Saturday, July 07, 2007
"Thompson lobbied for abortion-rights group ..."
"Fred Thompson, who is campaigning for president as an anti-abortion Republican, accepted an assignment from a family-planning group to lobby the first Bush White House to ease a controversial abortion restriction," the Los Angeles Times reports.
"A spokesman for the former Tennessee senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But the minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. say that the group hired Thompson that year. His task was to urge the administration of President George H. W. Bush to withdraw or relax a rule that barred abortion counseling at clinics that received federal money."
Update: According to the American Spectator,
"[The L.A. Times claims] that Thompson was 'hired' by the National Family Planning and Reproductive Rights Association, whose director, Judith DeSarno, was acquainted with a then-partner at Arent Fox, former Congressman Michael Barnes. In fact, DeSarno worked as a senior aide to Barnes during his time in Congress. According to Arent Fox insiders, Barnes, who now directs the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and DeSarno are both well-known left-wing activists. Most recently, both were active against the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Thompson was an adviser to Roberts, and served as his Senate 'sherpa' during the confirmation process.
"As well, as Thompson has continued to rise in the polls, left-wing groups have been looking for ways to ding Thompson, hitting him on lobbying stories for weeks, to little effect.
"According to sources at a rival paper, the L.A. Times has been working with the pro-abortion group for some time on a Thompson lobbying story, but with little success until now. 'We started hearing about it several days ago,' says a Washington-based reporter for another West Coast paper. 'These abortion groups have been pushing reporters to look into Thompson's past, but haven't had much to go on. You talk to these guys and you can tell that he makes them nervous. They know how he voted and where he stands.'"
"A spokesman for the former Tennessee senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But the minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. say that the group hired Thompson that year. His task was to urge the administration of President George H. W. Bush to withdraw or relax a rule that barred abortion counseling at clinics that received federal money."
Update: According to the American Spectator,
"[The L.A. Times claims] that Thompson was 'hired' by the National Family Planning and Reproductive Rights Association, whose director, Judith DeSarno, was acquainted with a then-partner at Arent Fox, former Congressman Michael Barnes. In fact, DeSarno worked as a senior aide to Barnes during his time in Congress. According to Arent Fox insiders, Barnes, who now directs the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and DeSarno are both well-known left-wing activists. Most recently, both were active against the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Thompson was an adviser to Roberts, and served as his Senate 'sherpa' during the confirmation process.
"As well, as Thompson has continued to rise in the polls, left-wing groups have been looking for ways to ding Thompson, hitting him on lobbying stories for weeks, to little effect.
"According to sources at a rival paper, the L.A. Times has been working with the pro-abortion group for some time on a Thompson lobbying story, but with little success until now. 'We started hearing about it several days ago,' says a Washington-based reporter for another West Coast paper. 'These abortion groups have been pushing reporters to look into Thompson's past, but haven't had much to go on. You talk to these guys and you can tell that he makes them nervous. They know how he voted and where he stands.'"
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Saturday, July 07, 2007 
