insure balance and fairness," Thompson wrote.
When Dean began testifying on June 25, he implicated Nixon in the break-in and cover-up. But his testimony had little legal impact because it was his word against the president's.
During Dean's testimony, Baker asked the question that became the embodiment of the Watergate scandal: "What did the president know and when did he know it?" Thompson is sometimes credited with supplying the question to Baker.
The question was widely perceived at the time as an example of Baker's willingness to press for truth at the expense of his party's leader. Historian Kutler, however, said he believes that in the context of Dean's testimony, the question was Baker's attempt to point out that the evidence hinged on one witness's word.
It was not until three weeks later — after the disclosure of the existence of tape recordings that might either corroborate or disprove Dean's testimony — that Baker's question took on new meaning, Kutler said.
At a hearing on July 16, Thompson asked former White House aide Alexander Butterfield: "Mr. Butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president?"
Butterfield's confirmation of the recordings set off a cascade of events that led to Nixon's resignation 13 months later.
The question made Thompson instantly famous. His political Web site — http://www.imwithfred.com — prominently notes: "Friends in Tennessee still recall seeing the boy they'd grown up with on TV, sitting at the Senate hearing-room dais. He gained national attention for leading the line of inquiry that revealed the audio-taping system in the White House Oval Office."
What rarely is mentioned is that Thompson knew the answer to the question before he asked it. Investigators for the committee had gotten the information out of Butterfield during hours of behind-the-scenes questioning three days earlier, on July 13.
Thompson was not present, but a Republican investigator immediately tracked him down at the Carroll Arms Hotel bar where he was meeting with a reporter. Thompson called Buzhardt over the weekend to tip off the White House that the committee knew about the tapes.
"Legalisms aside, it was inconceivable to me that the White House could withhold the tapes once their existence was made known. I believed it would be in everyone's interest if the White House realized, before making any public statements, the probable position of both the majority and the minority of the Watergate committee," Thompson wrote in his book.
Scott Armstrong, a Democratic investigator for the committee who was part of the Butterfield questioning, said he was outraged by Thompson's tip-off.
"When the prosecutor discovers the smoking the gun, he's going to be shocked to find that the deputy prosecutor called the defendant and said, 'You'd better get rid of that gun,'" Armstrong said in an interview.
The committee chairman, Sen. Sam Ervin, D-N.C., had agreed to allow Thompson to question Butterfield first at the July 16 hearing as a show of bipartisanship because a GOP investigator had elicited the initial information from Butterfield.
"Fred (Thompson) and Baker carried water for the White House, but I have to give them credit — they were watching out for their interests, too," Kutler said. "They weren't going to mindlessly go down the tubes for this guy."
___
On the Net:
Nixon presidential materials: http://tinyurl.com/2bqg9a
By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jul 7, 4:38 PM ET
Fred Thompson gained an image as a tough-minded investigative counsel for the Senate Watergate committee. Yet President Nixon and his top aides viewed the fellow Republican as a willing, if not too bright, ally, according to White House tapes.
Thompson, now preparing a bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, won fame in 1973 for asking a committee witness the bombshell question that revealed Nixon had installed hidden listening devices and taping equipment in the Oval Office.
Those tapes show Thompson played a behind-the-scenes role that was very different from his public image three decades ago. He comes across as a partisan willing to cooperate with the Nixon White House's effort to discredit the committee's star witness.
It was Thompson who tipped off the White House that the Senate committee knew about the tapes. They eventually cinched Nixon's downfall in the scandal resulting from the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington and the subsequent White House cover-up.
Thompson, then 30, was appointed counsel by his political mentor, Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker, the top Republican on the Senate investigative committee. Thompson had been an assistant U.S. attorney in Nashville, Tenn., and had managed Baker's re-election campaign. Thompson later was a senator himself.
Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called "dumb as hell." The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee's Democratic counsel.
