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As the Republican governor of the state of Wisconsin in the 1980s and 1990s, Tommy Thompson (born 1941) took the lead in implementing conservative public - policy initiatives, most notably welfare reform, that influenced even the Democratic administration of United States President Bill Clinton. Thompson, sometimes mentioned as a presidential candidate himself, was rewarded at the beginning of 2001 with the post of Secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Republican administration of George W. Bush. He was at his best when wrestling with complex policy issues, and the passage of President Bush's Medicare prescription drug benefit,of which he was one of the key architects, numbered among his most important accomplishments.
Tommy Thompson was born in tiny Elroy, Wisconsin on November 19, 1941. He was of German background on his grocer father's side, Irish on his mother's. Thompson's values were shaped early by the thrift and discipline characteristic of small - town Midwestern culture. When he was four, he asked his father for a tricycle. He was put to work scraping chicken droppings off eggs for 25 cents an hour. "I had to pay for everything myself," Thompson told the New York Times as he recalled his father's philosophy regarding allowances. "But he always gave me the opportunity to work for what I wanted."
Attending the University of Wisconsin in the 1960s, Thompson did not fit in with the liberal philosophies that flourished on college campuses at the time. He was inspired instead by a book that motivated many members of the next generation of political leaders, 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative. Working as a bartender to help pay his tuition bills, Thompson developed a easy rapport with strangers although he had up to then been quiet by nature. Thompson earned a bachelor's degree in political science and history in 1963 and remained in Madison for three more years, finishing law school at Wisconsin in 1966.
Elected to Wisconsin Assembly
Given to enthusiastic handshakes and even bear hugs, Thompson had political skills that were waiting to be tapped. He plunged into politics in the summer after he finished law school, driving down all of the generally unpaved roads in his rural district in the course of running for the Wisconsin Assembly. After personally visiting 80 percent of the district's residences, Thompson knocked off a Democratic incumbent who had been re - elected for 20 years. Despite a spotty attendance record during his first term, the result of his ongoing law practice and of a National Guard stint in Texas, Thompson was re - elected and spent 20 years in the assembly himself. He married schoolteacher Sue Ann Mashak in 1968, and despite disagreements over the efforts of Wisconsin's teachers' unions (Thompson despised them), they worked together to raise two sons and a daughter.
Thompson rose through the ranks of Wisconsin's legislative hierarchy, working his way up to the post of Assembly Minority Leader by 1981. In Wisconsin, a state with strong liberal traditions in which Democrats controlled both houses of the legislature, Thompson was tagged as "Dr. No" as a result of his regular resistance to Democratic initiatives. Yet he was a genial figure who won friends across the aisle and worked effectively on cooperative projects. Talk began to build that Thompson was the candidate who could break the Democratic lock on the state's highest office.
Elected Governor
In 1986, Thompson challenged Democratic incumbent Anthony Earl for the governorship and was successfully elected. He stressed the theme of welfare reform in his campaign and followed through with a steady stream of welfare initiatives once he was elected. Arguing that welfare recipients were moving to Wisconsin from elsewhere in order to take advantage of the state's relatively generous benefits, in 1987 he cut Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits by 6 percent and froze them. Wisconsin residents, Thompson told the New York Times, were "fed up to their eyeteeth" with out - of - staters moving in. "People in Wisconsin expect people to work - maybe it's the old Germanic heritage, the old European heritage."
Indeed, research by Thompson's campaign staffers told him that the welfare issue was drawing votes not just from rural Republicans but also from ethnic Democrats in the vote - rich Milwaukee area, and the AFDC cut would be just the beginning of a process that would eventually require work in exchange for payments from all of Wisconsin's welfare recipients. Thompson was reelected handily in 1990, 1994, and 1998, becoming by 2000 the longest - serving governor in the U.S.
Thompson's long record of initiatives that fundamentally remolded the role of government in Wisconsin was accomplished in a state that continued to lean Democratic and gave its electoral votes to Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Conservative writer Bill Kristol characterized Thompson as "a strong and bull - headed guy who is also a very good politician." At first, Thompson overreached, making frequent use of Wisconsin's gubernatorial line - item veto, which allowed him to reject even small details of bills receiving signature. Wisconsin voters trimmed his line - item veto rights in 1990. After that, Thompson tended to promote his ideas as common - sense solutions rather than as ideologically based crusades, and he invited Democrats to participate in the shaping of legislation.
