Last month, former Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced he was seeking the GOP nomination for Wisconsin’s open U.S. Senate seat. A week before that, though, Thompson was discussing the 9/11 anniversary on the air, and he promoted an anthrax vaccine that happens to be made by one of his consulting clients, PharmAthene.
Bill Flook at the Washington Business Journal reports this tale of non-disclosure and conflicting interests:
This isn’t the first time Thompson has worn his elder statemen hat while plugging his clients’ interests. As I wrote when Thompson began considering a run, while representing health-care companies standing to profit from ObamaCare, he expressed support for the legislation:
In October 2009, as the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of the health care bill, Thompson and former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt issued a joint statement praising the legislation as “another important step toward achieving the goal of health care reform this year.”
Thompson, normally, would seem like shoo-in for the nomination. He’s got statewide name recognition and close ties to the Beltway GOP elite. Also, when you look at his K Street connections and client list, he clearly would be a powerful fundraiser.
But this sort of crony capitalism and corporatism doesn’t go over so well in Republican primaries these days. I wouldn’t be surprised to see proto-Tea Partier Mark Neumann — who, as a congressman was kicked off the Appropriations Committee for not toeing the line — give Thompson a run for his money.
