Thompson denies he lobbied for group

Thompson denies he lobbied for group
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times
Published July 7, 2007

Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator who has campaigned as an anti-abortion Republican, accepted a lobbying assignment from a family-planning group to persuade the first Bush White House to ease a controversial abortion restriction, according to a 1991 document and five people familiar with the matter.

A spokesman for the former senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association show that the group hired Thompson that year.

His task was to urge the administration of President George H.W. Bush to withdraw or relax a rule that barred abortion counseling at clinics that receive federal money, according to the records and five people who worked on the matter.

The abortion "gag rule" was a major political flash point at the time. Thompson's lobbying would clash directly with the anti-abortion movement that he is now trying to rally behind his expected campaign for president. Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo denied that Thompson worked for the group.

In a telephone interview, he said: "There's no documents to prove it, there's no billing records, and Thompson says he has no recollection of it, says it didn't happen."

But Judith DeSarno, who was president of the family-planning association in 1991, said Thompson lobbied for the group for several months.