This assessment comes from audio tapes of White House conversations recently reviewed by The Associated Press at the National Archives in College Park, Md., and transcripts of those discussions that are published in "Abuse of Power: The New Watergate Tapes," by historian Stanley Kutler.
"Oh s---, that kid," Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson's appointment on Feb. 22, 1973.
"Well, we're stuck with him," Haldeman said.
In a meeting later that day in the Old Executive Office Building, Baker assured Nixon that Thompson was up to the task. "He's tough. He's six feet five inches, a big mean fella," the senator told Nixon.
Publicly, Baker and Thompson presented themselves as dedicated to uncovering the truth. But Baker had secret meetings and conversations with Nixon and his top aides, while Thompson worked cooperatively with the White House and accepted coaching from Nixon's lawyer, J. Fred Buzhardt, the tapes and transcripts show.
"We've got a pretty good rapport with Fred Thompson," Buzhardt told Nixon in an Oval Office meeting on June 6, 1973. The meeting included a discussion of former White House counsel John Dean's upcoming testimony before the committee.
Dean, the committee's star witness, had agreed to tell what he knew about the break-in and cover-up if he was granted immunity against anything incriminating he might say.
Nixon expressed concern that Thompson was not "very smart."
"Not extremely so," Buzhardt agreed.
"But he's friendly," Nixon said.
"But he's friendly," Buzhardt agreed. "We are hoping, though, to work with Thompson and prepare him, if Dean does appear next week, to do a very thorough cross-examination."
Five days later, Buzhardt reported to Nixon that he had primed Thompson for the Dean cross-examination.
"I found Thompson most cooperative, feeling more Republican every day," Buzhardt said. "Uh, perfectly prepared to assist in really doing a cross-examination."
Later in the same conversation, Buzhardt said Thompson was "willing to go, you know, pretty much the distance now. And he said he realized his responsibility was going to have be as a Republican increasingly."
Thompson, who declined comment for this story, described himself in his book, "At That Point in Time," published in 1975, as a Nixon administration "loyalist" who struggled with his role as minority counsel. "I would try to walk a fine line between a good-faith pursuit of the investigation and a good-faith attempt to insure balance and fairness," Thompson wrote.
When Dean began testifying on June 25, he implicated Nixon in the break-in and cover-up. But his testimony had little legal impact because it was his word against the president's.
During Dean's testimony, Baker asked the question that became the embodiment of the Watergate scandal: "What did the president know and when did he know it?" Thompson is sometimes credited with supplying the question to Baker.
The question was widely perceived at the time as an example of Baker's willingness to press for truth at the expense of his party's leader. Historian Kutler, however, said he believes that in the context of Dean's testimony, the question was Baker's attempt to point out that the evidence hinged on one witness's word.
It was not until three weeks later — after the disclosure of the existence of tape recordings that might either corroborate or disprove Dean's testimony — that Baker's question took on new meaning, Kutler said.
At a hearing on July 16, Thompson asked former White House aide Alexander Butterfield: "Mr. Butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president?"
Butterfield's confirmation of the recordings set off a cascade of events that led to Nixon's resignation 13 months later.
The question made Thompson instantly famous. His political Web site — http://www.imwithfred.com — prominently notes: "Friends in Tennessee still recall seeing the boy they'd grown up with on TV, sitting at the Senate hearing-room dais. He gained national attention for leading the line of inquiry that revealed the audio-taping system in the White House Oval Office."
What rarely is mentioned is that Thompson knew the answer to the question before he asked it. Investigators for the committee had gotten the information out of Butterfield during hours of behind-the-scenes questioning three days earlier, on July 13.
Thompson was not present, but a Republican investigator immediately tracked him down at the Carroll Arms Hotel bar where he was meeting with a reporter. Thompson called Buzhardt over the weekend to tip off the White House that the committee knew about the tapes.
