So, Who Owns Fred Thompson?

So, Who Owns Fred Thompson?
Tuesday, July 8th, 1997 -- Some of us might actually watch Senator Fred Thompson's hearings on campaign finace abuses. If you do, you should consider asking yourself about what might be the biggest scandal of all: just who owns Thompson and the U.S. Senate?

As Senator Thompson conducts his hearings, take care to remember that he and most of his colleagues owe a lot of people a lot of favors. Politicians call this "access." But big dollar political contributors get more than that. Trust me, I know. I used to pass out money -- legally -- for corporate clients all over Capitol Hill.

If you read my columns regularly, you'll know that I don't believe that any campaign finance reform idea is worth a damn. Cutting off legal ways to buy congress will only result in the creation of more sophisticated and perhaps illegal methods to fund campaigns.

But that doesn't mean that hypocrisy shouldn't be exposed.

If Thompson wants to single out Chinese money, he'd do better to look at his own IOU's and explain them to the American people.

In the case of a US Senator, as much as $10 million is spent per race to get elected and re-elected. Thompson seems to have spent about $3.5 million, but, of course, he's from a small state with less expensive media costs.

During the 1995-96 election cycle Thompson raised $4.3 million dollars for his campaign. More than a $1 million came from political action committees (PACs), most of them sponsored by business. Close to $3 million came from individual donors, many of them corporate managers. Thirty percent of Thompson's campaign money came from out of state.

Then there's the Baxter family of Knoxville. They like Fred, so much so that it appears that their children -- Elizabeth, Jennifer and Joseph -- each gave him a thousand dollars in 1995. Their parents, Virginia and William, gave Thompson another $4,000 that year, for a Baxter family total of $7,000. Now what moves "students" like Liz, Jennie and Joe to gie $3,000 to a U.S. Senator?

Access?

Thompson took more than $30,000 from tobacco-related PACs and executives. He took a lot of money from PACs related to AT&T, Bell South, the American Medical Association, The American Hospital Association -- and on and on.

Hey, if you really want to know about Fred Thompson, take a look at all his PAC contributions. We've listed them HERE!

And, have a good hearing.