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.Read the entire story here. Though it's the NY Times (liberal news source) reporting on the story, billing records don't lie. In this case, only politicians and associated campaigns do. In the very least, the Team FRED consistently distorted and delayed the truth about this topic.
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.
In questionnaires Mr. Thompson answered during his 1994 Senate campaign, for instance, he checked a box stating that he believed abortion should be legal under any circumstances during the first three months of pregnancy and said, “I do not believe that abortion should be criminalized.” He has also opposed a constitutional amendment banning all abortion, also on the grounds of states’ rights.
His representation of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which was trying to overturn the ban on abortion counseling, put him at odds with the anti-abortion movement, which considered the ban a crucial victory.
The billing records from Arent Fox show that Mr. Thompson, who charged about $250 an hour, spoke 22 times with Judith DeSarno, who was then president of the family planning group. In addition, he lobbied “administration officials” for a total of 3.3 hours, the records show, although they do not specify which officials he met with or what was said.
The billing records, along with meeting minutes from the association, show that Arent Fox was hired to help overturn the ban.
The family planning association became a client of Arent Fox through Michael Barnes, a former Democratic congressman who was then a partner at the firm. The firm’s current chairman, Marc Fleischaker, said, “Regardless of whatever the political ramifications are, Fred was being a good colleague by helping out one of the firm’s partner.”
Charles Mitchell at Evangelicals for Mitt said the following a week ago:
Look, guys. I know Senator Thompson has cast many a pro-life Senate vote. But anyone who continues to pretend that he is some kind of pro-life Superman is, well, pretending. He is imperfect and he has morphed--just as his responses to the L.A. Times story have morphed.
I'm not saying he isn't worth supporting because he's changed--such a belief is silly and destructive, no matter which candidate you deploy it against. But I am saying that those who refuse to admit that he has changed are deluding themselves, at the risk of no one's credibility but their own.
Finally, as I said yesterday, I would really appreciate--and I think the nation could use--a clear statement on this issue from the Senator. Governor Romney's already made his many times, which isn't surprising, given that he is the only serious candidate consistently talking about cultural/family issues.
So, Fred's unwillingness to admit transformation on the subject is exactly the route Brownback chose. I realize you don't recognize the name Brownback. Yet, Fred's abortion-related backtracks and denials are strikingly similar.
Mitt, in sharp contrast to these two weak senators, long ago admitted his pro-choice mistakes and has moved on. These two now are left to continue their denials or admit to something much worse than transformation or flip-flopping--lying.
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