Fred's Last Role Was In Gucci Gulch...
Posted by Mike Gehrke on June 12, 2007 at 11:52 AM
From the Washington Post:
By all accounts, Fred D. Thompson will soon be running for president, portraying himself as a Washington outsider on the campaign trail. But over the past three years he showed up every two weeks or so at a lobbying and law firm in downtown D.C. to plot how best to persuade Congress to help a British company.
His main assignment: to use his connections to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to extract information about goings-on inside Congress and use it to benefit his multibillion-dollar client.
In exchange for this insider wisdom he was paid a cool $760,000.
[...]
According to people he lobbied with, Thompson was an access man. He contacted his old colleagues to learn the latest about bills his client cared about. Thompson was frequently responsible for finding out what Frist was planning for asbestos legislation, his spokesman said -- an easy task, given his eight years in the Senate representing Tennessee alongside Frist (both were first elected in 1994).
Thompson's client, London-based Equitas Ltd., held billions of dollars to pay off claims from people sickened by asbestos, a once-common building material. It wanted Congress to limit how much it had to pay into a trust fund to cover those liabilities.
In an earlier era, the term of art for what Thompson did would have been "foreign agent." But a law change in 1995 allowed lobbyists for foreign companies to register simply as run-of-the-mill lobbyists, which permitted them to sidestep detailed disclosure requirements about their activities and to avoid the politically charged "agent" designation.
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For those who may be unfamiliar with the term:
Gucci Gulch -- The Capitol corridors where well-paid lobbyists wearing fancy, Italian-styled, Gucci shoes, mingle with members of Congress. Term from the book Showdown at Gucci Gulch -- Lawmakers, Lobbyists, and the Unlikely Triumph of Tax Reform, by Jeffrey Birnbaum and Allen Murray.
I highly recommend reading Birnbaum & Murray. It's a highly readable account of the congressional decision making behind the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which was the most extensive change in the income tax system.
Thanks, Corinne. Am I right in thinking that "Gucci Gulch" was born in the Reagan years?
(picking my jaw up off the ground)
what a creeeeeeeep Thompson is!! And of course he would be associating with the kitten killer faux doctor from backwoods Tennessee!
birds of a feather they say........
good to get all this info OUT for public consumption! Thanks!
These parasites have always been a part of political life in all kinds of institutions. They can't seem to make a living with gainful employment so they go into influence pedaling.
I believe it was such as Thompson that Jesus threw out of the temple. We should follow his example.
Posted by Stephanie on June 12, 2007 at 04:08 PM
It was. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was considered one of the major accomplishments of the Reagan Administration, passed by a Democratic House and Republican Senate. Now that is genuine bipartisanship.
The Act was a monumental bill that sought to simplify the income tax code, broaden the tax base and eliminate tax shelters and other preferences.
Well, Chrish, when you lay out the last 12 years of Republican corruption and unethical behavior, I think they are WAY ahead in the 'good ole boy' category! I am willing to give Dems a 12 year chance, and call them on every unsavory act I see.
once again we see the real side of the republican candidates.
Chrish;
Of course it doesn't matter. You're supposed to tow the party line and not ask questions. Liberals are gold, and conservatives are scum.
Never mind that William Jefferson had $90,000 in his freezer - that was perfectly fine. Oh, wait- We weren't supposed to find out about that. Forget the fact that Nancy Pelosi is making exceptions and exemptions for the Federal increase in the minimum wage for businesses in her district. Forget that Dianne Feinstein was shoveling contracts to her husband's business and stepped down from the committee she was serving on.
It looks like the person who wants to give the Dems 12 years to prove themselves as corrupt won't have to wait long. This happened within the last year.
Liberals really need to stop preaching and touting how holy they are. They need to take a long look in the mirror before they start pointing fingers at everyone else. It is this type of hypocritical behavior that made me realize that Democrats are WAY out of step with my political values and beliefs.
Why do liberals think they are above the fray? The democratic party is doing much more to the country than anyone else. Nancy Pelosi, Dingy Harry calling the war lost and wanting to cut funding of the troops in the field. The Breck Girl John Edwards wanting to fight the war with the Peace Corps. Fred Thompson is a brilliant man who, if elected to the White House, would do more good than Obama or Hilldawg could possibly hope to do. He did some his most brilliant work in his early years during the Watergate affair, has served in the Senate is an accomplished TV star. You talking about someone who may or may not have taken money from a London based company? What hipocracy!!! What democrat hasn't taken money? Dianne Feinstein funneling contracts to her husband's company. Ring any bells???
I think that all lobbing should be stopped. lobbist control our politicians
Thank you for asking me to think about how bad Fred Thompson is. If I vote for a Democratic candidate I get a lot of things I don't have now:
1. Castro's Cuban Health Care
2. Chavez's Venezuelan Freedom of the Press and Speech.
3. Marxist Economics
4. Taliban Freedom of Religion
5. United Nations law rather than American Law.
6. A welfare system that rewards:
Reproduction instead of requiring Production
Entitlement instead of requiring personal
Responsibility
Dependance and Reliance on Government rather
requiring Personal Responsibility
Lazyness and Idleness rather than requiring
industriousness and activity (other than
for Procreation and picking up the
welfare check).
7. French Department of Appeasment (Defense)
8. I will get to purchase a Prayer Rug, Wear a Diaper around My head, take ankle grabbing lessons and invest my 401K in KY Jelly since onone likes to take it dry.
Come to think of it, I think I'll vote for Fred.
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