The results, from a legislative standpoint, were impressive. Thompson guided through the legislature and enacted a series of innovative programs that aimed to reshape the state's antipoverty programs. Thompson's programs often used a carrot - and - stick approach, reducing benefits to combat undesirable behaviors while beefing up other programs with new funding and allowing Thompson to put a positive face on his reforms. He began with Learnfare, which cut welfare benefits to parents if their children dropped out of school. Bridefare, enacted in 1992, raised payments to female recipients who married and who stopped bearing children out of wedlock. Thompson's Work Not Welfare program placed a two - year limit on benefits. These initiatives influenced the welfare reforms of the Clinton White House, undertaken partly to neutralize what Democrats pegged as a potent and rising Republican issue. "We started welfare reform. It became a national program," Thompson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Increased Child - Care Funding
The culmination of Thompson's efforts was Wisconsin Works (also known as W - 2), which began with pilot programs in two small counties and was then expanded to the entire state. Wisconsin Works essentially put an end to welfare, requiring applicants, with just a few exceptions, to either find jobs with private employers or take a public - service job administered by the state. By 1999, Thompson had indeed trimmed Wisconsin's welfare rolls to about 8,000 from nearly 100,000 people. Forestalling criticism that child - care and transportation issues often prevented welfare recipients from taking jobs, Thompson increased funding for both - dramatically in the case of child care, from $12 million to $150 million a year.
Thompson had numerous liberal critics. A common charge was one leveled by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel commentator Eugene Kane, who characterized Wisconsin Works as "a confusing and incompetent muddle of a welfare program that took millions of dollars from taxpayers and transferred them to bureaucrats - often in the form of obscene bonuses - while abandoning thousands of poor people who opted out of the so - called 'reform.' " Indeed, Wisconsin's budget ballooned during much of Thompson's tenure, leveling off only after Republicans won legislative control in the mid - 1990s.
Thompson's accomplishments as governor of Wisconsin extended beyond welfare reform. He was well out ahead of other state governors in promoting new "charter" schools in inner - city areas and in arranging for state - funded private school tuition for poor students. He initiated a program of state health insurance for the working poor, dubbed BadgerCare, and he was involved in efforts to get a high - speed Milwaukee - to - Chicago rail corridor off the ground. Under Thompson, Wisconsin's prison system grew sharply, with new prisons approved at a pace of almost one per year and a 350 percent increase in the state's prison population during his tenure.
After flirting briefly with a presidential run himself, Thompson endorsed Texas governor George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican presidential primaries. Thompson was rewarded by President - elect with the cabinet post of Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), although Wisconsin insiders whispered that, given his position on the national Amtrak railroad's board of directors and his work on Wisconsin's rail system, he would have preferred the Secretary of Transportation post. As things turned out, Thompson, who had little background in the health field and had sometimes derided Washington, D.C. as "Disneyland East," found himself deluged with challenges in his new job.
Struggled after Anthrax Outbreak
In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, America was awash in fears of new terrorist attacks. The worst of those fears seemed to be confirmed later that fall when a series of cases of the deadly disease anthrax appeared, first in a publisher's office in Boca Raton, Florida and then in mail sorting facilities and media offices in the Northeast. Thompson's press briefings during the crisis were criticized as rambling and ambiguous. "There has been a breakdown in the public - diplomacy aspect of [the bioterrorism] issue, Clinton administration official Elisa Harris told Time.
Thompson himself admitted to the magazine that "When I was asked to take this job, I never expected I was going to spend all my time on embryonic stem cells and bioterrorism." The stem cell issue marked another rough spot for Thompson during Bush's first term; a supporter of stem cell research, Thompson clashed with the conservative Republican base that opposed the medical use of stem cells taken from human embryos. In the fall of 2004, too, Thompson faced the glare of news - program spotlights as the U.S. struggled with an influenza vaccine shortage brought on by an unexpected shutdown of a British pharmaceutical company's manufacturing plant.
As HHS secretary, Thompson oversaw an entity with about 67,000 employees and a budget of nearly $600 million. The Byzantine power corridors of Washington sometimes frustrated the take - charge Thompson. "Out here, in this department, you get an idea and you have to vet it with all the division heads and the 67,000 employees. . . . then it goes over to the supergod in our society, and the supergod is O.M.B., the Office of Management and Budget," Thompson lamented to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "And they turn you down nine times out of 10, just to show you who the boss is. Then it goes to the young intelligentsia of the White House, who don't believe that anything original or good can come from a cabinet secretary. And if you do get it by them, it goes to the president. And if the president does agree with it, it goes on to the Congress, and if Congress ever does pass it, it's time to retire."