"Legalisms aside, it was inconceivable to me that the White House could withhold the tapes once their existence was made known. I believed it would be in everyone's interest if the White House realized, before making any public statements, the probable position of both the majority and the minority of the Watergate committee," Thompson wrote in his book.
Scott Armstrong, a Democratic investigator for the committee who was part of the Butterfield questioning, said he was outraged by Thompson's tip-off.
"When the prosecutor discovers the smoking the gun, he's going to be shocked to find that the deputy prosecutor called the defendant and said, 'You'd better get rid of that gun,'" Armstrong said in an interview.
The committee chairman, Sen. Sam Ervin, D-N.C., had agreed to allow Thompson to question Butterfield first at the July 16 hearing as a show of bipartisanship because a GOP investigator had elicited the initial information from Butterfield.
"Fred (Thompson) and Baker carried water for the White House, but I have to give them credit — they were watching out for their interests, too," Kutler said. "They weren't going to mindlessly go down the tubes for this guy."
___
On the Net:
Nixon presidential materials: http://tinyurl.com/2bqg9a
Monday, July 2, 2007
WHO IS FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. ?
WHO IS FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. ?
Once upon a time in America, there was a plucky corporate propagandist/actor and he ran for President.
No, not Ronald Wilson Reagan.
FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR.
As a lobbyist, "FRED THOMPSON would whore himself out for anyone that had money," said one Tennessee lawyer. Now "FRAUDULENT FRED" is running for President of the United States of America.
FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. is a fine American actor, whose movie and TV roles are often variations on himself.
He's played crusty good 'ole boy Establishment figures since he played himself (representing a Tennessee whistleblower in the movie "Marie"). His roles include bigoted demagogue (in an arc of the TV series WISEGUY), a reflection of his own views (talking about "special rights" in one TV interview about Gays).
Thompson has played military, corporate and civilian leaders, whose other character flaws and anti-social behaviors range from murders and mayhem (WISEGUY) to marketing autos knowing they had incendiary gas tanks ("Class Action") to interfering with Clint Eastwood's ability to protect the President ("In the Line of Fire").
Nearly everyone in America recognizes FRED DALTON THOMPSON's face. Few know him for his fierce clients, or for his family lobbying.
Today's New York Times reports how, in real life, FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. lobbied for anyone who would hire him, ranging from WESTINGHOUSE CORPORATION (trying to save the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project or CRBRP), which wasted $1.7 billion in federal funds until killed in 1983. FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. also represented the Tennessee Savings & Loan League, weakening federal laws, allowing unsound and unsafe practices that required a multi-billion dollar federal bailout. THOMPSON also represented Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide; a Teamster pension fund; and an insurance company with asbestos liabilities.
Today's NY Times reports how FRED DALTON THOMPSON's two sons in effect joined the family business.
FRED DALTON THOMPSON, JR. a/k/a "TONY" THOMPSON and DANIEL THOMPSON are sons of FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR.
DANIEL THOMPSON was a Xerox (R) salesman when his father was elected Senator. DANIEL THOMPSON became a state aide and then Director of the TENNESSEE BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE and now works for a charitable fundraising firm owned by Douglas M. Lawson.
FRED DALTON THOMPSON's other son, former landscaper TONY THOMPSON, is like me a graduate of Memphis State University Law School. TONY THOMPSON represented the world's largest arms merchant, LOCKHEED MARTIN, in its lengthy but unsuccessful efforts to renew contracts to operate five badly mismanaged Government-owned, Contractor-operated (GOCO) nuclear weapons, enrichment and research plants in Tennessee Kentucky, and Ohio, with 20,000 employees.
Whistleblowers won and LOCKHEED MARTIN was run out of town, replaced by other contractors at the five nuclear facilities.
