President Obama in 2009 praised former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, now a potential GOP Senate candidate, for showing a “spirit of national purpose” by supporting White House efforts to pass a health care bill. AFL-CIO operative Eddie Vale also gushed about the backing of Thompson, a onetime secretary of Health and Human Services: “Unlike many on the far right,” Vale told Politico, “Thompson was a voice of moderation and offered his voice at crucial junctions to help pass the Affordable Care Act.”
Thompson’s approval of the legislation was not unequivocal, and by 2010 he was criticizing it as “the beginning of a government-controlled health care system.” Still, his general support of “reform” was valuable to Obama in painting congressional Republicans as stubborn partisans.
Now that Thompson is openly considering a run for Wisconsin’s open Senate seat, his role in the Obamacare debate is coming under closer scrutiny. Thompson’s problem is not simply that he gave aid and comfort to the White House, it’s that the health care companies that pay Thompson — and the lobbying clients of the K Street firm where he works — stood to profit from the legislation he was backing.
Thompson has spent the last few years at the intersection of big government and for-profit medicine.
As George W. Bush’s HHS secretary, Thompson helped pass the Medicare prescription drug bill. The insurance and drug industry heartily backed this GOP measure, which provided new subsidies and excluded some cost controls proposed by Democrats. House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin famously cashed out after the bill’s 2004 passage, becoming CEO of the nation’s top drug lobby (where he later became a key Obama ally in passing the health care bill). With less fanfare, Thompson left HHS in 2005 and dove headfirst into the health care sector.
Thompson became chairman of the board at Logistics Health Inc., which describes itself as “a partner to the United States Government.” Among other things, LHI is a contractor for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency within Thompson’s old bailiwick, HHS. Thompson later joined the board of directors of Verichip, which makes radio-wave-emitting chips containing personal medical information that can be implanted in people’s arms.
The former public servant also joined K Street lobbying firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, where his online bio says he “focuses on developing solutions for clients in the health care industry, as well as for companies doing business in the public sector.”
Akin Gump’s lobbying clients include insurance giant Aetna, leading drug company Pfizer, plus a handful of small pharmaceutical makers and the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, led by top drug makers such as Pfizer, Merck, and Eli Lilly. Thompson is not registered as a lobbyist, which means more than 80 percent of his work for Akin Gump must be non-lobbying work, such as advising clients.
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.” They wrote: “It moves us down the path of providing affordable high-quality health care for all and expanding coverage for millions.” While expressing some concerns, Gephardt and Thompson warned, “Failure to reach an agreement on health reform this year is not an acceptable option.”
Gephardt runs a lobbying firm, the Gephardt Group, that includes medical device manufacturers as its clients. Gephardt’s clients, like Thompson’s clients and employers, stood to benefit from the subsidies and mandates Obama was supporting. But instead of being received as an industry player, Thompson got the elder statesman treatment. About the same time as the Thompson-Gephardt statement, former Senate Republican leaders Bob Dole and Bill Frist also endorsed Obama’s efforts, along with another former GOP HHS secretary, Louis Sullivan. Dole was a health care lobbyist, Frist ran a health care investment firm, and Sullivan sat on the board of another health care company. Their motives, like Thompson’s, went nearly unquestioned in the mainstream media, and their industry ties were scarcely mentioned.
You can bet Thompson’s industry ties will get more attention if he becomes Wisconsin’s Republican Senate nominee. But it’s not only liberals who will attack Thompson’s pirouettes through the revolving door.
Since the corporate-approved bailouts and stimulus, the Republican base has grown distrustful of K Streeters and Beltway bandits. Cashing out is as easy today as it ever was. But Thompson may soon learn that passing back through the revolving door is getting tougher.
Timothy P.Carney, The Examiner’s senior political columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Monday and Thursday, and his stories and blog posts appear on ExaminerPolitics.com.
