Tommy Thompson Repays Old Debt to 1st Responders

[Nate Peele]

Tommy Thompson was a star of the Bush administration. As Secretary of Health and Human Services he did an amazing job keeping this country in the top 100 in lift expectancy and infant mortality. But, he also left one piece of unfinnished business nagging at him.

When Thompson was Secretary of Health and Human Services after the 9/11 attacks he was criticized for ignoring the threat to first responders at ground zero. Doctors concluded that the dust there was toxic soup and over 70,000 first responders enrolled in a long term health monitoring program. Many of these people have since been unable to get health coverage and Thompson took heat for not doing more from left leaning bleeding hearts.

Thompson was determined to make good and in private life he has finally got his chance. The Department of Health and Human Services has now given an $11,000,000 contract to Logistics Health Incorporated–a company Thompson is President of to track the health of between 4,000 and 6,000 workers who live outside the New York City area, where a separate health monitoring program is in place.

My hat is off to this courageous American who refused to leave any job undone even when he was no longer in public office.

 

[rayboyusmc]

Tommy was an embarassment to the country and Wisconsin.

This is just one more of the Washington gang getting the gravy for doing nothing.

 

[Gunny]

Tommy Thompson was a star of the Bush administration. As Secretary of Health and Human Services he did an amazing job keeping this country in the top 100 in lift expectancy and infant mortality. But, he also left one piece of unfinnished business nagging at him.

When Thompson was Secretary of Health and Human Services after the 9/11 attacks he was criticized for ignoring the threat to first responders at ground zero. Doctors concluded that the dust there was toxic soup and over 70,000 first responders enrolled in a long term health monitoring program. Many of these people have since been unable to get health coverage and Thompson took heat for not doing more from left leaning bleeding hearts.

Thompson was determined to make good and in private life he has finally got his chance. The Department of Health and Human Services has now given an $11,000,000 contract to Logistics Health Incorporated–a company Thompson is President of to track the health of between 4,000 and 6,000 workers who live outside the New York City area, where a separate health monitoring program is in place.

My hat is off to this courageous American who refused to leave any job undone even when he was no longer in public office.

Was Thompson Secretary of Health and Human Services when the contract was awarded? Or is he STILL Secretary of Health and Human Services?

Do you have any ACTUAL information in regard to how and when the contract was awarded?

Specifically, which laws were violated? What ethics were violated by an organization he WAS head of awarding a company he works for now a government contract AFTER he left?

Then again, this could just be the usual leftwingnut slinging of shit against the wall to see if something will stick.

 

[Nate Peele]

No laws were broken. Thompson left the job of Secretary of Health and Human Services before the contract was ever awarded to him. I think applying for the contract was his way of making it up to people who critized him for not tracking first responder health whenhe was Secretary of Health and Human Services.

 

[Gunny]

No laws were broken. Thompson left the job of Secretary of Health and Human Services before the contract was ever awarded to him. I think applying for the contract was his way of making it up to people who critized him for not tracking first responder health whenhe was Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Was any reason you know of given why he did not track first responders?

 

[rayboyusmc]

That's the way it works in Washington. They repaid Thompson, not the first responders. Let's hire a whore to create policy for nuns chastity vows.

Tommy Thompson served as President Bush’s Secretary of Health and Human Services from January 2001 to 2005. It was during his tenure, after the 9/11 attacks, that the Bush administration largely ignored the health risks facing first responders at the World Trade Center site.

Doctors concluded that the dust there was basically a “toxic soup,” leading to serious health problems for workers. Then-EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman was also accused of lying about the air quality. Approximately 40,000 people were exposed to the dust, and “71,000 have enrolled in a long-term health monitoring program for people with and without health problems.”

Many of these first responders have since been unable to attain health coverage from either their insurers or the U.S. government. As the AP notes, Thompson was “criticized for not doing enough” to help these workers.

Yet apparently, the Bush administration believes Thompson did a hecukva job dealing with the aftermath of 9/11. The Centers for Disease Control has awarded Thompson an $11 million contract to treat some of those very same workers who became sick on Thompson’s watch:

The contract awarded by the Centers for Disease Control is aimed at tracking the health of between 4,000 and 6,000 workers who live outside the New York City area, where a separate health monitoring program is in place. The CDC is part of the Health and Human Services Department, which Thompson headed in Bush’s first term.

Internal e-mails obtained by The Associated Press show that the one-year contract went to Logistics Health, Inc., a La Crosse, Wis.-based company where Thompson is president.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) responded, “It is ironic that former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson’s firm won the contract to provide the services, given the history of delay from the Bush administration when he was secretary and now.”

Think Progress After Failing To Protect 9/11 First Responders From Toxic Threats, Thompson Awarded Contract To Treat Them

 

[Gunny]

That's the way it works in Washington. They repaid Thompson, not the first responders. Let's hire a whore to create policy for nuns chastity vows.



Think Progress After Failing To Protect 9/11 First Responders From Toxic Threats, Thompson Awarded Contract To Treat Them

In other words, baseless, partisan accusations remain par for the course.

What is THIS crap?

The Centers for Disease Control has awarded Thompson an $11 million contract to treat some of those very same workers who became sick on Thompson’s watch:

Are you saying Thompson is responsible for the attacks on 9/11? If not, WHAT specifically is your accusation? That he did not personally dive into the fray and deflect each and every dust particle from entering humans breathing in the area?

That he did not personally search out each and every person that may have breathed so much as one particle of dust and personally insure their health?

I think it's much simpler. You're presuming him guilty by reason of political affiliation.

Otherwise you've got nothing here but accusations based on innuendo and a lot of hot air here.

 

[Diuretic]

Gunny....I believe the reference is to Thompson sitting on his hands and doing SFA for the first responders. That is either a fact or it isn't. It should be easy to check whether or not they received proper care and attention.