While LOCKHEED watched anxiously,
in 2000, FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. helped enact the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act (EEOICA), a federal law to give $150,000 lump sum payment checks to nuclear weapons plant workers and their survivors. The "CONpensation" scheme involves no open hearings, no sworn testimony, no discovery, no independent adjudicators, no appeals or judicial review. Lacking basic Due Process guarantees. EEOICA is one of a series of repressive phony compensation laws adopted for persons exposed to radiation and other toxic materials from nuclear weapons, including Marshall Islanders, downwinders and uranium miners. The National Security State bought off its radiation victims cheaply (at varying rates of lump-sum CONpensation), with varying requirements, including idiosyncratic, county-by-county coverage for downwinders.
In the Oak Ridger newspaper and elsewhere in 2000, I asked United States Senator FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. some 52 questions about his EEOICA proposal in 2000 -- the only one he ever answered was who wrote the bill. THOMPSON admitted his bill was written by the Department of Energy. My 100-page testimony is in the March 22, 2000 hearing, but there was no time for me to speak live. Three Oak Ridge workers were given three minutes each to state their case; then Congress rubber-stamped the DOE CONpensation bill, which Energy Secretary Bill Richardson also plumped for (Richardson is also running for President).
DOE's biggest contractor was once LOCKHEED MARTIN, whose lobbyist was TONY THOMPSON.
It appears that LOCKHEED MARTIN was a major beneficiary of the EEOICA law, which forced workers to give up their right to sue DOE contractors like LOCKHEED MARTIN as a condition of getting $150,000 checks.
For more information on FRAUDULENT FRED THOMPSON's EEOICA bill, please see
1. DOE’s Toxic, Hostile Working Environment Violates Human Rights," March 22, 2000 U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee,.
2. Compensating Americans’ Toxic Injuries from U.S. Nuclear Weapons Production: The 106th Congress Should Reject DOE’s ‘Trojan Horse Bill, (September 21, 2000 written statement to U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims), together with three attachments: Fact Sheet, Section-By-Section Analysis and Text of Proposed Legislation Covering All DOE Victims and Repealing Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Discretionary Function Loophole for Ultrahazardous Activities, and draft Nuclear Weapons Workers, Atomic Veterans and Residents Compensation and Health Act (NWWAVARCHA) of 2000,.
3. Why Not the Best Compensation System For All Nuclear Weapons Victims? (April 6, 2000),
Today's Times quotes a New York University law professor Paul C. Light as stating, lobbying by family members is an "ugly practice no matter who the senator is, because it creates the impresion that his family is exploiting his stature and position."
For more on the ugliness that is the sequelae of the THOMPSON's influence, please see:
.
.
Once upon a time in America, there was a plucky corporate propagandist/actor and he ran for President.
No, not Ronald Wilson Reagan.
FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR.
As a lobbyist, "FRED THOMPSON would whore himself out for anyone that had money," said one Tennessee lawyer. Now "FRAUDULENT FRED" is running for President of the United States of America.
FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. is a fine American actor, whose movie and TV roles are often variations on himself.
He's played crusty good 'ole boy Establishment figures since he played himself (representing a Tennessee whistleblower in the movie "Marie"). His roles include bigoted demagogue (in an arc of the TV series WISEGUY), a reflection of his own views (talking about "special rights" in one TV interview about Gays).
Thompson has played military, corporate and civilian leaders, whose other character flaws and anti-social behaviors range from murders and mayhem (WISEGUY) to marketing autos knowing they had incendiary gas tanks ("Class Action") to interfering with Clint Eastwood's ability to protect the President ("In the Line of Fire").
Nearly everyone in America recognizes FRED DALTON THOMPSON's face. Few know him for his fierce clients, or for his family lobbying.
Today's New York Times reports how, in real life, FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. lobbied for anyone who would hire him, ranging from WESTINGHOUSE CORPORATION (trying to save the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project or CRBRP), which wasted $1.7 billion in federal funds until killed in 1983. FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. also represented the Tennessee Savings & Loan League, weakening federal laws, allowing unsound and unsafe practices that required a multi-billion dollar federal bailout. THOMPSON also represented Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide; a Teamster pension fund; and an insurance company with asbestos liabilities.
