Fred Thompson controversies

Main article: Fred Thompson

Over the years, Fred Thompson has been involved in various controversies. Some of those controveries are described below, in a way that should include a balance of relevant and significant viewpoints regarding each controversy.

Watergate

Scott Armstrong, a Democratic investigator for the Senate Watergate committee, has criticized Thompson for disclosing committee information to the Nixon White House while they were under investigation, and calls Thompson "a mole for the White House." Armstrong stated, "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."

In his 1975 memoir At That Point in Time, Thompson had been very critical of Armstrong, writing, "Armstrong, in my view, should never have been on the staff. Although very capable, he was a close friend...of Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, which was running exclusive Watergate stories almost daily based on 'informed sources' within the committee... More than once I accused Armstrong of being Woodward's source."

PAC money transfer

Federal Election Commission records show that Thompson’s political action committee transfered $178,000 to his son’s political consulting firm. In contrast, the committee made only $66,700 in contributions to other campaigns and political committees in the four years since Thompson retired from the Senate.

Alleged lobbyist for abortion group

Judith DeSarno, former president of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, alleged that Thompson lobbied the George H. W. Bush administration "to ease a regulation that prevented clinics that received federal money from offering any abortion counseling." The purported minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the group, provided by DeSarno, indicate that the group hired Thompson that year.

However, a spokesman for Thompson has "adamantly denied" the claim, saying "There's no documents to prove it, there's no billing records, and Thompson says he has no recollection of it, says it didn't happen." In addition, John H. Sununu--the White House official who was "the president's point man on the rule"--said "I don't recall him ever lobbying me on that at all. I don't think that ever happened. In fact, I know that never happened."

Bill Hamilton, then director the Washington office of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said "I definitely recall her reaching out to [Thompson] and engaging him in some way, and trying to squeeze the White House through him." Thompson spokesman Mark Corally denied the claim and explained, "He may have been consulted by one of the firm’s partners who represented this group in 1991. As any lawyer would know, such consultations take place within law firms every day." Former Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), who employed DeSarno as a senior aide while in Congress and allegedly recommended Thompson to DeSarno, claims that, "I talked to him while he was doing it, and I talked to DeSarno about the fact that she was very pleased with the work that he was doing for her organization."

Cuban cigar/embargo debate

On May 2 2007, Thompson wrote an article critical of Cuba's government-run health care, and of filmmaker Michael Moore's alleged violation of United States embargo against Cuba.

Moore responded on May 15 2007 with a challenge for a health care debate. Moore also cited the fact that Thompson was mentioned in an article by The Weekly Standard to own "box upon box of cigars--Montecristo from Havana." Montecristo are Cuban cigars, owned and operated by the Cuban government, and as such are illegal. Thus, Moore asked "do you think the 'box upon box of cigars – Montecristos from Havana' that you have in your office have contributed to Castro's reported wealth?".

Later that day, Thompson responded with a video, in which he declined to debate Moore and mentioned the case of Cuban filmmaker Nicolás Guillén, who was jailed by the Cuban government and subjected to electroconvulsive therapy. The story was followed in the press.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

In the early 1990s Thompson was a lobbyist for deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "Aristide was restored to power in 1994 by U.S. troops under President Clinton," even though he was criticized for endorsing "necklacing" where "gasoline-soaked tires are thrown over a person's neck and set ablaze." According to USA Today, "In a brief interview with the AP, Thompson said he expects to hear criticism about his lobbying activities as he moves closer to declaring his candidacy."

Castro and immigration remarks

On June 27, 2007, Thompson spoke about border security. He expresed concern that many illegal immigrants came from terrorist-related states and he mentioned a thousand illegal Cuban immigrants who had been apprehended in the United States. He said, "If they're coming from Cuba, where else are they coming from? And I don't imagine they're coming here to bring greetings from Castro. We're living in the era of the suitcase bomb." Subsequently, Thompson posted a clarification, "The Castro regime remains dedicated to infiltrating American institutions to spread his ideology of tyranny. ... It’s also why we must oppose the illegal immigration of Castro’s agents into the United States while welcoming the vast majority who immigrate legally and with legal intentions."

Conservative or Liberal

Fred Thompson has an "86.1 percent lifetime (1995-2002) Senate vote rating compiled by the American Conservative Union (ACU)," compared to 89.3 for Bill Frist and 82.3 for John McCain. However, Richard Viguerie argues that Thompson has been silent about the Big Government policies of George W. Bush, and has not surrounded himself with known conservative advisors, while being ambiguous about his position on abortion. Viguerie also argues that Thompson was not sufficiently hard-nosed while investigating the Clinton White House's Asia fundraising scandal ("Asiagate"), and says that Thompson’s only major legislative accomplishment was helping to enact the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill which many conservatives view as an infringement on free speech.

The Washington Times says that Thompson’s view on campaign finance is perhaps his “most serious and most repeated transgression against conservative orthodoxy.” Thompson concedes that McCain-Feingold has not worked as intended, and has said "I'm not prepared to go there yet, but I wonder if we shouldn't just take off the limits and have full disclosure with harsh penalties for not reporting everything on the Internet immediately."

Thompson voted against one of the two counts in the impeachment of Bill Clinton. However, conservatives like Rick Santorum assert that, unlike John McCain, Thompson has not "made a career of poking conservative colleagues in the eye."

New York Times "Trophy Wife" Article

On July 8, 2007, the New York Times published an article calling Mr. Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson, a "trophy wife". The article explained how Ms. Thompson does indeed meet the standard understanding of a "trophy wife".

The term “trophy wife” was coined by Fortune magazine in 1989 and immediately entered the language. Although it often has a pejorative spin, the term originally meant the second (or third) wife of a corporate titan, who was younger, beautiful and — equally important — accomplished in her own right, which describes Mrs. Thompson.

The article also noted that Mr. Thompson was 64 years old on the date of publication, while Mz. Thompson was aged 40.

Further on, Mz. Saulny wrote:

“You have a situation where a candidate happens to have an attractive wife, therefore it’s open season for smutty thoughts and lowbrow humor, and no concern for the fact that this is a wife and mother, a professional woman?” said Mark Corallo, a former Justice Department official who is a consultant and the chief media adviser to the Thompson campaign. “One picture on the Internet and all of a sudden she’s reduced to being a bimbo?”

See also

• Political positions of Fred Thompson