There’s a lot of beltway buzz these days about the presidential prospects of “Law & Order” star Fred Thompson, but writing in The Politico, Ken Vogel (late of the TNT) wonders if the former one-term Republican senator might be stung by his lobbying credits.
Over about two decades of lobbying (during which he also acted and practiced law), Thompson made nearly $1.3 million and represented clients including a British reinsurance company facing billions of dollars in asbestos claims, Canadian-owned cable companies, and deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, according to government documents and media accounts from his first run for the Senate in 1994.
[…] Thompson’s commanding presence, background and conservatism bring to mind another actor-turned-pol, Wamp said. “The whole thing is very Reagan-esque. The whole story.”
Thompson cruised to a full Senate term in 1996 but decided not to run again in 2002. A year after stepping down, he registered to lobby for British reinsurance company Equitas Ltd.
The company paid him $760,000 to guard its interests against several bills seeking to protect businesses from asbestos lawsuits, according to records Thompson filed with the Senate.
Of course, in the wake of the Abramoff scandal, I’m guessing that if Thompson does throw his hat in the ring, his media people will attempt to focus more on his record as a popular Manhattan District Attorney, than his resume as a high-priced lobbyist for foreign corporations.
“Reagan-esque” indeed.