Rumored-to-be Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson had a long career as a lobbyist. So long, his lobbying resume has a distinct theme. A Darth Maul style would best describe it and he likes it that way. So much so, he doesn't want any good-nicks coming out of the woodwork to screw it up. That's why he's now attempting to cover-up his work for the nice guys over at the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) . Thompson was hired as a lobbyist by NFPRHA in 1991 to ease the "gag" rule that prevented federal funds for family planning from going to groups like Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest contraception provider, but since the organization is pro-choice it was stripped of that federal funding (even though it used separate funding for its pro-choice activities). NFPHRA hired Thompson to convince Bush senior the restriction was extreme (Thompson failed but Clinton later reversed it).The Los Angeles Times reported this weekend that "Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo adamantly denied that Thompson worked for the family planning group. 'Fred Thompson did not lobby for this group, period,' he said in an e-mail."

You see, Thompson prefers to be known for his other lobbying work. He lobbied Congress for deregulation of the Savings and Loan industry leading to the financial crisis of the late 1980s. (Remember? Over 1,000 savings and loan institutions went under in what has been described as "the largest and costliest venture in public misfeasance, malfeasance and larceny of all time.") Thompson doesn't seem too concerned about his role in that national nightmare. Nor the hand he played in a failed nuclear energy project that cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars. Thompson, more recently, worked part-time for London-based Equitas. He worked to remove a provision in a 2005 bill that would have made Equitas pay a very large portion of a proposed asbestos settlement. Last month, Thompson spokesman Mark Corrallo said that Thompson was proud to have been a lobbyist and believedin Equitas's cause. In case you missed that, Thompson was proud to work for them.

If that's the kind of work he's proud of then it should come as no surprise he wants to cover up his work helping poor Americans access family planning. Because that work was not only intended to help people it also would have saved the government gazillions, both things Thompson's lobbying career proves he is deeply opposed to.

But the problem with lying about where you previously worked is those dastardly former colleagues. Former Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), who worked at the same firm with Thompson at the time and was the one to recommend him to NFPRHA told the Times that it was "absolutely bizarre" for Thompson to deny that he lobbied against the gag rule. "I talked to him while he was doing it, and I talked to [the president of NFPRHA] about the fact that she was very pleased with the work that he was doing for her organization," said Barnes. "I have strong, total recollection of that. This is not something I dreamed up or she dreamed up. This is fact."

Documentation is another enemy of deception--minutes of a 1991 NFPRHA board meeting show that the group hired Thompson that year. Of course, NFPHRA board members could have, in 1991, suspected that Thompson, (who, if Thompson's story is the one we're going with, they had absolutely no connection to) would some day put feelers out about running for president. They could have then factored that he would also run as a real loony rightwinger and would need to court the religious fringe in the US. It then follows that NFPRHA board members would make up the lobbying for family planning connection in order to derail his unannounced bid for president.

Thompson did work for NFPRHA in the nineties and he should have stayed in touch. That way he might have learned from NFPRHA's recent poll that found eight in ten self-identified "pro-lifers" say that women should have access to contraception. Thompson could have taken a real pro-life approach and aligned himself with organizations, like his former employer NFPRHA, and their policies that have been proven to reduce the need for abortion. That would have led to truly pro-life results. Once Thompson formally enters the race Americans should look out for the rest of his pro-lie positions.