One instance in which Thompson did succeed in overcoming various forms of entrenched resistance was the 2003 passage of Bush's Medicare Modernization Act, which was slated to provide public funding for prescription drugs for Medicare recipients starting in 2006. On the complex prescription drug - benefit issue, the major piece of health care legislation of President Bush's first term, Thompson frequently served as the president's point man. Washington analysts counted the passage of Medicare reform as the most important achievement of Thompson's tenure as HHS secretary.
And, as he had predicted, once the legislation passed, it was nearly time for him to retire. As early as 2003, Thompson telegraphed his intention to leave the administration after Bush's first term, and he followed through by announcing his retirement on December 3, 2004. Once more, the blunt - spoken Midwesterner raised eyebrows with his parting remark, quoted in USA Today, that "For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do." He said he had worried about the threat "every single night." But now the former small - town lawyer was returning to private practice after 38 years of public service. His only political ambition, his wife Sue Ann quipped, was a possible run for mayor of Elroy.
Periodicals
Daily News (New York), October 18, 2004.
Economist, August 7, 1999.
Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2004.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 30, 2000; January 28, 2001; October 28, 2001; December 14, 2003; December 4, 2004.
National Review, August 12, 1991; June 16, 1997.
New Republic, September 18, 1995.
New York Times, January 15, 1995.
Time, October 29, 2001.
USA Today, October 26, 2001; December 6, 2004.
Online
Biography Resource Center Online, Gale Group, 2001. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC (April 15, 2005).
| Tommy Thompson | |
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| In office February 2, 2001 – January 26, 2005 |
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| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Donna Shalala |
| Succeeded by | |
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42nd
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| In office January 5, 1987 – February 1, 2001 |
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| Lieutenant(s) | Scott McCallum |
| Preceded by | Tony Earl |
| Succeeded by | Scott McCallum |
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| Born | November 19 1941 Elroy, Wisconsin
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| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Tommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941), a United States politician, was the 7th U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin. On April 1, 2007, he announced on This Week that he was a candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. On August 12, after a disappointing sixth-place finish in the key Iowa Straw Poll, Thompson announced the end of his campaign for president.[1]
Thompson was born in Elroy, Wisconsin, where his father, Allen Thompson, ran a gas station and country grocery store. His mother, Julia, was a schoolteacher.[2]
Thompson began his career in politics in 1966 as a representative in the Wisconsin State Assembly, after earning his law degree at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He was elected assistant Assembly minority leader in 1973 and Assembly minority leader in 1981.[3] ) He is married with three adult children.
From 1987 to 2001, Thompson served as the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin, having been elected to an unprecedented four terms.
Thompson's initiatives during his 13 years as governor of Wisconsin were his Wisconsin Works welfare reform and school choice programs. In 1990, Thompson pushed for the creation of the country's first parental school-choice program, allowing low-income Milwaukee families to send children to the private or public school of their choice at taxpayer expense. He also created the BadgerCare program, designed to provide health coverage to those families whose employers don't provide health insurance but make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. Through the federal waiver program, Thompson helped replicate this program in several states when he became Secretary of Health and Human Services.
From 1998 to 1999, he served as president of the Council of State Governments and, with the organization's chairman, Senator
Kenneth McClintock, the nonvoting member from Puerto
Rico, led a top-level delegation to the People's Republic of China.
Thompson left office when he was appointed by President George W. Bush as HHS Secretary.
He was also a member of the Amtrak Board of Directors
and had an
His brother, Ed Thompson, was the mayor of Tomah, Wisconsin, and was the Libertarian Party candidate in the 2002 Wisconsin gubernatorial election.
Thompson announced his resignation from HHS on December 3, 2004, and served until January 26, 2005, when the
Senate confirmed his successor,
After first announcing the formation of an exploratory committee in late 2006, Thompson announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election on April 1, 2007.[7]
During a May 3, 2007, presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Thompson said in response to a question from moderator Chris Matthews that a private employer opposed to homosexuality should have the right to fire a gay worker. [8] He said, "I think that is left up to the individual business. I really sincerely believe that that is an issue that business people have got to make their own determination as to whether or not they should be." He called CNN the following morning to say he didn't hear the question correctly. He apologized, saying, "It's not my position. There should be no discrimination in the workplace."
Thompson had stated he would drop out of the race if he did not finish either first or second in the Ames straw poll on August 11, 2007. Thompson finished sixth, with just 7% of the vote, despite the fact that some major contenders were not competing in the poll. On August 12, Thompson officially announced he would drop out of the race.
