Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI), credit: Phil Ejercito/Dane101
Thompson’s campaign refused to take a stand on the highly controversial Blunt amendment this week, but a Facebook post on his official account last month expressed outrage over a rule requiring employers to offer contraception coverage in their health care plans.
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel examination of Thompson’s mandatory candidate personal financial disclosure report, notes that the former governor served for seven years on the board of directors of Evofem, Inc., a San Diego-based maker of women’s health products including “contraception and conception productions.” He received at least $5,000 in compensation for his consulting services from the company. It also reveals that Thompson’s huge healthcare investments include somewhere between $15,001 and $50,000 in stock in Teva Pharmaceuticals and between $1,001 and $15,000 in Watson Pharmaceuticals — both makers of emergency contraceptives. Thompson also owns millions of dollars worth of stock in health insurance.
What’s more, as governor, Thompson established a state family planning program — still in effect today — that spends taxpayer dollars to provide birth control and family planning to poor women. Thompson reportedly said at the time that “a pregnant teen is a one-way ticket to poverty.”
On his very limited campaign website, Thompson promises, in video spots, to cut taxes for corporations and to support a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act — even though in the past he embraced significant parts of the bill and specifically opposed full repeal.