Today's NY Times reports how FRED DALTON THOMPSON's two sons in effect joined the family business.
FRED DALTON THOMPSON, JR. a/k/a "TONY" THOMPSON and DANIEL THOMPSON are sons of FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR.
DANIEL THOMPSON was a Xerox (R) salesman when his father was elected Senator. DANIEL THOMPSON became a state aide and then Director of the TENNESSEE BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE and now works for a charitable fundraising firm owned by Douglas M. Lawson.
FRED DALTON THOMPSON's other son, former landscaper TONY THOMPSON, is like me a graduate of Memphis State University Law School. TONY THOMPSON represented the world's largest arms merchant, LOCKHEED MARTIN, in its lengthy but unsuccessful efforts to renew contracts to operate five badly mismanaged Government-owned, Contractor-operated (GOCO) nuclear weapons, enrichment and research plants in Tennessee Kentucky, and Ohio, with 20,000 employees.
Whistleblowers won and LOCKHEED MARTIN was run out of town, replaced by other contractors at the five nuclear facilities.
While LOCKHEED watched anxiously,
in 2000, FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. helped enact the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act (EEOICA), a federal law to give $150,000 lump sum payment checks to nuclear weapons plant workers and their survivors. The "CONpensation" scheme involves no open hearings, no sworn testimony, no discovery, no independent adjudicators, no appeals or judicial review. Lacking basic Due Process guarantees. EEOICA is one of a series of repressive phony compensation laws adopted for persons exposed to radiation and other toxic materials from nuclear weapons, including Marshall Islanders, downwinders and uranium miners. The National Security State bought off its radiation victims cheaply (at varying rates of lump-sum CONpensation), with varying requirements, including idiosyncratic, county-by-county coverage for downwinders.
In the Oak Ridger newspaper and elsewhere in 2000, I asked United States Senator FRED DALTON THOMPSON, SR. some 52 questions about his EEOICA proposal in 2000 -- the only one he ever answered was who wrote the bill. THOMPSON admitted his bill was written by the Department of Energy. My 100-page testimony is in the March 22, 2000 hearing, but there was no time for me to speak live. Three Oak Ridge workers were given three minutes each to state their case; then Congress rubber-stamped the DOE CONpensation bill, which Energy Secretary Bill Richardson also plumped for (Richardson is also running for President).
DOE's biggest contractor was once LOCKHEED MARTIN, whose lobbyist was TONY THOMPSON.
It appears that LOCKHEED MARTIN was a major beneficiary of the EEOICA law, which forced workers to give up their right to sue DOE contractors like LOCKHEED MARTIN as a condition of getting $150,000 checks.
For more information on FRAUDULENT FRED THOMPSON's EEOICA bill, please see
1. DOE’s Toxic, Hostile Working Environment Violates Human Rights," March 22, 2000 U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee,
2. Compensating Americans’ Toxic Injuries from U.S. Nuclear Weapons Production: The 106th Congress Should Reject DOE’s ‘Trojan Horse Bill, (September 21, 2000 written statement to U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims), together with three attachments: Fact Sheet, Section-By-Section Analysis and Text of Proposed Legislation Covering All DOE Victims and Repealing Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Discretionary Function Loophole for Ultrahazardous Activities, and draft Nuclear Weapons Workers, Atomic Veterans and Residents Compensation and Health Act (NWWAVARCHA) of 2000,
3. Why Not the Best Compensation System For All Nuclear Weapons Victims? (April 6, 2000),
Today's Times quotes a New York University law professor Paul C. Light as stating, lobbying by family members is an "ugly practice no matter who the senator is, because it creates the impresion that his family is exploiting his stature and position."
For more on the ugliness that is the sequelae of the THOMPSON's influence, please see:
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