In October of 2007, Thompson endorsed Rudy Giuliani. Thompson told the Associated Press in a statement that "Rudy Giuliani has shown that he is a true leader. He can and will win the nomination and the presidency. He is America's mayor, and during a period of time of great stress for this country he showed tremendous leadership."
Thompson is the President of Logistics Health Incorporated. He also is senior partner at Akin Gump, a Washington, D.C., law firm, and is a senior adviser at the consulting firm Deloitte and the chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Thompson taught a class in the fall of 2005 at the Kennedy School of Government on medical diplomacy.[9]
Shortly after leaving his Bush Cabinet post, Thompson joined and served for two years on the board of directors of Applied Digital Solutions, makers of the controversial VeriChip: a glass-encapsulated RFID chip that can be injected into human flesh for various database-driven identification purposes.
Even though Thompson was on the Amtrak board, outside of the Milwaukee-Chicago, Illinois Hiawatha service, the daily Empire Builder is Wisconsin's only non-tourist passenger train.
In 2001, Nobel laureate physiologist Torsten Wiesel was nominated by Gerald Keusch for a position on an advisory panel in the National Institutes of Health to advise on assisting research in developing countries. Thompson, who at the time was Secretary of Health and Human Services, rejected Wiesel. Thompson's office rejected 19 of 26 nominations and in return sent resumés for other scientists that Keusch described in an interview as "lightweights" with "no scientific credibility". When Weisel's name was rejected, an official in Thompson's office told Keusch that Wiesel had "signed too many full-page letters in The New York Times critical of President Bush." This incident was cited by the Union of Concerned Scientists as part of a report detailing their allegations of President George W. Bush's abuse of science.[10][11]
After leaving office, Thompson promoted changes to Medicare that some complained would benefit companies Thompson has a financial stake in (including Centene and the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions).[12]
Additionally, while in office, Thompson was involved in a dispute over whether the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services had to share cost estimates to Congress for legislation that would create a prescription drug benefit. Critics accused HHS of downplaying the true cost of the law by $150 billion. CMS Administrator Tom Scully threatened to fire the actuary if he revealed to Congress his estimate. Investigators determined that the data was improperly hidden from Congress, but did not conclude whether laws had been broken.[13]
In April 2007, Thompson apologized for publicized remarks he made while speaking to an assembled crowd of Jewish social activists in Washington, D.C.[14] On April 18, 2007, appearing before a conference organized by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Thompson made reference to his lucrative transition from public service to the private sector by stating: "You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that."[15] After the conclusion of his address, Thompson was reportedly pulled aside privately by the RAC’s Rabbi David Saperstein, and then returned to the podium to issue a clarification,[16] adding: "I just want to clarify something because I didn't (by) any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things. What I was referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion. You've been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that."[15]
Later, Thompson told The Politico that his remarks could be blamed on fatigue and a persistent cold.[17]
Thompson made a variety of other lesser comments, including referring to the Anti Defamation League as the fringe Jewish Defense League, Israel bonds as "Jewish bonds," and repeatedly to his "Jewish friends."[18][19][20] He also discussed his connections to conservative Israeli and Jewish leaders to the mostly left-leaning activist group.[18] Thompson also reportedly referred to Winston Churchill as being the first leader of Israel and the region.[16]
1998 Race for Governor
1994 Race for Governor
1990 Race for Governor
1986 Race for Governor
| Preceded by Tony Earl |
1987-2001 |
Succeeded by Scott McCallum |
| Preceded by Donna Shalala |
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Served Under: George W. Bush 2001-2005 |
Succeeded by |
| United States Secretaries of Health and Human Services | |
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| Harris •
Schweiker • Heckler • Bowen • Sullivan • Shalala • Thompson • |
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| Governors of Wisconsin |
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| Territorial:
Dodge • Doty • Tallmadge • Dodge
Dewey • Farwell • Barstow • MacArthur • Bashford • Randall • Harvey • Salomon • Lewis • Fairchild • Washburn • Taylor • Ludington • Smith • Rusk • Hoard • Peck • Upham • Scofield • R La Follette • Davidson • McGovern • Philipp • Blaine • Zimmerman • Kohler Sr • P La Follette • Schmedeman • P La Follette • Heil • Goodland • Rennebohm • Kohler Jr • Thomson • Nelson • Reynolds • Knowles • Lucey • Schreiber • Dreyfus • Earl • Thompson • McCallum • Doyle |
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