Billing Records Redux

Back in the 1990s, conservatives were up in arms over the fact that Hillary Clinton had testified that she didn't recall doing legal work for Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan. In fact, I believe she testified that it was the client of another partner at the Rose Law Firm and she didn't recall working on any matters. The billing records, which turned up in 1996, showed that, in actuality, she had billed 60 hours of work over a 15 month period. Many conservatives, including prosecutors working for Ken Starr's investigation in the Office of the Independent Counsel, argued that Clinton should be indicted based on this testimony and the subsequent records.

Fast-forward to 2007. The Republican primary field is in disarray. The front-runner is pro-choice, pro-gay rights, frequently dressed up in drag during his last job and moved in with gay partners in Manhattan's upper west side when his second wife kicked him out of their home after he publicly admitted to having an affair with the woman soon to be his third wife (And marriage to wife #1, who was a cousin, was annulled after over 10 years of marriage).

There are no true conservatives in the field and Republicans nationwide are being dragged down by Bush and the albatross of his disastrous war in Iraq. Suddenly, Fred Thompson emerges and looks to be a possible saving grace. (Hey, he's an actor and Reagan, why, he was an actor too!) Maybe he's the true conservative!

Then it comes out that Thompson lobbied for Planned Parenthood during the first Bush Administration to try to get the Administration to eliminate the so-called "Abortion Gag Rule." Fearing concern from social conservatives, Thompson comes out and says that he does not recall ever doing any lobbying for the group. Planned Parenthood says we had meetings with him and he was hired to lobby for us. But Thompson insists he has no recollection of doing any work for the group.

Then low and behold, the New York Times obtains the billing records for Thompson when he was a lobbying partner at Arent Fox. And guess what? They show that he billed almost two dozen hours for the group during 1991-92:

Billing records show that former Senator Fred Thompson spent nearly 20
hours working as a lobbyist on behalf of a group seeking to ease restrictive
federal rules on abortion counseling in the 1990s, even though he recently
said he did not recall doing any work for the organization.

According to records from Arent Fox, the law firm based in Washington where
Mr. Thompson worked part-time from 1991 to 1994, he charged the organization,
the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, about $5,000
for work he did in 1991 and 1992. The records show that Mr. Thompson, a probable
Republican candidate for president in 2008, spent much of that time in telephone
conferences with the president of the group, and on three occasions he reported
lobbying administration officials on its behalf.

So presumably conservatives will be just as upset with Thompson as they were with Hillary? Right?
- posted by Joshua @ 11:42 AM