By Wis. Dems.
It has been nearly 10 years since Tommy Thompson left Wisconsin with a historic level of debt to go to Washington to do the bidding of the Bush Administration and then his lobbying clients. With news that Tommy wants to come back to the state to run for Senate, Wisconsin Democrats are asking, “How Do You Spell Tommy?” Their answer is L-OB- B-Y-I-S-T.
As Tommy Thompson ponders entering the Wisconsin senate race, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is reminding Wisconsinites that you can’t spell Tommy without L-O-B-B-Y-I-S-T. The L stands for Logistics Health Inc., one of the first of dozens of companies Thompson benefited through his D.C. clout just months after resigning from the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Tommy Thompson’s influence peddling knows no bounds,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Monday. “After spending years making millions selling his influence in to special interests in Washington, D.C., Tommy is now asking Wisconsinites to send him back through D.C.’s revolving door. Wisconsinites need leaders who will stick up for them, not corrupt D.C. influence peddlers who are happy to shakedown the federal government just to make a buck.”
Just months after resigning from the Bush administration, Tommy Thompson was hired to lead a company that had been awarded millions of dollars in Department of Health of Human Services contracts while Thompson ran the agency. After he was hired, Thompson continued to use his D.C. and Bush Administration connections to get his company even more federal cash, even though the company was ill-equipped to provide the health services. From 2003 to 2007, Tommy’s company’s federal contracting business skyrocketed by almost 500 percent. The founder and chairman even credited Thompson for the increase, praising Thompson for using his influence to gain federal contracts.
Background:
Federal Contracts Grew Dramatically After Thompson Took Charge of Company. Since Thompson joined Logistics Health in 2005, the company has seen its federal contracting business skyrocket. According to OMB Watch, the company of 400 employees has gone from $19.9 million in federal contracts in 2003 to $104.8 million in 2007. [Wisconsin State Journal, 11/16/08]
Founder and Chairman Credited Growth to Thompson’s Connections in Government. In at least two published interviews, LHI founder and chairman Don Weber has credited the company’s recent growth to Thompson’s connections in federal government. “If I were to go in a try to get a meeting with some of the decision makers in these organizations, it would take me a lifetime,” Weber told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in February 2006. “Tommy is able to make a phone call – and then we get in front of people who make decisions. And when we can show them what we’re all about, it expedites decisions.” Weber made a similar statement to the La Crosse Tribune in September 2006. “He (Thompson) has definitely had an impact” on the company’s growth, Weber told the newspaper. “Tommy really is able to get us in to see the right people, the decision makers.” [Wisconsin State Journal, 11/16/08]
