WASHINGTON - The campaign arm of Senate Democrats is providing a Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Tommy Thompson with a map around Washington after he said he sent his federal campaign finance reports to the wrong address.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Thompson, who served as secretary of Health and Human Services under former President George W. Bush, did not get his campaign finance reports into the Federal Election Commission on time. Thompson's spokesman told the Journal-Sentinel that he sent the reports to the wrong address for the Senate clerk in Washington and was sending new copies to the correct address. The clerk's office receives the reports and sends them to the FEC.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee seized on the comments, citing Thompson's decade in Washington as HHS secretary and as a lobbyist for a Washington law firm. The DSCC on Wednesday sent Thompson, a former four-term Wisconsin governor, a Google map and directions from his old law office in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood to the Senate clerk's office on Capitol Hill.
“As a lobbyist and DC insider, Tommy Thompson spent years in Washington DC doing the bidding of the special interests that have paid him millions,” DSCC spokesman Matt Canter said in a statement. “But as a Senate candidate, Thompson couldn’t find the Senate clerk’s office that’s just three miles from his old lobbying firm’s offices. While we know Thompson has spent years shilling for special interest clients and no doubt knows his way around Washington, we hope this map will clear up any confusion he has about where he should turn in his campaign finance report.”
Thompson is locked in a tight battle with businessman Eric Hovde, former Rep. Mark Neumann and state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald. They are vying for the GOP nomination to face Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D) for the seat of retiring Sen. Herb Kohl (D).
Recent polls show Hovde leads the race, but Baldwin has raised more than the Republican candidates combined. Thompson has been hit by Democrats for his business and lobbying ties, including service on over a dozen corporate boards since leaving HHS in 2005, including one post he accepted this year.