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Tommy Thompson is a former governor of Wisconsin who served as secretary of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush administration. For a time, Thompson was a member of the ultra-secretive rightwing Council for National Policy, an organization formed in 1981 that is dedicated to “a limited government, a strong national defense, and support for traditional western values.”[1] In early December 2011, Thompson officially announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate under the slogan "to bring America back."

Thompson's record on foreign affairs is thin. In 2007, when he was actively considering running for president, he said during an NPR interview that he would allow Iraqis to vote on whether they wanted U.S. troops to remain in the country. When the interviewer responded by asking whether this meant Thompson disagreed with President Bush's claim "that Iraq is the central front in a global war on terror," Thompson responded: "I think that it is a front.  … You've got a front in the Middle East, you've got a front within Iran, you've got a front in North Korea, you've got a front in Afghanistan and in the mountain states of Pakistan. I mean, there's no one, central front, and we've got to be strong against all of them. And I don't think that by not allowing the Iraqi government to have a vote—you know, isn't it somewhat surprising to you and your listeners that nobody in the federal government has ever asked the Iraqi government to vote as to whether or not they want America in it? And if you did that, you would immediately, if they voted yes, which I think—I would bet on it that they would—it automatically gives the legitimacy to America for being there, and that's something that we lack right now."

In 1966, Thompson, then 24, “began his career in public service … as a representative in Wisconsin's state Assembly. He was elected assistant Assembly minority leader in 1973 and Assembly minority leader in 1981.”[2] First elected as governor of Wisconsin in 1986, he served for 14 years, making state history as the first governor to be elected for a third and fourth term. He left the fourth term midway to become secretary of Health and Human Services in 2001, a position he held until 2005.[3]

During his tenure as Wisconsin governor, Thompson pushed through efforts to cut unemployment benefits in the state, once saying to a crowd at the Heritage Foundation: “We have an environment in Wisconsin in which any poor family can climb out of the despair of poverty and pursue the American dream.”[4]

During his HHS tenure, Thompson was notorious for warning of the dangers of an avian flu pandemic and “the poisoning of the U.S. food supplies by terrorists.” He stated: “And we are importing a lot of food from the Middle East, and it would be easy to tamper with that.”[5]

Comments writer Laura Flanders: “Thompson called his policy ‘compassionate’—and that's the problem. It redefined what was morally acceptable to do to poor people, and with a whole lot of help from strategically funded media, the same reasoning wormed its way into the national mind.”[6] She adds: “Inside the dark Victorian mansion of the Bradley Foundation in benighted Milwaukee, there must be smiles all around. The same ideologically-driven outfit that paid for the task force that devised Thompson's welfare plan is now [in 2011] backing [Governor Scott] Walker's drive to criminalize collective bargaining.”[7]

Thompson’s biography on the website of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld LLP, where he is a partner, says: “As the head of the Department of Health & Human Services, Secretary Thompson served as the nation’s leading advocate for the health and welfare of all Americans. … As governor of Wisconsin, Secretary Thompson was perhaps best known for his efforts to revitalize the Wisconsin economy, for his national leadership on welfare reform and for his work in expanding health care access across all segments of society. Secretary Thompson is well-known for his contributions to the U.S. response to the threat of bioterrorism and for his leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the United States and abroad, and he is chairman emeritus of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.”[8]

Thompson has served as chairman of the National Governors' Association, the Education Commission of the States and the Midwestern Governors' Conference, as well as in the Wisconsin National Guard and the Army Reserve.[9]

He has also served as a director on many corporate boards, including as chair of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and president of the Wisconsin based Logistics Health Incorporated.[10] According to its website, “Logistics Health Incorporated (LHI) has served as a partner to the United States Government in military medical readiness, employee fitness, and in defense of bioterriorism, protection against infectious diseases, and asset management and monitoring.”[11]

Please note: IPS Right Web neither represents nor endorses any of the individuals or groups profiled on this site.