The Los Angeles Times has found a hot story in an abortion-rights group that claims that Fred Thompson personally and actively lobbied for the group:
A spokesman for the former Tennessee senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But the minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. say 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 received federal money, according to the records and to people who worked on the matter.
Allahpundit sounds more than half convinced despite Captain Ed’s sources denying the story.
I am here to tell you that a short entry in the minutes of an organization does not contitute adequate proof:
But Judith DeSarno, who was president of the family planning association in 1991, said Thompson lobbied for the group for several months.
Minutes from the board’s meeting of Sept. 14, 1991 — a copy of which DeSarno gave to The Times — say: “Judy [DeSarno] reported that the association had hired Fred Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions with the administration” on the abortion counseling rule.
Neither does the recollection of a “colleague” who is a member of the opposition:
Former Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), a colleague at the lobbying and law firm where Thompson worked, said that DeSarno had asked him to recommend someone for the lobbying work and that he had suggested Thompson. He said it was “absolutely bizarre” for Thompson to deny that he lobbied against the abortion counseling rule.
Lawyers have to keep detailed records of how they spend their time, in order to submit billable hours. Hours billable to National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. submitted by The Big Dipper would constitute positive proof. What the LAT has now is corroborative hearsay, mostly, by not disinterested individuals.
UPDATE: Allahpundit has more, specifically, dates.
Technorati tags: Election 2008, Fred Thompson, Politics.
